Aliens

[Freethinker]

While we can only imagine, and with little chance of being correct, what an "alien"/ extraterrestrial would look like, we CAN understand what parameters they would likely operate under.

Whether they have two heads, antennae, one big eye, no eyes, ... they still have restrictions as to available energy sources. It requires, even with our most foreward looking dreams, energy resources to travel thru space. Any extraterestrial species would have to have developed from less advanced species (Evolved). They would have had to fight the same energy source battles we have. Even if they have developed such advanced potential energy sources as Cold Fusion or ???, there is still socio-economic costs that any society would face. The efforts would have to be justified by some potential ROI.

Just as we originally developed dog species to perform work, or harnessed horses as power sources, we have only more recently had enough resources to turn food or work resources into play toys. Therefore we need to realize that these extraterestrials would have to have had space travel for an ecceptional period of time before it would turn into a play toy. One that would allow them to play "with us like we play with our dogs", or as Bo states

Originally posted by: Bo
1) Get captured by some George Bush wannabe? (i dont think any sensible person would capture an alien....)
2) Make nice pictures in crop fields?
3) remove the rectum of a cow?
.....

Or even if time travellers from the future

Originally posted by: Aki
traveled back in time to see us.

it would be for a specific ROI.

Yes we could come up with any number of fun things we could do to them, they to us, or non-fun....

But there is always an need for an ROI. And extreme technologies have extreme costs t offset.

[BlameTheEx]

Bo

Now that's an easy one. If it travels thousands of light years to visit us, how can it be intelligent?

[Tormod]

Or as Calvin says (in Calvin and Hobbes): "I think the best evidence for intelligent life in the universe is that nobody has come to visit us."

[Aki]

FT, what's a ROI?

[Uncle Martin]

Return on investment is what it stands for Aki.

[Bo]

and i always thought it stands for 'region of interest'.....

Now that's an easy one. If it travels thousands of light years to visit us, how can it be intelligent?

i dont think i have a good answer to this one


Bo

[mjanj]

Hi, all, If aliens are from the future, then it means we are in past and every future has a past. Then where is the past of those aliens?... Bye n take care.

[Tormod]

That was a cool statement - "Every future has a past". I'll keep that one for a future signature.

But why would all aliens be from the future?

[Aki]

I don't know, I just read it in Hawkings book, it was one of his suggestions.

[Stargazer]

Originally posted by: Freethinker
What value would there bo to alien visitation, as is typically presented by UFOers? We are a small non-descript planet circling a medium to small sun on the outer arm of our galaxy. What about us would draw attention?

One might say the same about any of the planets or moons that we have sent probes or even people to... To a sufficiently advanced species, interstellar travel could be as routin as flying is to us. Note that I'm not saying that this happened, I don't believe it happened.

Edited to insert proper quote tags.