I wonder where you put the mythological and religious other-worldlies- from gods to guardian angels, etc.? Or the construct of Dante's "Divine Comedy", for instance. Do humans long for uncorrupted worlds?
On Sep 27, 6:23 pm, William L Houts <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm with the pragmatists on the question of intelligent alien species. > Many scientists who speculate on this sort of thing --though there > really aren't that many of them-- say that such species wouldn't > resemble anything so comforting as a humanoid physiology, but I think > they're partly mistaken. Surely there would be surprises in the way > nature cooks up life on other planets with radically different > chemistries than our dear old Mama Earth. But I think there's reason to > suppose that many alien species would resemble us. After all, any > species we might imagine has to cope with gravity as it evolves. So > they're much more likely to evolve some form of locomotion which > involves two, four or six pedal extremities (as Fats Waller calls them) > rather than three or five: even-numbered legs are less wobbly and more > amenable to balanced movement which consumes fewer calories. . Also, > sense organs like eyes and ears are likely to be located in or close to > a head, as there is survival value in having sense organs located close > to a brain, or whatever such species might use for brains. Finally, > everyone in the cosmos requires energy to get going, so they're either > going to evolve photosynthesis and take their energy directly from their > sun or suns, or they're going to take their sunbeams indirectly by > consuming something lower in the food chain. I'm sure there are lots of > evolution pathways I'm leaving out, seeing as I'm a curious poet rather > than a serious scientist type of guy, but I think these notions are, as > Allan named other ideas of mine, sensible provisos. > > PS. I left out centipedes and millipedes with their scores of legs, but > I think y'all's get what I'm saying here. > > --Bill > > On 9/27/2012 3:57 PM, archytas wrote: > > > > > > > I haven't seen any UFOs and tend not to be much interested in people > > who claim to have - at least without Bill's sensible provisos. The > > speed of thought as a brain process is slower than light-speed - but > > then I'm basically a tropical fish realist. I'd have a bet that no > > one in this group would really have much of a definition of light- > > speed and the Ricel curvature tensor, Euler Langrangian and the rest > > of Einstein's field equations. I mean no offence and don't do much of > > this science myself. > > > If you point out to a physicist that the people from the future who > > have invented the time machine are in extraordinarily short supply in > > our present he may come up with some mathematical guff on the shape of > > the universe that explains this or makes time travel only possible to > > the future. I have seen demons - plodding back to camp after a week's > > endurance exercise with no food for two days I was visually convinced > > the sentries were vampires but still asked them where the Naffi was. > > > My guess is that we travel through space as primitive life-forms with > > evolution built-in and waiting to unfold. We may thus have come from > > a much more advanced civilisation than ours bound by the speed of > > light, capable of the biological engineering but not space-flight much > > more advanced than our own. Calculations give 28 years as the time to > > reach the edge of the known universe - but this is the time inside the > > ship accelerating to near light speed fairly slowly. Space is not > > friction free and it's doubtful we or our instruments could take the > > radiation of light-speed flight. > > > I rather hope there are some nice, genuinely civilised aliens thinking > > of coming here. In my speculation, intelligent life tends to worry > > about food chains led by apes as these have been notoriously war-like. > > > I'm into bees and ants rather than UFOs at the moment. Bees use > > 'pharma' to combat fungal infections. Ants take slaves - killing the > > adults of another species and taking the larvae. These slaves then > > raise the slaver brood. Interestingly, the ant slaves rebel and kill > > the pupae of their masters - an act that does not favour the > > individuals a they will die, but does seem to be altruistic in favour > > of other colonies of the enslaved species. I mention this to suggest > > science is not a human invention, just something in evolution we are > > expanding. > > > UFOs remind me of religion generally - people seem to bond around > > ludic claims about golden salamanders and what cannot be proved. I > > guess we will find life or past life-sign on Mars. Salvation may come > > from a mother-ship, but my own feeling is that our inability to > > develop science as we could is a more important thought experiment. > > > In respect of this problem I recommend 'Bad Pharma' by Ben > > Goldacre, He finds a �600 billion industry in which more money is > > spent on marketing than on research and development, where the results > > of clinical trials of new drugs are massaged, and in which regulators > > fail to regulate. Papers supposedly by respected academics are > > ghostwritten by drug companies, and patients' pressure groups are > > covertly sponsored by pill manufacturers. > > > I can't for the life of me work out why we aren't directing our > > collective towards tapping into the asteroid belt and beyond instead > > of ADMASS. > > > On 24 Sep, 20:15, William L Houts <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I'm placing my bet on thoughtspeed. It's a great concept and it's a > >> great word. How could I do any better than that? > > >> --Bill > > >> On 9/24/2012 7:17 AM, Don Johnson wrote: > > >>> I agree with Allan the distance challenge is daunting. In an endless > >>> universe there's also no doubt in my mind there are other inhabitable > >>> planets out there but very unlikely any "aliens" will be visiting us. > >>> But there is hope.... > >>>http://www.npl.washington.edu/av/altvw81.html > >>> It's fun to speculate. The ball is in your court. > >>> dj > >>> On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 4:51 PM, William L Houts <[email protected]> > >>> wrote: > >>>> I've been around for a while now, so I thought I'd put in a topic for > >>>> discussion. I'm very interested in the UFO phenomenon and wonder what > >>>> the > >>>> singing minds here have to say about it. As for me, I don't have a dog > >>>> in > >>>> this fight --I tend to think that there's something to them, something > >>>> very > >>>> unusual, but I'm not at all certain that they're even piloted. Jacques > >>>> Valee, one of the more interesting theorists on the subject, says that > >>>> they're something like external dreams. Well, he doesn't say that > >>>> exactly, > >>>> but that's how I interpret him. Carl Jung, who was also very interested > >>>> in > >>>> the topic, says something very similar. > >>>> I have an experience to relate, too. About fifteen or sixteen years > >>>> ago, I > >>>> was flying down to Las Vegas on Southwest. Looking out of my window I > >>>> saw, > >>>> perhaps 20,000 feet below us, a disc-shaped object. It was featureless > >>>> and, > >>>> in the bright sun and from this angle, almost perfectly white. It wasn't > >>>> particularly fast and other than the fact that it was round, it wasn't > >>>> all > >>>> that interesting. I told my three travel mates, and they all basically > >>>> called me a liar. (I was very interested in occult topics in those > >>>> days, so > >>>> my judgment was highly suspect.) I'm not convinced that it wasn't > >>>> something > >>>> like a military test craft or something like that, but it was a UFO both > >>>> in > >>>> the high woo woo sense and in the sense that it was an unfamiliar flying > >>>> object. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. > >>>> Tennis, anyone? > >>>> --Bill > >>>> -- "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead and boy are my arms tired." > >>>> -- > >> -- > >> "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead > >> and boy are my arms tired." > > -- > "I just flew in from the Land of the Dead > and boy are my arms tired."- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --
