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| Stephen Hawking warns of aliens | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 7 2010, 06:28 PM (472 Views) | |
| kenny | May 7 2010, 06:28 PM Post #1 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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SNIP Famed physicist Stephen Hawking set off chatter in the scientific community in late April when he posited the existence of intelligent aliens on his new TV series, "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" —adding that it would be best for human beings to avoid contact with them. Hawking speculated that such aliens would likely be nomads, living in ships after sucking their own planet dry of resources, and hopping from one interstellar refueling station to the next. Earth, he said, shouldn't do anything to encourage their visit. "If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans," he said. Story |
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| Dewey | May 7 2010, 06:31 PM Post #2 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Sounds a little like life in TNCR, and the interdynamics of the OCR and the three sister forums. Hawking is right. Human civilization should be terrified. |
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"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685. "Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous "Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011 I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14 | |
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| ivorythumper | May 7 2010, 06:46 PM Post #3 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Sounds like white man guilt + a lot of projection. |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| John D'Oh | May 7 2010, 07:15 PM Post #4 |
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MAMIL
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Anything that can get across a galaxy is going to consider mankind pretty much like a zoo animal. If they've been watching our television transmissions they'll probably just destroy the planet for reasons of good taste. |
| What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket? | |
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| Piano*Dad | May 7 2010, 07:37 PM Post #5 |
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Bull-Carp
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| Red Rice | May 7 2010, 09:39 PM Post #6 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool. I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss! - Cecil Lewis | |
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| Horace | May 7 2010, 10:04 PM Post #7 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I dont' remember much about anything but I think I'll always remember what some guy said on Art Bell's radio show so many years ago about theoretical extra-terrestrial civilizations and their chances of getting off whatever planet they started on... there are theories about stages of civilization development, where science and social/political constructs develops alongside one another, racing towards either cataclysm which is at a 9 on the science scale and a less-than-10 on the social scale, or an escape from the planet-bound existence, which is at a 10 on the science scale and a 10 on the social scale. In other words, intelligent life, as it progresses, will be prone to kill itself off before it will be able to escape from its home world. That resonated as true with me. But following the theory along, it also argues against hawking in that any species capable of getting off their home planet will probably have developed some pretty advanced "live and let live" philosophies. We probably don't have anything to worry about. And they probably will be able to see that if they help us along, they'd have something to worry about regarding us. So they'll let us be. Prime directive and all. |
| As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good? | |
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| John D'Oh | May 8 2010, 06:10 AM Post #8 |
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MAMIL
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I've never bought into the idea of Star-Trek's Federation becoming the most powerful civilisation in the galaxy. The Romulans would have annihilated them while they all sat around debating whether freedom of speech should be extended to wank-sessions in the holodeck and trying to come to terms with their guilt in counselling with that big-assed Greek bird. |
| What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket? | |
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| Piano*Dad | May 8 2010, 07:12 AM Post #9 |
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Bull-Carp
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All of science fiction is based on some huge assumption, or premise, followed by a lot of fun projection. That's why we read it. Suspension of disbelief starts on page one! This one is no better or worse than Hawking's, whose premise seems no different that H. G. Wells' worldview. On Star Trek's supposedly sunny and more optimistic approach, I remember the genuine shock among many fans when Picard et al ran smack into the Borg. That was such a delicious episode. "God" throws the Enterprise into a meeting with a species that so fundamentally makes a hash of the sunny Star Trek view. |
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| John D'Oh | May 8 2010, 09:21 AM Post #10 |
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MAMIL
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Since we have absolutely no knowledge of what aliens are like, we base what we think they'll be like on our completely limited terrestrial experiences. Incidentally, I know quite a few people who'd fit very well into Borg society. Not many Vulcans, unfortunately, although a few wannabe's. |
| What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket? | |
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| kenny | May 8 2010, 09:25 AM Post #11 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I think Hawking makes an excellent point. What's it got to do with being white? |
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| Horace | May 8 2010, 05:15 PM Post #12 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Speculation yes but there can be some careful thought and extrapolation of real data regarding stuff like this. I think the guy I heard on Bell's radio show was Michio Kaku who doesn't lack for intellectual or academic credentials. It seems likely to me that it will be difficult for humans to advance technologically to the point where we could get off this planet, before we destroy ourselves with that technology. |
| As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good? | |
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| Piano*Dad | May 8 2010, 05:51 PM Post #13 |
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Bull-Carp
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Indeed, The Mote in God's Eye is rather carefully worked out. I have no problem with science fiction as a genre. I have a problem with taking Stephen Hawking's armchair thinking seriously simply because he is Stephen Hawking. He has no particular authority. |
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| Axtremus | May 9 2010, 02:46 AM Post #14 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Projection by those those who think it does. |
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| Axtremus | May 9 2010, 02:49 AM Post #15 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Oh boy, I would love to see your reaction if it had come from the grand son of Stephen Hawking instead.
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| Mikhailoh | May 9 2010, 02:52 AM Post #16 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Assuming that extraterrestrials leave their planets for the same reason we must leave ours, what Hawking says makes considerable sense. I see no particular reason that competition for inhabitable area and resources in the galaxy should be any different than it is on earth. We haven't much of a clue, but that's about the only one we have. |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| Axtremus | May 9 2010, 03:03 AM Post #17 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Should also consider an alternative opposite Horace's argument: The species that lack the drive for conquest may also be one that lacks the drive to develop the technology to gets off its planet. The drive to conquer is not necessarily due to competition of resources (needed for survival) but one that exists for its own sake. One can have all the resources that one needs to live comfortably 'til the end of one's natural life, yet the same one may still desire more and act to accumulate even more possessions. If we're going to continue that "white men vs. American Indians" metaphor, you can ask why the "white men," having achieved higher standards of living already, still wanted to build big ships and travel long distances to amass more stuff that they can "own" from the far corners of the Earth, while the "American Indians" who didn't have much "stuff" to begin with were content sharing everything, not seeking to "own more stuff." |
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| Piano*Dad | May 9 2010, 04:40 AM Post #18 |
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Bull-Carp
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Yeah, well, you did notice that I went nowhere near it.
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| Phlebas | May 9 2010, 09:07 AM Post #19 |
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Bull-Carp
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Didn't know he even had time to think about Arizona. |
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Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D | |
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| Luke's Dad | May 9 2010, 10:30 AM Post #20 |
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Emperor Pengin
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Overall that's a fairly pessimistic view. I myself am a bit more optimistic, and I don't find that optimism to be unreasonable. I find hope in the fact that since WWII, there has not been a single instance of Nuclear Weapons being used against another people. Not even a so called dirty bomb that isn't that terribly difficult to acquire and use. We are now coming on 70 years. Not a terribly long time in the history of mankind, but a tremendous amount of time in the modern technological age. I find hope in the fact that for every Hitler, Pol Pot, and Saddam Hussein there is a Mother Theresa, a Martin Luther King, a Ghandi. I find hope in the fact that for every act of war and attack in the world, there are countering acts of great kindness. For every bombing of a subway, there is a Haitian Relief Effort. For every building destroyed in Iraq, there is a new home built, or a hospital, or a school. I find hope in the fact that with all of the "greedy" and corrupt corporation and businessmen out there that only cares about the almighty dollar, that there are "Bill Gates'" out there giving back to the world that gave them such success. Was Nuclear Power first harnessed as a weapon of war? To be used to kill a mass number of people? Yes. That was a result of the circumstances at the time. Research was already underway at the time, however, delving into the mysteries of the atom. If not for the culmination of a large number of events to lead into WWII, the first applications of Nuclear Technology may have been entirely benign and useful. Regardless, the technology would have been developed with or without the war. Personally, I'm of the opinion that the development of nuclear technology has saved countless more lives than it's taken, whether through the knowledge used in medical research or simply through nuclear power. For that matter, even the bombs themselves have saved more lives than they've taken. How many countless people would have died if the war with Japan had continued? How many people would have died in countless battles with the USSR without the threat of Nuclear Weapons on both sides? How cold would the cold war have really been? My bet is that there would have been multiple Vietnams, and they would have been far worse. Is mankind destructive and warlike? Yes, that is a part of who we are, but if that was all that we are, we would have destroyed ourselves long before now. |
| The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it. | |
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| ivorythumper | May 9 2010, 01:48 PM Post #21 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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That sounds like projection by someone who isn't white.
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| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| John D'Oh | May 9 2010, 02:03 PM Post #22 |
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MAMIL
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He clearly hasn't been reading his Leviticus. |
| What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket? | |
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| jgoo | May 11 2010, 10:21 PM Post #23 |
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Administrator
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I read this article when it fist came out. I think that any aliens would be just like anybody here on Earth. There are good ones and there are bad ones, and ones that exist in some kind of gray area between. I doubt that they would be all bad. |
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| jgoo | May 11 2010, 10:28 PM Post #24 |
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Administrator
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BTW, watch out for the Annunaki that will be visiting us when their home planet revolving around brown dwarf star Nibiru passes through our inner solar system in it's 3600 year orbit around the sun. We are their slave race. December 2012. Look it up.
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