"Promising hints of life on distant planet"

[Umbran]

Of course the sun will render the Earth uninhabitable long before it burns out, but we're still talking about a billion years or so, and I argued we simply can't make plans today for an event hundreds of millions of years in the future. Argue space exploration is a moral imperative because of the knowledge it brings, but don't tell me it's necessary to avoid extinction.

The knowledge it brings has no moral value unless there are people to have the knowledge, so continued existence comes along for the ride by extension.

 

[MarkB]

I know it would be unrealistically expensive, but we should really just be pumping out another JWST each year, purely so that we have capacity to actually set some onto specific studies for more extended periods.

 

[Reynard]

I know it would be unrealistically expensive, but we should really just be pumping out another JWST each year, purely so that we have capacity to actually set some onto specific studies for more extended periods.

This asks the powerful question of "So what?"

Let's say we see clear, undeniable signs of a another intelligent civilization 1000 light years away. So what?

(Yes, I am sort of playing devil's advocate here, but I want an answer anyway.)

I don't buy the argument that it would fundamentally change human society, culture or behavior.

 

[Umbran]

I know it would be unrealistically expensive...

In the sense that if you scrape just 1% off the US Military budget, you can double NASA's budget? No, it isn't unrealistic at all.

It could be done. We have the wealth. We just need the collective will.

 

[Umbran]

I don't buy the argument that it would fundamentally change human society, culture or behavior.

Unfortunately, the answer to your question of, "So what?" lies in significant part in the realms of real-world politics and religion, and is thus not within our scope to discuss here.

 

[overgeeked]

Here's to hoping there's intelligent life out there, because there's bugger all down here.

 

[Umbran]

Here's to hoping there's intelligent life out there, because there's bugger all down here.

Humanity, collectively, took Wisdom as its dump stat.

 

[Ryujin]

Humanity, collectively, took Wisdom as its dump stat.

Human (Singular) - Wisdom 10 (Average)
Human (Swarm) - Wisdom 2

 

[Stalker0]

I go with the notions that either other civs are simply too far away for any practical interaction, or that at some point virtual technology gets sophisticated enough that we can create worlds that are more fantastical and "cool" than the same old boring rocks the universe throws at us.

Aka the intellect creates a device that upstages the glory of the universe....making exploration unappealing.

 

[Stalker0]

Humanity, collectively, took Wisdom as its dump stat.

I imagine that any alien civilization that has made it "for the long haul" probably had to do some mass genetic engineering to "breed out" any tribal and likely selfish tendencies.

Aka traits that worked really well when were scratching out an existence against a brutal and hostile natural world.... but in a modern sense now often cause more harm than good on a world wide or societal level. We are already burning through the resources of our planet, and to stop requires an economic system so completely foreign to us I'm not sure its possible without actually changing humans themselves.

Aka at some point, humanity's core thinking has to start moving as fast as our technology does.