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Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim

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Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> wrote:
> On 23/01/2016 1:20 PM, jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com wrote:
>> Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> wrote:
>>> On 23/01/2016 5:46 AM, HVAC wrote:
>>>>> Life on other planets would likely be brief and become extinct
>>>>> very quickly, say astrobiologists from The Austroyan National
>>>>> University (ANU).
>>>> ----------
>>>> A fairly stupid supposition.
>>>> First they don't define 'brief'. Life on earth has existed for a
>>>> brief period too...a few billion years. It has survived and even
>>>> flourished in the face of unrelenting extinction level events.
>>>> Be it asteroids, massive seismic activity, lava flows over 25% of the
>>>> earth's surface and the almost total covering of the earth in ice,
>>>> life persists, adapts and evolves.
>>> The anthropic principle applies. The fact that life survived may have
>>> been an extraordinary fluke. We have no way of knowing.
>>> Sylvia.
>> Which means we also don't know if a universe filled with life is normal.
> No. The only thing we know about life's probability is that it's 
> possible. The Earth might be the only place in the observable universe 
> where there's life at all. Or the universe could be teeming with life.
> Finding life elsewhere - such as on Europa - would change that, 
> particularly if it's clearly a different kind of life (nothing 
> resembling DNA for example).
> As for intelligent life - our appearance on Earth was the result of a 
> sequence of freak events, and the final push to our current level of 
> intelligence arose from a drought in Africa that nearly wiped us out, 
> and could easily have actually done so. So even if life turns out to be 
> common, it could still be that intelligent life is very rare indeed.
> Sylvia.


Well this may be part of the problem right here.
There are many forms of intelligent life on earth.
To some extent even single-celled creatures exhibit a form on
intellect.
Even simple artefacts can apparently exhibit intelligent
behvaiour if the glossy ads are to be beleived.

So I think the human backstory may be one of drought and
deprivation that resulted in higher levels of cooperation perhaps
than other species and hence language and the propensity to
produce and consume and hoard more than we can use (a "famine reflex").

But  the question then is is there life enough like us that
it's of any interest. Sure, there's the possibility it's so
alien we don't recognize it as alive. But there's also the
idea that it's too damn obstinante and crazy to bother with.

Personally, I doubt if there are any advanced interesting aliens running
around the galaxy. Judging by the trends in labor saving devices
in the various attempts at civilization here they would have
most likely taken the easy route to self gratification and been
living for the last 10 bn years in an immortal virtual reality so doing.

It's just any any autonomous tech they developed prior to bugging
out to a "higher plane" I worry about. After millions or billions of y
the prime directive could be now almost anything --  sane or insane.

Think automatic toaster, *way* out of warranty, that's developed
a viral reproductive cycle and a penchant for eating earth-sized planets.


--
[W]ith regard to global temperature, 2015 is not an "El Ni?o year". 2016 
will be the El Ni?o year that you should compare to 1998, 2010, etc.
-- Urs Neu, #25, 22 Jan 2016
-- <http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2016/01/2015-temperatures/#
more-19030>

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The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-22 11:32 -0600
  Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Lawrence Senreich <lawest@galaxyredeems.org> - 2016-01-22 17:59 +0000
    Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sergio <invalid@invalid.com> - 2016-01-22 12:43 -0600
  The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim HVAC <mr.hvac@gmail.com> - 2016-01-22 10:46 -0800
    Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-01-23 12:48 +1100
      Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-23 02:20 +0000
        Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-01-24 12:39 +1100
          Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-24 02:12 +0000
            Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim benj <none@gmail.com> - 2016-01-24 02:18 -0500
          Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim R Kym Horsell <kym@kymhorsell.com> - 2016-01-24 03:20 +0000
            Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim GogoJF <jfgogo22@yahoo.com> - 2016-01-23 19:50 -0800
              Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim GogoJF <jfgogo22@yahoo.com> - 2016-01-23 20:00 -0800
            Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-01-24 15:06 +1100
              Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim R Kym Horsell <kym@kymhorsell.com> - 2016-01-24 05:18 +0000
          Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim HVAC <mr.hvac@gmail.com> - 2016-01-23 23:00 -0800
          Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim HVAC <mr.hvac@gmail.com> - 2016-01-23 23:00 -0800
            Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim benj <none@gmail.com> - 2016-01-24 02:19 -0500
          Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim "reber g=emc^2" <herbertglazier0@gmail.com> - 2016-01-24 12:11 -0800
            Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim "hanson" <hanson@quick.net> - 2016-01-24 12:29 -0800
    Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim benj <none@gmail.com> - 2016-01-23 02:17 -0500
    Re: Is is alive ? benj <none@gmail.com> - 2016-01-23 10:33 -0500
    Re: Is is alive ? Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-01-24 12:41 +1100
    Is is alive ? jay moseley <jaymoseley@hotmail.com> - 2016-01-23 22:46 -0800
  Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-22 18:53 +0000
    Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-23 10:22 -0600
      Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-23 19:21 +0000
        Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-01-24 12:46 +1100
          Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-24 02:17 +0000
            Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-01-24 15:04 +1100
              Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-24 06:16 +0000
          Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim benj <none@gmail.com> - 2016-01-24 02:13 -0500
            Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim dvus <dven1@adelphia.net> - 2016-01-25 06:33 -0500
              Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Odd Bodkin <bodkinodd@gmail.com> - 2016-01-25 10:53 -0600
  Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim "reber g=emc^2" <herbertglazier0@gmail.com> - 2016-01-22 12:11 -0800
    Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-22 20:26 +0000
    Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim "reber g=emc^2" <herbertglazier0@gmail.com> - 2016-01-22 16:13 -0800
      Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim "hanson" <hanson@quick.net> - 2016-01-22 17:15 -0800
      Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-23 02:21 +0000
        Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim "reber g=emc^2" <herbertglazier0@gmail.com> - 2016-01-23 15:40 -0800
          Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2016-01-24 01:43 +0000
      Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-01-24 15:07 +1100
    Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim benj <none@gmail.com> - 2016-01-23 02:30 -0500
  Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim Double-A <double-a3@hush.com> - 2016-01-23 14:08 -0800
    Re: The aliens are silent because they're dead Jim benj <none@gmail.com> - 2016-01-24 02:08 -0500

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