There's a scifi story here waiting to happen... :) On Tue, Apr 27, 2010 at 2:47 PM, Martin Baxter <martinbaxt...@gmail.com>wrote:
> > > Keith, I could see that as equally troublesome. What if the folks they're > fleeing from decide to come after them, for some reason? > > Martin (pessimism in full bloom) > > > On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 10:12 PM, Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net > > wrote: > >> I don't think so. Look at the history of Earth: so many technologically >> superiour races have exploited and destroyed others. Advanced tech can't >> make up for the loss of key materials or extinguished lifeforms. What if, >> like Europeans, they simply want to expand to new shores due to >> overcrowding, or a big group wants a new planet to pursue their unique >> religious/political ideas outside of the home world? >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@gmail.com> >> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com >> Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 6:00:39 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern >> Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking >> >> >> >> If they have the technology to reach us, they probably solved their >> resource problem already. Or close to it. >> >> I think that we should keep a positive outlook on this. We may come across >> both good and bad beings, but that doesn't mean that it isn't worth the >> journey. >> >> On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 1:59 PM, Martin Baxter >> <martinbaxt...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> Time to get into a Quisling frame of mind... >>> >>> Seriously, that is something to think about. With all of this lovely H2O >>> we've got lying about, it makes us a tempting target for colonization. >>> >>> >>> On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 2:14 PM, brent wodehouse < >>> brent_wodeho...@thefence.us> wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> >>>> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece >>>> >>>> From The Sunday Times >>>> >>>> April 25, 2010 >>>> >>>> Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking >>>> >>>> Jonathan Leake >>>> >>>> THE aliens are out there and Earth had better watch out, at least >>>> according to Stephen Hawking. He has suggested that extraterrestrials >>>> are >>>> almost certain to exist - but that instead of seeking them out, humanity >>>> should be doing all it that can to avoid any contact. >>>> >>>> The suggestions come in a new documentary series in which Hawking, one >>>> of >>>> the world’s leading scientists, will set out his latest thinking on some >>>> of the universe’s greatest mysteries. >>>> >>>> Alien life, he will suggest, is almost certain to exist in many other >>>> parts of the universe: not just in planets, but perhaps in the centre of >>>> stars or even floating in interplanetary space. >>>> >>>> Hawking’s logic on aliens is, for him, unusually simple. The universe, >>>> he >>>> points out, has 100 billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of >>>> millions >>>> of stars. In such a big place, Earth is unlikely to be the only planet >>>> where life has evolved. >>>> >>>> “To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens >>>> perfectly rational,” he said. “The real challenge is to work out what >>>> aliens might actually be like.” >>>> >>>> The answer, he suggests, is that most of it will be the equivalent of >>>> microbes or simple animals - the sort of life that has dominated Earth >>>> for most of its history. >>>> >>>> One scene in his documentary for the Discovery Channel shows herds of >>>> two-legged herbivores browsing on an alien cliff-face where they are >>>> picked off by flying, yellow lizard-like predators. Another shows >>>> glowing >>>> fluorescent aquatic animals forming vast shoals in the oceans thought to >>>> underlie the thick ice coating Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. >>>> >>>> Such scenes are speculative, but Hawking uses them to lead on to a >>>> serious >>>> point: that a few life forms could be intelligent and pose a threat. >>>> Hawking believes that contact with such a species could be devastating >>>> for >>>> humanity. >>>> >>>> He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and >>>> then >>>> move on: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life >>>> might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they >>>> might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from >>>> their >>>> home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking >>>> to >>>> conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.” >>>> >>>> He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is “a little >>>> too >>>> risky”. He said: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be >>>> much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t >>>> turn out very well for the Native Americans.” >>>> >>>> The completion of the documentary marks a triumph for Hawking, now 68, >>>> who >>>> is paralysed by motor neurone disease and has very limited powers of >>>> communication. The project took him and his producers three years, >>>> during >>>> which he insisted on rewriting large chunks of the script and checking >>>> the >>>> filming. >>>> >>>> John Smithson, executive producer for Discovery, said: “He wanted to >>>> make >>>> a programme that was entertaining for a general audience as well as >>>> scientific and that’s a tough job, given the complexity of the ideas >>>> involved.” >>>> >>>> Hawking has suggested the possibility of alien life before but his views >>>> have been clarified by a series of scientific breakthroughs, such as the >>>> discovery, since 1995, of more than 450 planets orbiting distant stars, >>>> showing that planets are a common phenomenon. >>>> >>>> So far, all the new planets found have been far larger than Earth, but >>>> only because the telescopes used to detect them are not sensitive enough >>>> to detect Earth-sized bodies at such distances. >>>> >>>> Another breakthrough is the discovery that life on Earth has proven able >>>> to colonise its most extreme environments. If life can survive and >>>> evolve >>>> there, scientists reason, then perhaps nowhere is out of bounds. >>>> >>>> Hawking’s belief in aliens places him in good scientific company. In his >>>> recent Wonders of the Solar System BBC series, Professor Brian Cox >>>> backed >>>> the idea, too, suggesting Mars, Europa and Titan, a moon of Saturn, as >>>> likely places to look. >>>> >>>> Similarly, Lord Rees, the astronomer royal, warned in a lecture earlier >>>> this year that aliens might prove to be beyond human understanding. >>>> >>>> “I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we >>>> can’t conceive,” he said. “Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum >>>> theory, it could be there are aspects of reality that are beyond the >>>> capacity of our brains.” >>>> >>>> Stephen Hawking's Universe begins on the Discovery Channel on Sunday May >>>> 9 >>>> at 9pm >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody >>> hell wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant >>> >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> -- >> Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! >> Mahogany at: >> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ >> >> > > > -- > "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell > wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik > > > > -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
