Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Watusi
Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
|
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
"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
|
|
"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
|
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
"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
|
|
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
|
|
Yeah Jay!! "The life of a Repo-Man is always...Intense!"
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
The West
|
|
Btw Cool Artwork, Mike
|
|
Ouch!
climber
|
|
" 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
|
|
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
|
|
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
|
|
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?
|
|
fareastclimber
Trad climber
Hong Kong & Wales
|
|
Any kind of food you want. And there is only room for one, so no space for the 1000 Virgins.
|
|
Ouch!
climber
|
|
Wonder what a live alien would bring on EBay. Maybe one of those cute little grays with the big eyes.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!