Ridley Scott: Aliens exist and they will come for us ....

Poor Uncle Tom · 29-04-2017 10:24PM

Logic dictates that if the universe is infinite there are an infinite number of alien beings dispersed throughout it. If we can actually grasp what being infinite means then, not only are there exactly the type of aliens depicted in the films but there are an infinite number of them.

However, the universe is not infinite, but it is nearly unimaginably big and expanding. therefore it is very likely there is lots of sentient life out there, whether they would actually be bothered with us or not is the real question. I think not, in the evolutionary scale we are still in nappies, I don't think there will be any alien race coming this way to provide babysitting services anytime soon and I think it's unbelievably arrogant to invest any emotions, joyous or fearful, to that end.

Wibbs · 29-04-2017 10:37PM

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

therefore it is very likely there is lots of sentient life out there,

It seems likely and probably is, but it is not a given by any means. One can't extrapolate a decent theory from an example of one. However unlikely it may seem. it is also just possible that we're the only ones, alone, at least in this galaxy.

whether they would actually be bothered with us or not is the real question. I think not, in the evolutionary scale we are still in nappies,

IMH that's more a byproduct of the post Enlightenment notion that "ah sure we're not that special", a swing of the pendulum from where we thought we were the centre of the universe only answerable to a supernatural being(s). Again IMHO a swing a little too far.

We are special. We're the only creature in the entirety of life on Earth that considers such questions as this very thread asks.

Even if we were "still in nappies" to any passing alien, that doesn't mean they wouldn't take interest. On the contrary, they might take quite the bit of interest. We ourselves have taken interest in peoples and cultures that were outwardly "primitive" to the mainstream and continue to do so. We're deeply interested in "the other" and any insights they might give to the mainstream as far as origins go. Aliens may well think similarly.

Poor Uncle Tom · 29-04-2017 10:57PM

Wibbs wrote: »

It seems likely and probably is, but it is not a given by any means. One can't extrapolate a decent theory from an example of one. However unlikely it may seem. it is also just possible that we're the only ones, alone, at least in this galaxy.

Or as we used to say, 'All good in theory, but a different story in practice' you are probably right, but right now we just don't know.

Wibbs wrote: »

IMH that's more a byproduct of the post Enlightenment notion that "ah sure we're not that special", a swing of the pendulum from where we thought we were the centre of the universe only answerable to a supernatural being(s). Again IMHO a swing a little too far.

again, at times I think like you say but at other times I think not, the more humans are evolving the more self destructive they are getting.

Wibbs wrote: »

We are special. We're the only creature in the entirety of life on Earth that considers such questions as this very thread asks.

...at least the only ones we know of....

Wibbs wrote: »

Even if we were "still in nappies" to any passing alien, that doesn't mean they wouldn't take interest. On the contrary, they might take quite the bit of interest. We ourselves have taken interest in peoples and cultures that were outwardly "primitive" to the mainstream and continue to do so. We're deeply interested in "the other" and any insights they might give to the mainstream as far as origins go. Aliens may well think similarly.

I think they may very well take an interest in us, if we were a progressive society in the actual areas that mattered instead of just coming across as being a race of wasteful vermin spreading like a virus. It seems a very pessimistic view when I say it but on a global overview, that's how it looks.

GerryDerpy · 29-04-2017 11:11PM

We are because we have to be. With the same inputs (water, oxegyn etc.) in a different place of the universe then alien life MUST exist. The same way that an infinite amount of monkeys must be able to write a Shakespeare play word for word.

Capt'n Midnight · 29-04-2017 11:38PM

GerryDerpy wrote: »

We are because we have to be. With the same inputs (water, oxegyn etc.) in a different place of the universe then alien life MUST exist. The same way that an infinite amount of monkeys must be able to write a Shakespeare play word for word.

Oxygen ?

You do know this is produced by life don't you ?

Having free oxygen would kill off early life.

Capt'n Midnight · 30-04-2017 12:01AM

Fermi Paradox means that intelligent life is extremely rare.

Even with our technology we could send seed ships to the nearest star. It would take thousands of years to get there. But at that rate it would take only a tiny fraction of the universe's age to colonise our entire Galaxy.

The only good news is that we live at the bottom of a gravity well so it would be a PITA for ET to drop in on us. It would be like trying to drop in on someone living off grid in an Africa Village up a mountain when you are taking a flight to Australia.

We have very little they would need, as mining the asteroids would be far easier.

Junkyard Tom · 30-04-2017 12:38AM

Dublin Pintman wrote: »

Humanity confirmed for most cucked race in the galaxy.

Dublin Pintman wrote: »

Space Muslims?

Holy moly, the alt-right are taking thier moronic buzzwords intergalactic. The internet is fucked.

cml387 · 30-04-2017 12:39AM

judeboy101 wrote: »

Hopefully they'll take him first for his crimes against humanity i.e. Bladerunner 2 and Prometheus

And yet nobody's actually seen any of these films yet:rolleyes:

Well Bladerunner 2 anyway

Wibbs · 30-04-2017 10:06AM

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

again, at times I think like you say but at other times I think not, the more humans are evolving the more self destructive they are getting.

I'd disagree. Yes there are patches of crazy in the world, but overall humanity is in a far better place than even a century ago. We have fewer wars, longer lives, fewer diseases etc and that's improving with each decade that passes.

...at least the only ones we know of....

Nah, we're pretty much it.

I think they may very well take an interest in us, if we were a progressive society in the actual areas that mattered instead of just coming across as being a race of wasteful vermin spreading like a virus. It seems a very pessimistic view when I say it but on a global overview, that's how it looks.

I would suspect that any alien species similar to us might look like "wasteful vermin spreading like a virus" for a long period of their history. All previous humans that were around were very "green" and "environmentally friendly". They got to a certain small population size, hit the right predator to prey ratio and stayed there. For hundreds of thousands of years. Stasis. We come along and that all changes. We grow much larger interconnected populations, cause environmental change and progress. Neandertals might have been the Greenpeace poster boys, but they didn't build Taj Mahal's or books, or Saturn V rockets of internet or science.

Canis Lupus · 30-04-2017 10:37AM

flanna01 wrote: »

There are billion upon billions upon billion of stars (Suns to the ignorant)

The vast majority of these stars / Suns have planets spinning around them

A percentage of these planets reside I the 'Goldilocks zone' - Not too hot, not to cold - Eg: Perfect for life as we know it.

Does anybody really think we are alone in the Universe..? That we are so special? Are the chosen ones?? Pleeeease!!!!

Take a step back.... We are pointing weapons of mass destruction at each other, starving each other, bombing each other, killing each other.......

Religion was created to control the masses - Its as real as the Tellytubbies are...

Be nice to each other, respect each other - Stop thinking / believing we are the offspring of the God's created in his own image....

You are not - You are probably the most advanced (intellectually) bug, on the planet at the moment.

And yet here on goldilocks earth that has approx 8.2 million species living on it, 99% of all species that ever lived are extinct and all that over a few billion years only humans are sentient and intelligent.

Poor Uncle Tom · 30-04-2017 10:40AM

I have to say I actual agree with what you are saying, however I feel I have to say, BUT.... :P

Wibbs wrote: »

I'd disagree. Yes there are patches of crazy in the world, but overall humanity is in a far better place than even a century ago. We have fewer wars, longer lives, fewer diseases etc and that's improving with each decade that passes.

I agree from a 'human welfare development' point of view, but, from a 'sustainable developing environment' point of view there will be a cross over in that graph coming......

CalamariFritti · 30-04-2017 10:40AM

dmc17 wrote: »

Sure they surely can't be much worse than humans

That. If we discovered life and a planet worth our while that's what we'd do. We'd go there,take the place down and kill everything. After all that's what we do here.

Poor Uncle Tom · 30-04-2017 10:44AM

Canis Lupus wrote: »

And yet here on goldilocks earth that has approx 8.2 million species living on it, 99% of all species that ever lived are extinct and all that over a few billion years only humans are sentient and intelligent.

Actually I think an argument can be made for some plants being sentient... not the delicious ones though.. :pac:

Yourself isit · 30-04-2017 10:44AM

rockatansky wrote: »

Can't really see any issue with his logic.

As usual we have the centre of the universe complex, if there's other life out there then they're most definitely going to want to come to earth.

If s species on another planet has managed to achieve interstellar travel then they would have sufficient technology to have a look at whats going on down here without us knowing and see how big of s sh*t show we've created for ourselves.

My guess is that there's some beacon floating in space transmitting a message to all travellers to give this one a miss, it's not worth the hassle.

The idea that the earth is particularly dangerous right now is nonsense. Most people will die of old age or some complication of aging after living a long life span.

It also assumes that we are more violent than other species, which is a violation of the principle of mediocrity.

seamus · 30-04-2017 11:01AM

Canis Lupus wrote: »

And yet here on goldilocks earth that has approx 8.2 million species living on it, 99% of all species that ever lived are extinct and all that over a few billion years only humans are sentient and intelligent.

Humans are the only sentient and intelligent species we're aware of. We know that other sentient species have existed (Neanderthal) so it's an error to presume no other sentient species has existed in the last 4 billion years.
If humanity died out before the 1950s, there would be zero evidence of our existence five million years later apart from the odd fossil.

Our technology crumbles and disappears just like everything else, a new species would have no idea we were even here.

Could be the same for a sentient species of dinosaur, fish or mammal that existed 100 million years ago.

Even though we've launched stuff into space, in a cosmological timescale all of that stuff too could degrade and disappear.

seamus · 30-04-2017 11:17AM

FWIW the whole "Aliens could be hostile" thing comes from an improved awareness that humans are neither the model for evolution (if one exists) not on a predetermined evolutionary path.

There is no reason to presume "enlightenment" goes hand in hand with intelligence and technological advancement, or that aliens will by default be compassionate for other lifeforms.

Dublin Pintman wrote: »

Aliens invade and we respond by holding hands, singing songs, chanting 'we will not give you our hate' and changing our facebook profile pictures..

It would be as absurd as everyone running out and grabbing some guns and bombs.

A hostile race capable of interstellar travel and intent on invasion would laugh at any pathetic attempts to defend ourselves. Holding hands and singing cumbya would be no more pointless than attacking them.

Yourself isit · 30-04-2017 11:46AM

seamus wrote: »

Humans are the only sentient and intelligent species we're aware of. We know that other sentient species have existed (Neanderthal) so it's an error to presume no other sentient species has existed in the last 4 billion years.
If humanity died out before the 1950s, there would be zero evidence of our existence five million years later apart from the odd fossil.

Our technology crumbles and disappears just like everything else, a new species would have no idea we were even here.

Could be the same for a sentient species of dinosaur, fish or mammal that existed 100 million years ago.

Even though we've launched stuff into space, in a cosmological timescale all of that stuff too could degrade and disappear.

Neanderthals were humans.

I don't think anybody could say for certain that all traces of technology would disappear in 5 million years. There are 100M year old insects caught in amber.

I don't think any serious scientist thinks that the dinosaurs had a technological society.

The_Valeyard · 30-04-2017 12:08PM

Yourself isit wrote: »

Neanderthals were humans.

I don't think anybody could say for certain that all trades of technology would disappear in 5 million years. There are 100M year old insects caught in amber.

I don't think any serious scientist thinks that the dinosaurs had a technological society.

Think the National Geographic had a documentary that it would take less than 1000 years for nearly all traces of the human race to vanish.

Yourself isit · 30-04-2017 12:23PM

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Think the National Geographic had a documentary that it would take less than 1000 years for nearly all traces of the human race to vanish.

Except the pyramids?

There are 1000+ year old buildings that are intact now.

And many more ruins.

The_Valeyard · 30-04-2017 12:39PM

Yourself isit wrote: »

Except the pyramids?

There are 1000+ year old buildings that are intact now.

And many more ruins.

They mentioned that these have been maintained and preserved by humans.

Yourself isit · 30-04-2017 12:53PM

The_Valeyard wrote: »

They mentioned that these have been maintained and preserved by humans.

Not the ruins. In fact humans often destroyed older roman buildings - many more would have survived without barbarian attacks. People are not sure why the pantheon isn't in ruins given the attacks on older roman buildings. Nobody was paying much for the upkeep of the colleseum or pantheon in the dark ages.

However even ruins are traces of human civilization. even if all humans disappeared an intelligent alien species could work out we were here, certainly in 1000 years, in fact they could find evidence of all the historical periods of man.

......... · 30-04-2017 12:54PM

Rezident wrote: »

If there were aliens there would at least be some evidence. No such thing.

Logically, just because we haven't found any evidence of alien life yet, doesn't mean there isn't any, nor does it mean that alien life does not exist.

Gazzmonkey · 30-04-2017 12:57PM

Yourself isit wrote: »

Except the pyramids?

There are 1000+ year old buildings that are intact now.

And many more ruins.

Hence been called ruins

They're on the way out

......... · 30-04-2017 12:59PM

seamus wrote: »

FWIW the whole "Aliens could be hostile" thing comes from an improved awareness that humans are neither the model for evolution (if one exists) not on a predetermined evolutionary path.

There is no reason to presume "enlightenment" goes hand in hand with intelligence and technological advancement, or that aliens will by default be compassionate for other lifeforms.

It would be as absurd as everyone running out and grabbing some guns and bombs.

A hostile race capable of interstellar travel and intent on invasion would laugh at any pathetic attempts to defend ourselves. Holding hands and singing cumbya would be no more pointless than attacking them.

If a more advanced alien species are ever interested in coming to earth, and they are as greedy, short sighted, self interested, manipulative and hypocritical in practicing and preaching morality as the human race . . . then we're in trouble.

Yourself isit · 30-04-2017 01:00PM

Gazzmonkey wrote: »

Hence been called ruins

They're on the way out

That's not the point. They are traces of older human settlements. In fact you don't need visible ruins for that. We can tell iron age settlements from changes in the landscape.

Cheerful Spring · 30-04-2017 01:36PM

Non human's likely have visited the earth already. When you get pass the weirdo and frauds, who claim they saw UFO's,you will find compelling cases for alien visitation online.

Rendeslam Forest is the most compelling case for UFO visitation. Over 2 nights events where UFO appeared in the sky above a Nato base Suffolk, England. The UFO's was witnessed by 30 soldiers and it's deputy base commander (Dec 1980)

The Deputy commander of the Nato base recorded some of the events at the base as they where happening.

TerrorFirmer · 30-04-2017 01:53PM

Yourself isit wrote: »

Neanderthals were humans.

Neanderthals and 'modern' humans are actually separate species. They lived together at one point until the former became extinct.

Wibbs · 30-04-2017 02:22PM

seamus wrote: »

Humans are the only sentient and intelligent species we're aware of. We know that other sentient species have existed (Neanderthal) so it's an error to presume no other sentient species has existed in the last 4 billion years.

A different sentience going on compared to ours. For example over the 300 odd thousand years of Neandertal existence their technology advanced to a negligible degree. They physical changed depending on area and time, but their tech shows little to no innovation in all that time. Their 200,000 year old toolkit looked like a 50,000 year old one. It worked so they didn't change it. Modern human tech when it came along arrived like an explosion and changed at a dizzying speed by comparison(it also varied far more depending on location).

If humanity died out before the 1950s, there would be zero evidence of our existence five million years later apart from the odd fossil.

Our technology crumbles and disappears just like everything else, a new species would have no idea we were even here.

Pretty much nonsense I'm afraid. Even if we forget about direct artefacts many of which most would certainly survive as we have produced so much "stuff". Our impact on the environment itself would be self evident to any species with minds like our own. Never mind manmade elements(and life) that are not found in nature. We've even changed the global climate and not just recently either. We pretty much put off another ice age thousands of years ago. Even the course of mass extinctions in our wake would show that something was up. We have impacted this planet like no other species of higher life and that impact, that Human layer will remain visible for a very very long time.

Hell I have in my possession archaic human tools the youngest of which is circa 30,000 years old, the oldest a million and a half. Being made of stone they tend to linger and if my examples ended up buried by a cataclysm they would survive for many many millions of years. After all dinosaur bones are made of mineralised bone(basically speaking), they turned to stone and survived for 100's of millions of years.

This notion that we're just another creature, a brief thing, somehow unimportant, easily written over by Mother Nature is quite the recent one. That pendulum overswing from where we once considered ourselves the be all and end all. The reality is far more in the middle and indeed easily argued more towards the previous position.

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Think the National Geographic had a documentary that it would take less than 1000 years for nearly all traces of the human race to vanish.

That Nat Geo "documentary" could have passed good muster as fertiliser. Dumbed down science, minus the science.

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Neanderthals and 'modern' humans are actually separate species.

Sub species. We successfully had kids with each other and non Africans carry that genetic legacy down to today.

Capt'n Midnight · 01-05-2017 01:31AM

Canis Lupus wrote: »

And yet here on goldilocks earth that has approx 8.2 million species living on it, 99% of all species that ever lived are extinct and all that over a few billion years only humans are sentient and intelligent.

Evolution is an arms race.

Dinosaurs were dumb. Even the smartest ones were dumb, going by brain size.

But very successful because everything else was even dumber.

There's no advantage in being too intelligent, because brains need lots of resources and are fragile. So you need more nutritious food , so you need to take more risks to get it. It's better to be smarter than average so you get the advantages without having a massive overhead.

KKkitty · 01-05-2017 01:42AM

They'll see who we elect as our leaders, say feck it in their alien language and hightail it back to wherever they came from.

Ridley Scott: Aliens exist and they will come for us ....

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