Strange science 😦

[Thumpalumpacus]

Alien Probes Could Already Lurk in Our Solar System, Study Says

According to new research by Professor Alex Ellery of Carleton University, self-replicating probes may have already visited the Solar System, and some could be operating here right now.

As he recommends in a recent paper, future SETI surveys should be on the lookout for the telltale technosignatures these probes would produce.

Ellery concludes that the activities of interstellar self-replicating probes would follow a basic pattern that can be broken down into the six likely steps.

First, they would target the ubiquitous asteroids and moons in a specific system for their readily accessible raw materials, which are required for universal construction.

Second, from these materials, they would build surveying probes to survey the extrasolar system for resources and life-bearing environments comprehensively.

Third, they would select and secure resource-rich locations to establish bases for self-replication operations. Fourth, they would begin replicating more copies of themselves, including surveyor probes and sentinels.

The fifth step would consist of the long-term and detailed exploration of the extrasolar system using these same probes.

The sixth and final step would see the probes execute specific task instructions, which could include building O'Neill Cylinders for future settlers while (hopefully) not encroaching on potentially life-bearing planets.

Another possible task, and a highly controversial one, would be the seeding of planets with simple or more complex organisms (aka. Directed Panspermia). Based on this breakdown of activities, self-replicating probes would produce technosignatures that future surveys could look for.

Ultimately, Ellery concluded that asteroidal processing would be difficult to distinguish from natural processes and that the Moon would be an ideal base for self-replicating probes to center their manufacturing operations.

Moreover, he suggests that nuclear reactors would likely power these operations, as they are a highly fuel-efficient power source that provides virtually unlimited energy density. This could include Magnox models, a type of gas-cooled reactor that utilizes natural uranium, graphite, and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant.

These, he concluded, could be constructed using lunar resources, and that the reactors would have left isotopic ratio signatures of Thorium-232, Neodinium-144, and/or Barium-137.

All of this makes the Moon the ideal place to begin searching for possible indications of associated technosignatures.

https://www.sciencealert.com/alien-probe...study-says

That's awfully anthropocentric.

[zebo-the-fat]

Alien Probes Could Already Lurk in Our Solar System, Study Says

According to new research by Professor Alex Ellery of Carleton University, self-replicating probes may have already visited the Solar System, and some could be operating here right now.

As he recommends in a recent paper, future SETI surveys should be on the lookout for the telltale technosignatures these probes would produce.

Ellery concludes that the activities of interstellar self-replicating probes would follow a basic pattern that can be broken down into the six likely steps.

First, they would target the ubiquitous asteroids and moons in a specific system for their readily accessible raw materials, which are required for universal construction.

Second, from these materials, they would build surveying probes to survey the extrasolar system for resources and life-bearing environments comprehensively.

Third, they would select and secure resource-rich locations to establish bases for self-replication operations. Fourth, they would begin replicating more copies of themselves, including surveyor probes and sentinels.

The fifth step would consist of the long-term and detailed exploration of the extrasolar system using these same probes.

The sixth and final step would see the probes execute specific task instructions, which could include building O'Neill Cylinders for future settlers while (hopefully) not encroaching on potentially life-bearing planets.

Another possible task, and a highly controversial one, would be the seeding of planets with simple or more complex organisms (aka. Directed Panspermia). Based on this breakdown of activities, self-replicating probes would produce technosignatures that future surveys could look for.

Ultimately, Ellery concluded that asteroidal processing would be difficult to distinguish from natural processes and that the Moon would be an ideal base for self-replicating probes to center their manufacturing operations.

Moreover, he suggests that nuclear reactors would likely power these operations, as they are a highly fuel-efficient power source that provides virtually unlimited energy density. This could include Magnox models, a type of gas-cooled reactor that utilizes natural uranium, graphite, and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant.

These, he concluded, could be constructed using lunar resources, and that the reactors would have left isotopic ratio signatures of Thorium-232, Neodinium-144, and/or Barium-137.

All of this makes the Moon the ideal place to begin searching for possible indications of associated technosignatures.

https://www.sciencealert.com/alien-probe...study-says

A lot of "could" and "maybe" not much "is" or "proven"

[Fake Messiah]

Reading that article reminds me of the scene in the movie Kinsey where Dr. Kinsey is faced with the slew of questions about human sexuality and he just says "I don't know. Nobody has researched it." That's almost how it is with the Fermi paradox: we cannot even begin to think about the intelligence in the universe. As if it uncovers like a large wall that separates human knowledge and the great unknown.

Perhaps the key is when Alex mentions that asteroids could hold a clue to alien mining, but then he also says that it would be difficult to distinguish from natural processes.

So it seems that the fix would be to look at the universe from up close. To send more robots around the solar system to see what things look like (caves on Mars, surface of Venus, various moons, asteroids, etc.), to get to know them, and maybe then we can start to think.

[Fireball]

Just look for terraria. Those reptilian overlords have to start from somewhere. 

[Thumpalumpacus]

So it seems that the fix would be to look at the universe from up close. To send more robots around the solar system to see what things look like (caves on Mars, surface of Venus, various moons, asteroids, etc.), to get to know them, and maybe then we can start to think.

... and to be more open to more exotic forms of evidence that we may not at first recognize as such.

[AFTT47]

Alien Probes Could Already Lurk in Our Solar System, Study Says

According to new research by Professor Alex Ellery of Carleton University, self-replicating probes may have already visited the Solar System, and some could be operating here right now.

That's actually an old idea which Professor Ellery just fleshed out a bit. They are commonly called Von Neuman Probes after the physicist John Von Neuman who was the first to suggest self-replicating machines. The Monolith in the 2001/2010 movies is a Von Neuman probe. They are thought to be the most likely way an alien intelligence would explore the galaxy.

I love his idea of them building O'Neil cylinders, just waiting for us to move into! I think that part is a bit of wishful thinking, lol.

[Paleophyte]

Alien Probes Could Already Lurk in Our Solar System, Study Says

Old news. I often wonder what they mean by the word "study" in this case. How many alien probes were examined? I suppose calling it an opinion piece would detract from their headline revenue.

The simple answer is that we don't see the alien equivalent of microplastics drifting around our solar system. It's possible that it wouldn't be plastics at all, but engineered materials of one form or another should be pretty obvious.

Moreover, he suggests that nuclear reactors would likely power these operations, as they are a highly fuel-efficient power source that provides virtually unlimited energy density.

Caveman concludes that aliens would power their ray guns by hitting flint together really, really hard.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Moreover, he suggests that nuclear reactors would likely power these operations, as they are a highly fuel-efficient power source that provides virtually unlimited energy density.

Caveman concludes that aliens would power their ray guns by hitting flint together really, really hard.

And somehow these radioactive sources would not be detectable.

[Aoi Magi]

Why can't reality both be real, and a simulation? I don't see it necessarily being either or

I think it would have to be either/or. If it’s real, it’s not a simulation. If it’s a simulation, it’s not real.

A simulation is, by definition, an imitative representation of reality. The root is the Latin simulato, meaning ‘pretense’ or ‘imitation’.

Boru

But wouldn't it be real to the observers within a simulation? I mean think of an AI being trained in a nvidia virtual world, to the AI that is reality, but to us it is a simulation.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I think it would have to be either/or. If it’s real, it’s not a simulation. If it’s a simulation, it’s not real.

A simulation is, by definition, an imitative representation of reality. The root is the Latin simulato, meaning ‘pretense’ or ‘imitation’.

Boru

But wouldn't it be real to the observers within a simulation? I mean think of an AI being trained in a nvidia virtual world, to the AI that is reality, but to us it is a simulation.

Fair point, but that which seems real isn’t necessarily real. Consider an LSD or mescaline trip. What the user experiences may seem ‘real’ to them, but it doesn’t fit any reasonable definition of reality.

The same with simulations. Video game images or virtual reality experiences are counterfeits of reality.

But the question is essentially moot, as we would experience a simulated universe in exactly the same way we would a real one.

Boru