Aliens--what if we Do find them?

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Messages 1 - 86 of total 86 in this topic
Largo

Sport climber
Venice, Ca
Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 5, 2005 - 08:05pm PT
From another threaqd:

"Recently, at an experts meeting in Toledo/Spain, the chief of the NASA research program Mike Kaplan stated that '...we will discover extraterrestrial life in the next 25 years.' Thus, it might soon happen that we are able to take a look at our cosmic neighbours."

Wonder what folks think about this? And if Kaplan's prediction proves true, how would that effect your views on doctrine, God, science, our "place" in the universe, etc.

JL
Russ Walling

Social climber
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
Oct 5, 2005 - 08:15pm PT
Can't wait...but I ain't holdiing my breath. We were all supposed to be putting around in personal space vehicles™ by now anyway. Those futurists seem to be off by eons. Side note: I thought God was an Alien?
TradIsGood

Trad climber
Gunks end of country
Oct 5, 2005 - 08:17pm PT
Aliens - Unless you know where they came from, they're booty.
Shack

Big Wall climber
So. Cal.
Oct 5, 2005 - 08:19pm PT
You didn't get your Flying Car™ yet, Russ?
I thought those came out years ago...
JuanDeFuca

Big Wall climber
Chatsworth
Oct 5, 2005 - 08:20pm PT
We are constantly bombarded with signals from ET.

In the not to distant future, years, we will find the signal.

Its going to be in the form of laser light pulses.

Juan
Ouch!

climber
Oct 5, 2005 - 08:32pm PT
"how would that effect your views on doctrine, God, science, our "place" in the universe, etc."

It will have no effect on my views. Unlike neocons and other fanatics, I try to keep an open mind about such things.

Like the young man who was about to be married. His bride to be told him she had something important to tell before the wedding.
"What?", he asked. "I'm a hermaphrodite", she answered. "Shucks", he said. "I'm Southern Baptist. You can go to your church and I'll go to mine."
dirtineye

Trad climber
the south
Oct 5, 2005 - 08:45pm PT
That's pretty bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.

If we do find aliens, or more likely they find us, I hope I am already dead, cause, when a more advanced technology meets a lower one, it is never good for the folks on the short end of the stick.

In other words, words that even LEB and Werner can understand, we'd be f*#ked.

To hell with aliens.

We're doing a great job of screwing up things all by ourselves, and we don't need any help.
flamer

Trad climber
denver
Oct 5, 2005 - 09:12pm PT
"Aliens-what if we do find them?"....anal probe???

josh
the Fet

Trad climber
Loomis, CA
Oct 5, 2005 - 09:26pm PT
If we do find them it will probably be just signals, too far away for any interstellar travel, no need to worry about an invasion.

I think it would be good for humanity. Give us some perspective. Maybe is isn't all about us...

The right wingers will come up with excuses, "God just gave us those signals to test us"...

The left wingers will expect them to take care of us...

I sometimes wonder what will become of humanity over the next 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000 years plus. But it seems very few others do. Pretty much everyone who does is an environmentalist.

Will we die out here on Earth, or will we travel to nearby systems?

Sorry, off on a tangent. Aliens... I'll be waiting for the hybrids, those guys will kick ass. Maybe that's what all those anal probes are for.
JuanDeFuca

Big Wall climber
Chatsworth
Oct 5, 2005 - 09:52pm PT
I think I am a new species distinct from homosapien.

Juan
TGT

Social climber
So Cal
Oct 5, 2005 - 10:11pm PT
think I am a new species distinct from homosapien.

You may qualify as an

Extremosappyen.
WBraun

climber
Oct 5, 2005 - 10:14pm PT
Alienated

Bolt Cop

Social climber
Dolt Tower
Oct 5, 2005 - 10:45pm PT
Yet another supertopo topic with little to do with climbing posted by someone who rarely climbs (no matter how much he used to).

Let follow liberal amount of lame banter, psuedo-scientific/political banter, end with strange and uninteresting picture by another has been...
JuanDeFuca

Big Wall climber
Chatsworth
Oct 5, 2005 - 10:52pm PT
Whats with all the mean people?
WBraun

climber
Oct 5, 2005 - 10:56pm PT
It's that time of the month ........
Watusi

Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
Oct 5, 2005 - 10:59pm PT
I'd go! If only just to see what was out there!
maculated

Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, CA
Oct 5, 2005 - 11:15pm PT
It IS that time of the month. Werner is good.

Anywho - well . . . a lot of what Gene Roddenbury came up with has become reality. Science fiction has a way of being fairly correct. We'll likely adopt the same kind of rationale that the Starfleet did - make contact when they're ready.

That is, unless we get attacked and eaten by giant insect aliens before that.

I'm sure we'll find life, intelligent or no.
Ouch!

climber
Oct 5, 2005 - 11:44pm PT
Ouch!

climber
Oct 5, 2005 - 11:49pm PT
" Dolt "

Explains a lot. Has been my ass. Werner has plowed more ground than you could harrow in 3 lifetimes. Still going strong.
BKW

Mountain climber
Central Texas
Oct 5, 2005 - 11:59pm PT
Lots of people bail from dolt tower.
Michael Moron

Social climber
Davison, MI
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:22am PT
"In other words, words that even LEB and Werner can understand, we'd be f*#ked."

I was laughing at your statement about the "one-eyed fat man" and then I see this. You obviously have more than dirt in your eye. You are so full of excrement that IT is coming out of your eyes. LEB and Werner, from my observations, FAR outclass anyone on this forum. They have more thoughtful insight about life than you and all the other self-absorbed lunatics on this site do. To automatically assume that we are a lower life-form than whatever might find us is ridiculous. By the way, to say we are detroying this planet by ourselves is rather egotistical, don't you think? The earth and Mother Nature are far more powerful and resilient than was puny humans will ever be. Don't put so much stock in yourself.

Gotta go, have to make another propaganda movie about the bogus charges against Tom Delay.
Ouch!

climber
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:26am PT
Scared to post as yourself?
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:31am PT
What does it mean, "to find an alien"?

Most likely detecting radio signals which are not "random". Interesting stuff at the http://www.seti.org by folks that have thought a lot about this...

ok, let's say these researchers announce that they have "statistically significant" evidence of signals which are from "intellegent life elsewhere in the universe".

It doesn't mean that we have received a message that we can understand in any way. Translating lost ancient languages is difficult enough, and those were created by humans... recognizing intelligent behavior which is not human is also very difficult, there is abundant evidence of intelligent behavior among animals, a highly controversial idea to some.

I don't think that science has any problem with the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, if anything, it is expected.

I'm not sure about religion, Jody's response is some indication...
Ouch!

climber
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:42am PT
Unless a communication link of some sort could be established and maintained, they would never know if it came from some long dead critters. Except maybe for the aliens who insist on taking people from Alabama and probing them.
Minerals

Social climber
The Deli
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:48am PT
Jody, Ed is too polite to tell you that God does not exist. Let's forget about religion and go shoot guns out in the desert! Whaddaya say?
Minerals

Social climber
The Deli
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:56am PT
Deal! And I'll bring my arsenal too. And then I get one hour to tell you why the Earth isn’t 6000 years old. We’ll trade shooting/urban combat info for geo/climbing info. And blast the piss out of a bunch of abandoned cars, we will! I’ll drive the Death Star too. How’s that?
Ben Wah

Social climber
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:58am PT
Don't forget, Jody, that humans aren't the only sentient creatures, or creatures with free will, that God created. If He created angels, who don't always hang out on Earth, and he created beasts whose only job is to sit at His feet and sing "Holy, Holy, Holy", (see Revelations) and which there are definitely none of on Earth, who is to say that He didn't create a whole planet full of critters elsewhere, maybe some that didn't screw it up, and they live in blessed communion with Him every day? Remember what God told Job out of the whirlwind, and I paraphrase: "What makes you think you know so much? You've only been around for a handful of years; I've been around since forever." Just 'cause God didn't tell us about something doesn't mean he didn't make it.
Humbly,
Ben Wah
Ed Hartouni

Trad climber
Livermore, CA
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:02am PT
Jody, I think you are a bit defensive... let me not talk about scientists, but about myself, a scientist. I would not be surprised to hear that there is evidence for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. But the likelyhood that this evidence will be found is small...

My beliefs do not exclude the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere. In fact, my beliefs don't exclude the possibility that other beings on this planet, at this time, are sentient. To my way of thinking, it is a question which can be addressed by science.

I believe that many religions do not allow the possibility that characteristics which we consider to be "human" are shared by animals, or anything else.

I wouldn't tell Jody that God does not exist. I might argue that the God is irrelevant in describing the physical universe. What larger miracle could you want then that!
WBraun

climber
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:23am PT
We’re all just aliens in a machine.

You know that?

We really don’t fit well in these machines. We’re here against our will. Forced to act by the machine’s rules. We don’t like the urges of the machine, or all the social obligation, but we are forced to act.

We’re strangers in a strange land.
Minerals

Social climber
The Deli
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:49am PT
Time for more Iron Maiden lyrics…

Stranger in a Strange Land

From the album Somewhere in Time, 1986, Capitol Records.


“Was many years ago that I left home and came this way
I was a young man, full of hopes and dreams
But now it seems that all is lost and nothing gained
Sometimes things ain’t what they seem
No brave new world, no brave new world

Night and day I scan horizon, sea and sky
My spirit wanders endlessly until the day will dawn and friends from home discover why
Hear me calling, rescue me
Set me free, set me free
Lost in this place, and leave no trace

Stranger in a strange land
Land of ice and snow
Trapped inside this prison
Lost and far from home

One hundred years have gone and men again they came that way
To find the answer to the mystery
They found his body lying where it fell that day
Preserved in time for all to see
No brave new world, no brave new world
Lost in this place, to leave no trace

What became of the men that started
All are gone and souls departed
Left me here in this prison
So all alone

Stranger in a strange land
Land of ice and snow
Trapped inside this prison
Lost and far from home”
James

Social climber
My Subconcious
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:56am PT
whatever...I've always considered xenophobia to be a bad thing...does a blade of grass have more significance than a human life...maybe if you're a man pushing a mower they mean different things...
dirtineye

Trad climber
the south
Oct 6, 2005 - 06:27am PT
Mr. Moron, you certainly live up to your name.

You probably don't realizes the signifcance of the one-eyed fat man quote either, so how you could find it funny is a mystery-- almost as much of a mystery as how you get the correct shoe on the correct foot in the morning.

Philosophers are always in need a good beating/teasing/poking/whatever. That helps with the hot air redistribution and fights global warming at the same time.
steelmnkey

climber
Phoenix, AZ
Oct 6, 2005 - 10:13am PT
I found an Alien once... first good piece
of booty I ever scored. Came right out of
the crack too... not sure why someone left it.
JMC

Trad climber
So Cal
Oct 6, 2005 - 10:47am PT
We'll find out if they taste like chicken.
poop*ghost

Trad climber
Denver, CO
Oct 6, 2005 - 10:49am PT
I caught this Nova episode, and it was really enjoyable. They have a great interview up at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/ward.html
G_Gnome

Trad climber
Ca
Oct 6, 2005 - 11:53am PT
The chance of aliens finding us is about the same as us finding them. We will have used up the resources of our planet before we ever get off of it and then will sink back into an agrarian society just like every civilization before us. If any aliens do ever get off their planet I am sure we will make fine pets of food for them.
TradIsGood

Trad climber
Gunks end of country
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:32pm PT
Actually the aliens aren't going to eat us. They are Huge. We can see them too, but we just don't realize it. And we are a part of a series of experiments they are doing in high school. They have us going near the speed of light compared to them. So while it seems to us like global warming is taking a long time, it is really just an hour in their "lab". The "bad kids" in the lab sometimes fool around and stir the oceans up a bit. They did that a few seconds ago, well actually to us it seems nearly a month.

There are a bunch of other carefully controlled experiments going on. They are comparing different approaches to modifying small "to them now" local environments.
Watusi

Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
Oct 6, 2005 - 12:48pm PT
You never know...They might look a bit like myself!
Hootervillian

climber
Bolivia, NV
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:01pm PT
Does Rockhouse images have a website?
'Mutantis' is quite Dali'esque. Nice work.
Spinmaster K-Rove

Trad climber
Stuck Under the Kor Roof
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:08pm PT
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

-Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office Charles H. Duell in 1899

"Why is it that people who are sure of themselves and their beliefs, are looked at with disdain and ridicule? Is it because you want the confidence that they have? "

Jody Langford, 2005

Jody I realize that because you have been spending most of your online time at www.creationsts.org you may not know how insanely vast the galaxy is, much less the universe in which it resides or the several universes that exist around that. Anyway, to quote Monty Python, "its really, really big." It is, of course, quite possible that they HAVE found us. It is also likely that there are planets full of living organisms that are not human-like in their ability to create machinery and investigate extraterrestrial worlds. It seems likely to me that we will find evidence of life far before we actually find life itself, but considering how super big the universe is, I find it difficult to believe that there are no other planets similar to Earth that have spawned some sort of organisms. If you have been paying any attention at all, the amount of information that we have been able to glean as of late with powerful telescopes, exciting satellite missions and other forms of new technology makes the 25-year goal a pretty safe bet.

Back to your original question though. The reason that people generally disdain those who are so sure of themselves and their beliefs is because that overconfidence exists from an inherent disregard for other possibilities and the opinions of others. It is also quite often that those people are wrong, having been blinded by their confidence and desire to be sure of their opinion. You will notice, for instance, that scientists call even the most stalwart of ideas 'theories' because they ackowldege that they might ultimately be wrong. New evidence might come to light that will make them alter their theory. Religious zealots, on the other hand, might be faced with evidence that would force them to burn the heretic in a large fire or perhaps, more humanely, kill them by placing heavy rocks on their chest. You can see why science has caught on as being a little more 'reasonable.'
Watusi

Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:33pm PT
Hootervillain, Rockhouse Images is under construction at this time but I am also part of the international art site DeviantArt.com where I have a gallery of some 150 works. You can view my page here: http://mikepaul1.deviantart.com/
Hootervillian

climber
Bolivia, NV
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:45pm PT
Thanks. The 'Rock Face' is gonna be my wallpaper du joir.

"is a deviant since Aug 2, 2003, 11:00 AM". LOL. From what I understand that system clock is way off.
Karl Baba

Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:49pm PT
What's the difference between an Angel and an Alien? Maybe it's just spin.

I hope one or the other is watching us and will do something to help before we crap the bed completely on this planet. I don't hold much hope for making it through on our own.

This is some interesting stuff. The least tin foil hat stuff you'll find from Alien fans

http://www.disclosureproject.org/

Peace

Karl
Hootervillian

climber
Bolivia, NV
Oct 6, 2005 - 01:58pm PT
"I say! How confusing!
I've never heard tell
Of a small speck of dust that is able to yell,
So you know what I think?
Why I think that there must be someone on top of that small speck of dust.
Some poor little person
Who's shaking with fear
That he'll blow in the pool!
He has no way to steer!
He's alone in the universe!
I'll just have to save him..."
Horton
the Fet

Trad climber
Loomis, CA
Oct 6, 2005 - 02:58pm PT
"Religious zealots, on the other hand, might be faced with evidence that would force them to burn the heretic in a large fire or perhaps, more humanely, kill them by placing heavy rocks on their chest. You can see why science has caught on as being a little more 'reasonable.'"

Hey that guy (Giles Corey) was an ancestor of mine (it wasn't humane, it took two days). Giving the finger to religous nutjobs since the beginning of this country...

Funny too, how a lot of the Witchcraft BS was due to people trying to steal other people's property, greed and religion together again, Abramhoff/DeLay/Bush would be proud. I guess that's what happens when you don't judge right and wrong for yourself or maybe it's just supreme hypocrisy.

Back to the Aliens:

If the Earth was the size of a golf ball the nearest star would be 84,000 miles away. It would take 19,000 years for a spaceship to reach it with current technology. And that's the nearest star.

Let's say 1 in a billion systems have a planet that's capable of supporting and developed intelligent life. There's about 100 billion systems in our galaxy. So any life is probably far far away. We may get signals from them but it would take thousands or millions of years to travel to us. Much more likely to get signals traveling at the speed of light, than travel which can maybe be 1000 times slower IF we're lucky.

I guess we'd need to know what are the chances of getting a good planet like Earth and the right conditions to create intelligent, life. The current theories of how we developed intelligence leads me to believe it's VERY VERY rare.

But when you've got billions and billions of opportunities it's not suprising it happens. It's kind of like us being here as individuals. The chance that our parents would meet, the chance that'd they'd get pregnant with that egg, the chance that that one out of 40 million sperm is the one which fertilized the egg. The chance that we'd be here is astronomically small. But we are, we should consider ourselves extremely lucky!
James

Social climber
My Subconcious
Oct 6, 2005 - 03:30pm PT
oh man if you just scroll through the entire thread it just looks like a pile of sh#t...that's so funny...I guess my humor has always been a little scatalogical...heahea
Watusi

Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
Oct 6, 2005 - 03:32pm PT
Then go somewhere else pinhead no one asked you to look!
Didn't mean to speak meanly!!
Largo

Sport climber
Venice, Ca
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 6, 2005 - 03:44pm PT
Spyguy wrote: "The reason that people generally disdain those who are so sure of themselves and their beliefs is because that overconfidence exists from an inherent disregard for other possibilities and the opinions of others. It is also quite often that those people are wrong, having been blinded by their confidence and desire to be sure of their opinion."

My original question for this thread was reaaly saying: "What if we made contact with, or were contacted by, another actual race of sentient beings, and all of our beliefs about such things were done to death? Then where would you find yourself? How would you reconstruct your would view, if indeed you had to.

I didn't posit the question to argue over the probability of alien contact, now or whenever, rather it was just an open quenstion to ponder--Imagine this being true--what happens then??

It would seem some folks are afraid to even ponder such a thing, and you gotta wonder why a mere idea can throw folks so off balance. I see arguing against the probality of alien contact as a refusal to sack it up and accept he mental experiment of grappling with "What if."

JL
Lambone

Ice climber
Ashland, Or
Oct 6, 2005 - 04:10pm PT
"Aliens--what if we Do find them?"

IF you find any aliens you can return them to me, I am allways on the hunt for booty aliens.

~bone
Jaybro

Social climber
The West
Oct 6, 2005 - 04:15pm PT
Alien contact would give us all wider possibilities to consider, for good or bad, but definitely not boring.

Actually aliens are fine by me as long as I get to drive the '64 Malibu!

oh, yeah my ex-ilnlaws did have a '64 Malibu, and I'm positive they are aliens!!
Watusi

Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
Oct 6, 2005 - 04:18pm PT
Yeah Jay!! "The life of a Repo-Man is always...Intense!"
Jaybro

Social climber
The West
Oct 6, 2005 - 04:32pm PT
Btw Cool Artwork, Mike
Ouch!

climber
Oct 6, 2005 - 05:00pm PT
" How would you reconstruct your would view, if indeed you had to."

My world view is so jaded, it would take more than little green men to get me all that excited.
looking sketchy there...

Social climber
Latitute 33
Oct 6, 2005 - 05:01pm PT
I didn't posit the question to argue over the probability of alien contact, now or whenever, rather it was just an open quenstion to ponder--Imagine this being true--what happens then??

It would seem some folks are afraid to even ponder such a thing, and you gotta wonder why a mere idea can throw folks so off balance. I see arguing against the probality of alien contact as a refusal to sack it up and accept he mental experiment of grappling with "What if."


John, what is funny is that I think people really did (seriously and otherwise) accept the mental experiment. The above is a microcosm of the results... And a rough gauge of people's reactions if there was discovery of unambiguous evidence of intelligent extra-terrestrial life.

For many people, they will confront such evidence with total denial. Others will simply incorporate the new reality into their pre-existing frameworks of belief/knowledge.

Right now there is a strong backlash against any science that would seem to contradict certain aspects of belief. Flat earth, earth centered solar system (universe), and the renewed fight against evolution all are of the same ilk. Seems these people have trouble distinguishing "dogma" from faith and spirituality. We each can come to a system of beliefs that are not challenged by the inevitable growth in the understanding of nature and the universe, or not.

The current so-called Christian fundementalist movement is wedded to dogma and thus destined to fight the good fight against knowledge until they are eventually discredited. Too bad.

Myself, I hold out hope that discovery of intelligent alien life
would shake things up enough that people would be able to make some real social progress.
Largo

Sport climber
Venice, Ca
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 6, 2005 - 05:45pm PT
"Myself, I hold out hope that discovery of intelligent alien life would shake things up enough that people would be able to make some real social progress."

I think we need a wake-up call that would enable us to totally redefine our self-image, but I got a feeling that will never happend till it is literally dashed to bits. And I'm counting on those three-headed folk to do just that.

We gotta get "All shook up," like Elvis said.

JL
Karl Baba

Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
Oct 6, 2005 - 07:31pm PT
It's true that we've been surfing along through a time where very little has happened that challenged the foundations of our expectations.

Nothing like those white guys showing up one fine day in Maya or Inca civilization.

Hopefully, if Aliens showed up, they'd share some energy technology with us instead of just passing on some cosmic venereal disease that we didn't have any resistance to.

No matter what, it would be interesting to watch the big shakeup.

Peace

Karl
fareastclimber

Trad climber
Hong Kong & Wales
Oct 6, 2005 - 07:51pm PT
Question for all - If you had the choice between a promise to live 50 more years on Earth or the chance to go on a one-way space flight journey and tour all of the Universe, but to only have a 5 year supply of oxygen and food (meaning you will never make it back to Earth), which one would you choose?
Hootervillian

climber
Bolivia, NV
Oct 6, 2005 - 07:53pm PT
What kind of food?
fareastclimber

Trad climber
Hong Kong & Wales
Oct 6, 2005 - 08:00pm PT
Any kind of food you want. And there is only room for one, so no space for the 1000 Virgins.
Ouch!

climber
Oct 6, 2005 - 08:50pm PT
Wonder what a live alien would bring on EBay. Maybe one of those cute little grays with the big eyes.
James

Social climber
My Subconcious
Oct 6, 2005 - 08:55pm PT
okay...here's what I have to say again...If i ever got a chance to meet with aliens I'd go with them..maybe I'd see the past and the future at once..maybe I could be the missing link or some sh#t like that...then I could just like hang out and do whatever...see some people sometime and see other people other times...I'd try and making a giant link...I was really scared to solo the north overhang...I thought it was the dumbest thing I could do...but when I was really scared I looked at all the people in life who wanted me to succeed...so I tried...
Don't let go

Trad climber
Yorba Linda, CA
Oct 6, 2005 - 11:58pm PT
The world will end before aliens destroy us. Or they will come and try to destroy us before we can ruin everything. Either way it doesn't really matter. The universe will end sooner or later. The second law of thermodynamics proves that. If you need that explained aske me, they are shoving it down my throat at school. (I can't believe that I want to be an engineer.)
Watusi

Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
Oct 8, 2005 - 03:11am PT
Some folks would like to just shoot 'em, but not me! They are here too help...no matter what cousin Toofuss says???
healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Oct 8, 2005 - 06:40am PT
In answer to John's original question, I suppose it depend to some extent on what the time context and potential for communication would be. I have no doubt whatsoever that there are millions of life sustaining planets in the universe; but communicating with one, even at the speed of light, is more a matter of time travel than space travel. People don't really grasp the distances involved even to the nearest stars which might harbor life on one of their planets. The distances (time) are vast even at the speed of light. So a message from another planet would undoubtably be from our past and could be from quite some time ago.

The other issue is, with regard to the timescales we're talking about here, humans really haven't been human long enough to be "discovered" let alone contacted. Nevermind that we only got a signal of any strength off the earth in '39. That signal has barely made it out of the immediate neighborhood let alone out to a bunch of other planets outside our solar system.

If we ever did get a signal that would be a nice affirmation about the ubiquity and resilence of life in general, but I suspect visits and real conversations wouldn't be possible with the reality of physics as we know them today.

James

Social climber
My Subconcious
Oct 8, 2005 - 08:18am PT
tell them to bring me my girlfriend...I can barely make it out of my bed without her.
Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Oct 8, 2005 - 11:22am PT
Sometimes I wonder if I am indeed an alien - I mean an extraterrestial being. In Ireland I am an illegal alien (ha ha lol).
James

Social climber
My Subconcious
Oct 9, 2005 - 12:45am PT
no kidding locker...having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and more concuscions than...who knows...I can relate...it's all I can do jus t to get my girlfriend to come over...espescially since I've even managed to f*#k that up.
James

Social climber
My Subconcious
Oct 9, 2005 - 11:27am PT
hmmm...that's cool. Me I've been trying to invite them over for dinner for awhile but I can't ever seem to get my sh#t together enough for them to drop by...

did anyone see how many people just died in that Pakistani earthquake...those poor people. What about trango? I hope all those people are alright...
Watusi

Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
Oct 9, 2005 - 11:55am PT
Wow Jeff!! I haven't seen Soylent Green in decades! "Don't eat the Soylent Green...It's people!!!"
bob d'antonio

Trad climber
boulder, co
Oct 9, 2005 - 12:40pm PT
Don't be judging Aliens till you walk a mile in their shoes, feet or whatever the little bastards use to get around.
dirtineye

Trad climber
the south
Oct 10, 2005 - 08:32pm PT
One more time, when they show up, we're f*#ked.

Unless we've already f*#ked ourselves, which seems more likely.
Zander

Trad climber
Berkeley
Oct 11, 2005 - 01:00am PT
First. We aren't going to communicate with any aliens. The distances are just to great. I'm with Healyje on this -- he said it better too.
Second,
Largo said
"I think we need a wake-up call that would enable us to totally redefine our self-image, but I got a feeling that will never happen till it is literally dashed to bits. And I'm counting on those three-headed folk to do just that.

We gotta get "All shook up," like Elvis said."

It ain't gonna happen. We are stuck because 1. We collectively will not adjust to our evolutionary past and 2. The time to do so is running out as population growth and environmental degradation (the depletion of food and water resources) collide. This collision is already generating a negative feetback loop/preasure cooker that limits are response options.
What we need is some amazing political/religious figure to catalyze the species. The guy will probably need to be a current or former military dude, (sorry gals the world is just to conservative but you knew that) he'll need to have an economic background cuz we need to move quickly towards some kind of sustainability, and he'll need to have a religious background that will be able to convince us to live more simply (less resources needed),(of course dirt bag climbers already know how to live simply). The toughest part of his task will be to redefine status, to exchange having the most cash and power to instead, somehow, fitting the new simple, sustainable life style. And he'll need to talk the current globalcorps into going along. Like I said it ain't going to happen.
One of the cool things about Supertopo is that status here is based on performance both on the rock and in the posts. As an example Largo has unquestionable climbing credentials but he also continually makes good observations and asks good questions. Humility too. Werner, Roger many others too. We need someone in the bigger realm of politics who can generate the same respect we all feel for these guys (and the others guys and gals here like them). This isn't a right/left thing either. Sadly, It just ain't gonna happen.
See you all on the rock.
Zander
Karl Baba

Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
Oct 11, 2005 - 03:48am PT
We humans are pretty poor at predicting the future, particularly when it comes to big changes. That may be a good thing cause things are looking pretty bad say 10 years out. Really, Really bad 50 years out.

Who knows?

Regarding Aliens, the distances are only too great based on our preconceptions and limited scientific knowledge? Does God take 1000s of light years to navigate the universe. How about her Angels? What's the difference between Angels and Aliens again? Which exist and which don't and how do we know?

Lots of mystery out there. Sure would be fun (I hope) if some sort of it dropped in for tea and to save our asses

peace

karl
healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
Oct 11, 2005 - 04:21am PT
Given I think god only exists in the universe of our minds I suspect a couple of milliseconds or so should get her from a neuron at one end to another at the opposite end. Find a way to fold time/space and you have a remote shot at visiting or communicating in something vaguely approaching real-time, which for the sake of this discussion could simply be getting a response in the same lifetime you sent a request - otherwise SOL is a pretty solid barrier. If you think pages are slow on a dial-up line you are really not going to like the inter- or intra-galactic load times...

ruppell

climber
May 15, 2010 - 04:18am PT
more maiden

launch the polaris
it doesn't scare us
when will this cease
the war heads will all
"RUST IN PEACE"
Watusi

Social climber
Newport, OR
May 15, 2010 - 04:46am PT
healyje

Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
May 15, 2010 - 06:23am PT
20 years of the 25 left, someone reanimate this baby again in 2015.

I'm pretty sure the he was speaking about microbial versus sentient life, but then again I have no proof none of you are aliens.
krutley

climber
here, now
May 15, 2010 - 01:59pm PT
If climbing was the only reason this site existed, it would only have one or two one-dimensionals having circle jerks on it.

Regarding aliens - Every Amurrkan should spend at least a couple months immersed in a culture not their own. That's a good start on knowing how you'll do when the aliens show up. Open up to other possibilities, again...
ec

climber
ca
May 15, 2010 - 03:01pm PT
Aliens are out there... and we need to stop trying to
talk to them, he says.

"We only have to look at ourselves to see how
intelligent life might develop into something we
wouldn't want to meet," the award-winning British
scientist said in the series for the Discovery
Channel.

To drive the point home, Hawking argued that aliens
visiting Earth would likely be the same as when
explorers first arrived in the New World.

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as
when Columbus landed in America, which didn't
turn out well for the Native Americans," he said.

If aliens in space ships did come to Earth, Hawking
suggests, they may be more "V" than "E.T."

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become
nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever
planets they can reach," he said, arguing that they
may have taken to the stars because they depleted
resources on their home world.

However, if humans were to encounter aliens,
Hawking believes they would likely be animals or
even just microbes.
-Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking on
'Into the Universe with
Stephen Hawking':
Contact with aliens
could get us killed

By Michael Sheridan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Sunday, April 25th 2010, 10:17
AM
Updated: Sunday, April 25th 2010, 10:17 AM
Ricardo Cabeza

climber
All Over.
May 15, 2010 - 03:14pm PT
Why is it that when I clicked on this thread, I got a safari popup asking me to log in to a swiss website? Conspiracy? Are we being monitored? Are the Swiss aliens?

Hmmm...
luggi

Trad climber
from the backseat of Jake& Elwood Blues car
May 15, 2010 - 03:20pm PT
Calling Dr. F...he has a pipeline to them I know it.......
Klimmer

Mountain climber
San Diego
May 15, 2010 - 04:24pm PT
Aliens--what if we Do find them?


Then keep an eye out for the probe!


Duh . . .












(lol)
d-know

Trad climber
electric lady land
May 15, 2010 - 04:25pm PT
kill 'em
and take
what they
have.
FRUMY

Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
May 15, 2010 - 04:44pm PT
if the aliens arn't here who are we arresting?
Skeptimistic

Mountain climber
May 15, 2010 - 06:59pm PT
"Yet another supertopo topic with little to do with climbing posted by someone who rarely climbs (no matter how much he used to)"

Yet another supertopo reply whining about the lack of climbing threads by someone who couldn't seem to simply ignore the thread or possibly start a climbing-related thread of their own.
Klimmer

Mountain climber
San Diego
May 15, 2010 - 08:28pm PT
Aliens--what if we Do find them?



#1 - Do not let that probe anywhere near you!


#2 - Cause a distraction so you can swipe the spaceship and fly it home. Then present it to Dr. Greer's: The Disclosure Project, so we World Citizens can back engineer the propulsion and Zero Point Energy technology, since the guv isn't coming clean and we are just gonna have to do it ourselves to get caught up.


#3 - If that doesn't work . . . RUN!





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