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ThatDamnedPanda -> RE: Creationist Science Fair (8/28/2009 2:09:40 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY
quote:
ORIGINAL: ThatDamnedPanda
Frankly, as exciting as it would be, I think I would much rather we never find out for sure. It's very unlikely we would detect them without them detecting us, and if they are even a few generations more advanced than we are, I think there's a pretty good chance we wouldn't like the way it turned out. Granted, we only have human history to go on, but if you look back over the centuries you find very, very few encouraging examples of what happens when a technologically superior culture comes into contact with an inferior one, or a stronger species comes into contact with a weaker one. I'd feel much more comfortable if we kept as low a profile as possible.
I agree.
There is a theory that the first "predatory", non-emphatic species to gain the ability to travel the universe would seek to destroy any possible competition.
And in fact, why would they not? They probably risk a lot more from letting other cultures survive and compete than they stand to gain from exchanging any information or technology. You don't typically see many examples of that over the course of human history - instances where an advanced culture immediately exterminates a less-advanced culture as soon as they come in contact - but I think there are several reasons for that that would not apply in a meeting between two alien cultures. First, humans have a natural empathy toward their own species, and generally don't kill other humans without some compelling reason. Second, even widely differing human civilizations have enough cultural commonalities that an advanced society can benefit from trading with, or assimilating, a less-advanced culture. In such cases, the inferior culture almost invariably gets badly screwed over time, but it's extremely rare for them to be completely exterminated. And third, it's hard work for even an advanced culture to completely wipe out a primitive one - it takes a lot of money, takes a lot of time, and no matter how technologically advanced you are, you're going to take a lot of casualties. It's usually much more advantageous for even a very advanced culture to simply exploit a weaker culture than to exterminate them.
But none of those reasons would apply to an alien race. What could a civilization that has mastered faster-than-light travel have to learn from us? Even if they were an empathic species, how likely is it that their empathy for another species would outweigh their own instinct for self-preservation? What could we trade that they couldn't just take? Better to stamp us out before we develop something that could threaten them. They've already seen enough of our television broadcasts to know what a pack of total fruitbats we are, and what a tremendous propensity we have for destruction and violence even toward our own species. They'd have to be nuts to risk letting us keep living in the neighborhood they're just moving into.
quote:
ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY
Which would explain the absence of the millions of civilizations that some hypothesis's posit.
You raise your voice, you get eaten.
I'm not sure whether you're aware of it, but there are a number of astronomers who seriously suggest exactly that. I believe Carl Sagan was one who at least thought it was quite possible, although I may not be remembering that accurately. I do know there've been a few who've spoken fairly openly about their discomfort with the way we've been broadcasting both our presence and our violent, unstable nature in all directions at the speed of light for over 70 years now, and I think they've got a pretty good point. Not that there's anything we can do about it now, of course. What was that line in "Contact?" Something like, "Well, we could see from the Hitler business that you were clearly in trouble - but the Beethoven told us there was hope." Maybe we ought to be broadcasting more Beethoven and less CNN and Fox.
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