Whistle blower says non-human bodies recovered from crash

[Reynard]

For example the Spider Cows and Spider Goats that scientists have created, through genetic manipulation, to produce silk along with their milk.

This can't possibly turn out badly.

 

[Guest 85555]

This can't possibly turn out badly.
View attachment 291122

You need your daily dose of silk

 

[Reynard]

You need your daily dose of silk

My wife puts that stuff in her coffee.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

The problem with the Fermi paradox is that it hinges on the belief that we've looked and we haven't seen them. That's just not true. We have scanned an immeasurably small percentage of the sky for signals that don't propagate particularly well with tools not actually built to find what they are looking for.

We are getting a little better with projects meant to start looking for high intensity laser communications. And we are working on tools to examine exoplanet atmospheres for signs of life and industrial activity, but we are a very long way from being able to legitimately wonder "where is everyone?"

There is also the possibility that the signals we are looking for may not be emitted by alien civilisations. We started looking for deliberate emission on the Hydrogen line because we speculated that aliens would be seeking communication. But really we were like the drunk looking for his keys under the street light (because that is where the light is). Even at the time we could only detect stuff like the military early warning radar at thousands of light years (may be some of the bigger TV broadcasts).
Now military radar technology has changed drastically and emits at much lower powers. Same with all other broadcasts and a lot of signal traffic is in orbit pointed to earth.
Our current tech would have trouble spotting us at hundreds of light years.
In my opinion, true SETI will require the ability to do atmospheric spectroscopy at the galaxy scale. I am not even sure we could confidently say that there is no Dyson Sphere/Swarm in the Milky Way.

 

[Reynard]

For those interested, the Cool Worlds youtube channel has some really sober, informative and engaging videos about big space physics and how that might interact with SETI.

 

[Ryujin]

There is also the possibility that the signals we are looking for may not be emitted by alien civilisations. We started looking for deliberate emission on the Hydrogen line because we speculated that aliens would be seeking communication. But really we were like the drunk looking for his keys under the street light (because that is where the light is). Even at the time we could only detect stuff like the military early warning radar at thousands of light years (may be some of the bigger TV broadcasts).
Now military radar technology has changed drastically and emits at much lower powers. Same with all other broadcasts and a lot of signal traffic is in orbit pointed to earth.
Our current tech would have trouble spotting us at hundreds of light years.
In my opinion, true SETI will require the ability to do atmospheric spectroscopy at the galaxy scale. I am not even sure we could confidently say that there is no Dyson Sphere/Swarm in the Milky Way.

Now consider that our own "radio bubble" within which some other species might notice us is less than 260 light years across, for our weakest signals. no one is noticing us.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Now consider that our own "radio bubble" within which some other species might notice us is less than 260 light years across, for our weakest signals. no one is noticing us.

That is the maximum detectable bubble, since we have been only transmitting for about 120/30 years or so. The Cold War Era of high power radar is roughly 1950 to 1980'ies when they started to rely more on satellites and were switching radar to spread spectrum phase array setups that used less power. (I am going from memory here and am not current with the timeline).
After that we more or less switch over to low power local emissions and cables signals and are probably quieter at stellar distance than we were 30 years ago (inverse square law and all that).
I believe that there was a period during the cold war that the early warning system made earth brighter than the sun at the relevant frequencies, but that is a bubble of emissions that is 30 to 60 lightyears out and fading into the solar background.

 

[RealAlHazred]

For those interested, the Cool Worlds youtube channel has some really sober, informative and engaging videos about big space physics and how that might interact with SETI.

For those interested even further, Coast to Coast AM has some really sober... in- informative, and en-... pbtpbtpbtpbtpbt HAHAHAHA!

I'm sorry. I couldn't finish the statement with a straight face.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Certain sides of American politics claim that we must believe all whistleblowers- until things blew against them. So then we are left with trust but verify.

That’s never been a thing outside strawman accusations.

Complex biochemicals for one thing. Program a living population's DNA and they can produce all sorts of specialised materials at scales that artificial production would struggle to match. We've done it more crudely since prehistoric times, from when we first started breeding domestic livestock and crops. These days we can tailor crops to make complex pharmaceuticals, and animals to grow replacement organs.

Now imagine being able to do it far more precisely, for a far wider selection of products, through genetic tailoring. Then imagine gaining access to a whole new ecosystem that you don't have to worry about messing up because you don't live in it, and which is different enough from your own that you can use it to build all new products.

It means anything that living beings can produce naturally, plus everything they could be engineered to produce. Basically, anything involving complex organic chemistry.

If they can travel the universe and colonize other planets, they almost certainly have more efficient ways to produce organic chemical compounds.

 

[MGibster]

You don't think a species capable of interstellar travel can engineer the air they need to breath? If not it might make interstellar travel a bit difficult.

One of the things I hated about Star Trek: Voyager was the bad guys from season 1, the Kazon, were experiencing a water shortage. These dudes had the ability to move faster than the speed of light but couldn't figure out how to throw hydrogen and oxygen together to make water?