Aliens could be discovered in the next 20 years, say astronomers. - Polidicks

[QUOTE=jonu67;44881513]That's how I've always imagined racism or at least human racism would eventually disappear completely, most of the racists would just be really racist/xenophobic towards the aliens. :v:[/QUOTE] That would be one form in which the intersocietal displacement would manifest itself, yeah. It doesn't even have to be racism, but just a distant kind of treatment; 'them' versus 'us'. We, they. And so forth.

[QUOTE=Itszutak;44881389]the real aliens come from inside in, like, a heart-of-the-cards way, not a chestburster way[/QUOTE] you mean like midichlorians Dammit, I'm looking for this one video of "WE ARE NOT ALONE" from a few years back where it goes on the typical "there's been another form of life alongside us this whole time" spiel and then reveals they're talking about pets. All I'm getting is actual "we're not alone" videos, "don't leave your pets alone", and Breakfast Club.

[QUOTE=Orkel;44881297]Started to ban for image macro Noticed you're a moderator :C[/QUOTE] That counts as an image macro? Doesn't it predate the very concept of image macros?

if we ever find intelligent life, chances are they already found us.

Are the folks from the SETI institute actual, licensed astronomers? That guy in the OP photo doesn't quite look sciency enough for my taste.

[QUOTE=theevilldeadII;44881521]oh there talking about any kind of animal life ( which is cool. ) but I was thinking a civilization[/QUOTE] If we ever actually do find life out there, chances are it'll just be single celled shit

[QUOTE=Chief Martini;44881465]If anything the discovery of an extraterrestrial species would only catalyze our interspecial development for Earth and the human race as a whole-- the differences between ethnicities and nations we suffer from right now would likely decrease rapidly. Why? Well, humans work from an ingroup VS outgroup model, for instance an American citizen would have America as an ingroup and Iceland as an outgroup; their ingroup is a group with which they identify themselves and an outgroup is the group with which they do not. Now, logically, the more one does not identify themselves with an outgroup and the more prominent this outgroup is, the more they identify themselves with their particular ingroup, and vice-versa. Now, the differences between these two groups (in this example, America and Iceland) would still exist if we discovered alien life, [i]but[/i] would be of less significance, as our primary ingroup would then center around mankind as a race VS the aliens as a race. Right now we can't look through the lense of our human species as we've got no other intelligent species to differentiate ourselves from throughout it.[/QUOTE] I'm glad there's some kind of official recognition of this behaviour - I always imagined this would be the case if we did find aliens. It's strange how our Earth enemies would almost instantly become our allies

I am uneasy about this. What if they are hostile? Why not wait until we have some kind of defense?

[QUOTE=SexualShark;44881772]I am uneasy about this. What if they are hostile? Why not wait until we have some kind of defense?[/QUOTE] What more defence do we need than the North Korean nuclear program?

Guessing by the picture of Europa, the aliens they're talking about are microbes and optimistically, invertebrates.

[QUOTE=OvB;44881798]Guessing by the picture of Europa, the aliens they're talking about are microbes and optimistically, invertebrates.[/QUOTE] I was just going to ask this. There's no way we are expecting intelligent highly formed life or anything like that in 20 years. I would say that would be in question if we were able to travel to other planets outside of our solar system in an efficient manner, which sadly almost seems an impossible dream with what we know about physics right now. If we manage to somehow survive for a long time we might find a way with further advancements in scientific knowledge.

question: would it be unethical to have "aquariums" or whatever on earth of alien life

Report every mod, show them our collective power. We are the 99%

[QUOTE=SexualShark;44881772]I am uneasy about this. What if they are hostile? Why not wait until we have some kind of defense?[/QUOTE] Defense against what? We have no idea what other species' capabilities are, there's no way to predict what type of defense we'd need.

[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;44881840]question: would it be unethical to have "aquariums" or whatever on earth of alien life[/QUOTE] If we're talking about "animal" xenos as opposed to space aliens, it'd only be as unethical as regular zoos are, unless the Thracian gorygnak is considered "sacred" like the cow is in India. Keeping actual alien people in zoos would end up with Earth, or at least the nation harbouring the "zoo", massive sanctions against them, courtesy of the GC (Galactic Community). Not to mention all the boxes and red crosses ever from users of Spacepunch Alpha (GC equivalent of Facepunch).

[QUOTE=Ninja Gnome;44881840]question: would it be unethical to have "aquariums" or whatever on earth of alien life[/QUOTE] Depends on the environment they live in, the population of its species, the perceived intelligence of said species, the response to environmental stress and change, among other things. If it's a fish from Europa, it would probably not be feasible from a humane standpoint. We can hardly keep Earth fish alive in captivity for their whole natural lives.

[QUOTE=OvB;44881798]Guessing by the picture of Europa, the aliens they're talking about are microbes and optimistically, invertebrates.[/QUOTE] i wonder what low-gravity sea life looks like. some kinda weird space octopus i guess? [editline]23rd May[/editline] the first thought is some eerily beautiful aquatic creature but the reality is that they would probably be horribly scary and disgusting in every way imaginable, because that's just our luck with these kinds of things

[QUOTE=Cone;44881958]i wonder what low-gravity sea life looks like. some kinda weird space octopus i guess? [editline]23rd May[/editline] the first thought is some eerily beautiful aquatic creature but the reality is that they would probably be horribly scary and disgusting in every way imaginable, because that's just our luck with these kinds of things[/QUOTE] Well, somebody had to discover each and every beautiful animal on Earth, just like somebody had to discover each ugly and nasty one. I'd say it's an even shot.

[QUOTE=Cone;44881958]i wonder what low-gravity sea life looks like. some kinda weird space octopus i guess? [editline]23rd May[/editline] the first thought is some eerily beautiful aquatic creature but the reality is that they would probably be horribly scary and disgusting in every way imaginable, because that's just our luck with these kinds of things[/QUOTE] I think we've been pretty lucky with discovering new sea creatures so far. We haven't pissed off the Kraken and the merpeople haven't waged war.

What a world we live in. So much bigger then our own. Im late apparently, i need to go outside more. Thanks man.

[QUOTE=ridinmybike;44881737]if we ever find intelligent life, chances are they already found us.[/QUOTE] I've always been curious about this, why would they have to be ahead of us technologically? Couldn't we technically be the most advanced species out there?

[QUOTE=Trogdon;44882138]I've always been curious about this, why would they have to be ahead of us technologically? Couldn't we technically be the most advanced species out there?[/QUOTE] we could but anyone we find would be wanting to be found, and they would need some mad tech to be able to broadcast signals we could recieve [editline]23rd May 2014[/editline] tbh i think our definition of life is too narrow for the variety of environments that can and do exist outside the earf

[QUOTE=Trogdon;44882138]I've always been curious about this, why would they have to be ahead of us technologically? Couldn't we technically be the most advanced species out there?[/QUOTE] it's been said that we as a species inhabit a very specific point in terms of technological progress. if you consider the amount of time we've spent as we are now, compared to the amount of time we spent gathering berries and huddling in caves, the chances of finding someone on our exact level get to be quite astronomically low. any state that they would spend a majority of their time in is the state we're most likely to find them in, right? so, whoever we find will probably either be animals or tribes like we once were, or much further ahead than us. they don't HAVE to be more advanced than us, but it's much more likely that we'll run into someone who is than someone who's on our specific level, or just below us, or just above us. and when you consider the amount of time between the beginning of the universe and the first microbes forming on Earth, it seems like a pretty odd statistical anomaly that we be the first to hit this level.

[QUOTE=Cone;44882216]it's been said that we as a species inhabit a very specific point in terms of technological progress. if you consider the amount of time we've spent as we are now, compared to the amount of time we spent gathering berries and huddling in caves, the chances of finding someone on our exact level get to be quite astronomically low. any state that they would spend a majority of their time in is the state we're most likely to find them in, right? so, whoever we find will probably either be animals or tribes like we once were, or much further ahead than us. they don't HAVE to be more advanced than us, but it's much more likely that we'll run into someone who is than someone who's on our specific level, or just below us, or just above us. and when you consider the amount of time between the beginning of the universe and the first microbes forming on Earth, it seems like a pretty odd statistical anomaly that we be the first to hit this level.[/QUOTE] It is said that if we encounter sentient life, they'd either be cavemen or angels, at a primitive level of basic stone tools or guarding the Palladium Gates of the Shattered Princess.

[QUOTE=Eyefunk;44881559]I wonder how religious figures would respond to intelligent life being found outside of earth.[/QUOTE] well the pope apparently said he's fine with christening aliens

[QUOTE=Eyefunk;44881559]I wonder how religious figures would respond to intelligent life being found outside of earth.[/QUOTE] [I]"Suffer not the Xenos to live." -Matthew 40:11[/I]

Says [B]Astronomer[/B]. Singular.

Well, I think the Jewish faith wouldn't be too shaken, since if I recall wasn't there an ancient Hebrew manuscript that stated their God was "God of all worlds"? Still, I think there might end up being "newer testaments" in the future, wherein they state Creation never stopped and that God in His omnipresence wandered the cosmos to create the other races from the clays of the other worlds, with many Edens and the constant re-emergence of Satan to tempt the xenos to become as one of Them, knowing good and evil. It'd be interesting to know what religions the xenos may have, too. Also what if, assuming there's a GalCom of races roughly a few centuries ahead of us, there are certain criteria they possess before we are no longer (presumably) off-limits in accordance with First Contact legislation? Would we be accepted once we have discovered FTL, or cast aside the usage of money, or if we simply discovered the existence of the GalCom with such widespread distribution that there would be no way to hide it anymore? If the lattermost, then the Internet would definitely be at least one of the prerequisites for acceptance into GalCom.

[QUOTE=SexualShark;44881772]I am uneasy about this. What if they are hostile? Why not wait until we have some kind of defense?[/QUOTE] You kidding? Humanity is a bunch of hardcore motherfuckers. Some pansy ass aliens wanna start shit we'll tear them a new one.