RE: When do you think we will have extraterrestrials visit us? visit us
June 8, 2012 at 1:53 pm
(This post was last modified: June 8, 2012 at 2:00 pm by Anomalocaris.)
1. Scientific Courisity - I think scientific curiosity doesn't require their making themselves known to us. In fact, in the interest of not contaminating their observation, they may intentionally hide themselves from us like a bird watcher might hide himself from the birds by building a blind.
2. Tourism - I think tourism bespeakes of components of psychological makeup similar to ours which any technological aliens may not necessarily have to have. If they do share it to some degree they may also be satisfied with telepresence through remoting sensing using techniques unknown and undetectable to us.
3. Natural resource - All forms of matter are energy. Once transformed into energy, all matter are interchangeable. To get any material resource, you will ultimately need just energy - to transform into matter, and information - to know what properties to give to the matter. So I tend to think natural resources itself will not be at any sort of premium at all once an technological civilzation masters sufficiently powerful sources of energy. If I were to guess, I woiuld say our own civilization is probably within several hundred years of economic transmutation of matter and energy. So I will guess most technological advanced civilizations woiuld already have this. So tghe only resource they need is energy.. Once energy is available, any matter required is just a form of manufactured goods, not a raw resource. There is no particularly sources of energy in our solar system (we know of) that is not as common as sand in the rest of universe. So I suspect nothing on the resource front would interest any alien civilizations in our solar system.
4. Trade - based on 3, the only items worth trading would be energy and information. Do we have any in sufficient quantity and of sufficient quality to trade with in the near future? Probably not.
5. Charity/Conservation - I suspect even our own inclination to preserve life on a particular planet would go down after one learns just how many lineages of independent life there are in the universe. Add this to the possibility that the aliens may not share the psychology of conservation and charity with us at all. So one might just assume if we can't be of steady value to them, then they wouldn't lift a tentacle to preserve us.
6. Immigration/Occupation - I suspect reasonably advanced aliens with command of economic matter - energy transmulation would not be tied to any planet, and be relatively indifferent to where they live.
So that's why I don't see any compelling reason why Aliens would be inclined to make themselves known to us.
2. Tourism - I think tourism bespeakes of components of psychological makeup similar to ours which any technological aliens may not necessarily have to have. If they do share it to some degree they may also be satisfied with telepresence through remoting sensing using techniques unknown and undetectable to us.
3. Natural resource - All forms of matter are energy. Once transformed into energy, all matter are interchangeable. To get any material resource, you will ultimately need just energy - to transform into matter, and information - to know what properties to give to the matter. So I tend to think natural resources itself will not be at any sort of premium at all once an technological civilzation masters sufficiently powerful sources of energy. If I were to guess, I woiuld say our own civilization is probably within several hundred years of economic transmutation of matter and energy. So I will guess most technological advanced civilizations woiuld already have this. So tghe only resource they need is energy.. Once energy is available, any matter required is just a form of manufactured goods, not a raw resource. There is no particularly sources of energy in our solar system (we know of) that is not as common as sand in the rest of universe. So I suspect nothing on the resource front would interest any alien civilizations in our solar system.
4. Trade - based on 3, the only items worth trading would be energy and information. Do we have any in sufficient quantity and of sufficient quality to trade with in the near future? Probably not.
5. Charity/Conservation - I suspect even our own inclination to preserve life on a particular planet would go down after one learns just how many lineages of independent life there are in the universe. Add this to the possibility that the aliens may not share the psychology of conservation and charity with us at all. So one might just assume if we can't be of steady value to them, then they wouldn't lift a tentacle to preserve us.
6. Immigration/Occupation - I suspect reasonably advanced aliens with command of economic matter - energy transmulation would not be tied to any planet, and be relatively indifferent to where they live.
So that's why I don't see any compelling reason why Aliens would be inclined to make themselves known to us.
