I think that it would have a large effect. A lot of energy right now is tied up in imagining whether other life exists and what form it would take. I do, however, think that communication would be quite the problem, as life that arises under different conditions from us is unlikely to use the...
So then what happens (please ignore how) when we develop FTL technologies and travel to another galaxy? It seems to me that this could have interesting consequences, especially in how we determine the age of the universe. If time is not a constant, we are likely to be way off, especially if it...
I didn't suggest or mean that they came to Earth. The whole point of this discussion is that we cannot physically meet them. Neither of us have the technology to cross the interstellar gap, so what do we do? What if they have knowledge of other alien species? Would we form some kind of...
On a similar religious note Anonymous, how would a theistic alien society prove the existence of some impartial "God"? Isn't it just as likely that they too went through the primitive phase and sought to explain their existence with a creator archetype? What if they too were divided over this...
I personally agree with MonsterFromTheId on the whole resemblance issue. It is nigh on impossible that life should arise to even be remotely close to us in structure without a virtually identical set of conditions. I am consistently stunned by the number of people who seem to believe evolution...
ohwilleke, your argument for 10 billion people is based on quite a lot of assumptions. To quote the source you just provided:
- If fertility rates were to stay constant at 1990-1995 levels for the next 155 years, the world in 2150 would need to support 296 billion persons.
- Although the...
Ignoring the if, when, and how of contact with an alien race, what would the social stigmata be of this event? Suppose that we receive radio signals from Race B (roughly equivalent in technological development) that originate several light years away in 2010. How would our society be forced to...
Life expectancy is rising because of the simple nature of humans. We rarely want to die, and so medicine has made incredible progress in extending our lifespans. Unless a major event occurs to set back the population clock, we are facing the specter of huge overcrowding. I see no reason why...
I suppose I really haven't answered my own question. If we can get past the problems I just mentioned, I believe that our society will be sufficiently wizened that it will see the benefits of this new approach to science, and so we will eventually be able to break the FTL barrier (it may...
It is true that science is greatly diversified and divided on some fronts, but on others it remains unified. I believe that the endless battles over funding cause a great deal of this splintering, and so if we want any chance of a real and tangible result in fields such as this, we must...
The things we can colonize are not necessarily the ones we'd want to. As ohwilleke points out, putting a sustainable human presence on planets such as Mercury or Venus would be an endeavor far beyond our current capabilities. It likely COULD be done in the future (if humanity survives long...
I have heard many suggestions for ways to travel faster than the speed of light. Everything from the more mundane (wormholes) to the extreme (Alcubierre waves), although I suppose it's all exotic when it comes to this field. Getting to the point, however, I would like to hear your opinions of...
I think you need to do some more reading on this subject. While I believe colonization is an excellent idea (though we are far from the capability), your explanation of it (and possible locations) was faulty at best. However, I would like to hear ohwilleke's reasons that the human population...
I don't believe it necessarily does. Biological complexity, like intelligence, is a response to an environmental pressure. If an organism has no need to grow in complexity, it simply does not. After all, we still have bacteria and viruses today, the simplest forms of life known.