Are we alone?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

And HOLY SHIT!  Suppose we send out the one signal that alerts some race of giants with technology that leads them here so we can all be made into little sausage links for their dinner tables? Oops. Well we didn't really mean for this to happen so let's pretend that it didn't. We're an extremely war-like bunch and make assumptions that every other potential race in the universe isn't.. That's a hell of a leap of faith wouldn't you say?

And another one is to assume that they're like us in any way.

[TomFoolery]

One thing the Drake Equation ignores is "Why would they come here?"

It doesn't, actually. This falls under the consideration of Communication (f sub c). They must be both able and willing to communicate.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It doesn't, actually. This falls under the consideration of Communication (f sub c). They must be both able and willing to communicate.

And the "willing" requires that they be interested in talking to us or visiting. Why would they do that?

[TomFoolery]

And the "willing" requires that they be interested in talking to us or visiting. Why would they do that?

They might not be. That's why you have to consider that before assigned a value to f sub c.

[widdershins]

I think planets that are sufficiently Earth-like are very rare. It's unlikely that any such are within several thousand light years of us, if there are any at all. Even if there are planets enough like ours, the likelihood is very small, I think, that evolution would've generated something remotely like us.

Of course, there could be life very much unlike us, not needing our type of planet at all.


This is the rare Earth equation:

I watch a lot of sci-fi and I can tell you definitively, almost all intelligent life in the universe has quite a bit in common with us.  Usually 2 legs, 2 arms, 2 eyes on the front of the head, we can mate with most of it (thank you Captain Kirk for testing compatibility with literally every green species).  They do sometimes breath different atmosphere, but for the most part they're even oxygen breathers, or at least can wear an unobtrusive device creating little wisps now and then so that they can tolerate our atmosphere.  The biggest differences tend to be the head and face or number of fingers and the occasional antenna.

[TomFoolery]

I watch a lot of sci-fi and I can tell you definitively, almost all intelligent life in the universe has quite a bit in common with us. 

No... Some of them have strange ridges on their foreheads, whilst others have strange ridges on their cheeks. Still other species might have some kind of ridge on their chin, an unusual plume of hair, or colorful spotting. We're entirely different. Fantastically different. Not at all alike. Tell me that Bajorans, Betazoids, Trills, or Vulcans are like humans and I'll call you insane.

[Baruch]

Those are just the kind of diverse "humans" you find in Hollywood ;-)  They aren't aliens at all, unless they hail from Mexico ;-))

[fencerider]

Thanks for the correction TomFoolery. I wasn't aware of self annihilation being in the equation...

S.C.P. is a good way to imagine who is going to eat us for dinner. It would be nice to be so different that any alien visitors could coexist because they dont need what we need to live.

Attention all aliens that want to eat us Please, Please, Please don't show up while Donald Trump is taking care of us

[Baruch]

Thanks for the correction TomFoolery. I wasn't aware of self annihilation being in the equation...

S.C.P. is a good way to imagine who is going to eat us for dinner. It would be nice to be so different that any alien visitors could coexist because they dont need what we need to live.

Attention all aliens that want to eat us Please, Please, Please don't show up while Donald Trump is taking care of us

Italians are ... meat balls and pepperoni ;-)

[widdershins]

No... Some of them have strange ridges on their foreheads, whilst others have strange ridges on their cheeks. Still other species might have some kind of ridge on their chin, an unusual plume of hair, or colorful spotting. We're entirely different. Fantastically different. Not at all alike. Tell me that Bajorans, Betazoids, Trills, or Vulcans are like humans and I'll call you insane.

Well yeah, but those are minor differences.  It's less different than, say, Lady Gaga is to humans.

[Unbeliever]

We're an extremely war-like bunch and make assumptions that every other potential race in the universe isn't.. That's a hell of a leap of faith wouldn't you say?

Yeah, considering that any alien intelligence would likely have evolved from a predator species. Predators need more smarts to outwit the defenses of their prey.

[Unbeliever]

I watch a lot of sci-fi and I can tell you definitively, almost all intelligent life in the universe has quite a bit in common with us.  Usually 2 legs, 2 arms, 2 eyes on the front of the head, we can mate with most of it (thank you Captain Kirk for testing compatibility with literally every green species).  They do sometimes breath different atmosphere, but for the most part they're even oxygen breathers, or at least can wear an unobtrusive device creating little wisps now and then so that they can tolerate our atmosphere.  The biggest differences tend to be the head and face or number of fingers and the occasional antenna.

I've been wondering lately whether aliens would even share our time sense; there's no reason they have to experience time in the same way we do, Kirk notwithstanding. I know my own time sense gets distorted whenever I smoke the ganja. Perhaps a day to them is as a thousand years...

[Baruch]

I've been wondering lately whether aliens would even share our time sense; there's no reason they have to experience time in the same way we do, Kirk notwithstanding. I know my own time sense gets distorted whenever I smoke the ganja. Perhaps a day to them is as a thousand years...

It is very hard for Slackers to conquer the Gamma quadrant ;-)

[_Xenu_]

It is very hard for Slackers to conquer the Gamma quadrant ;-)

Is that a Dominion reference?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_(Star_Trek)

[Baruch]

If our politicians had to spend part of their time in a bucket ... we could take advantage of that, and pour them in the toilet and flush them, while they were vulnerable ;-)