One question, what would it be? - Contact with an ET, what would you ask?

clark · 2004-05-17 14:57:26

Good one Trebuchet.

Of course we might wait years for a reply of, "No, not possible."

Plus, we would still have to wait for light to travel, which means it would take time for our manipulations to even register on their end. :;):

Rxke · 2004-05-17 17:08:59

I don't get it... Radio signals are as fast/slow as optical, no?

What would be the advantage?

Edit: instantaneous doubletake: I get it... Lasers could be more powerful than radio... OK.

Euler · 2004-05-17 17:52:49

Optical signals have a higher frequency than radio. This means that while it would take the same amount of time for the signals to reach another star, the data transmission rate would be higher. It would be like switching from phone lines to a T-1.

Rxke · 2004-05-17 20:00:42

Exactly. I did know that, but was confused, i thought it was about speed, not 'bandwidth'...

(Lack of sleep, I'm afraid, examination period AND bouts of insomnia, great combination, heh..)

So, we'd eventually should go for Gamma-lray asers to get the fattest pipe, no?

Trebuchet · 2004-05-17 20:29:18

Of course. One must beat the hell out of the aliens in Counterstrike, for the dignity of the human species... of course, the lag problem is kinda bad....

REB · 2004-05-18 13:53:28

Nano nano!

or maybe

Help!

Seriously, I would ask them to tell us about themselves and what they have learned about the universe.

~Eternal~ · 2004-05-20 15:58:33

Why not using faster than light laser waves?

Euler · 2004-05-20 18:44:54

Laser light always travels at light speed.

~Eternal~ · 2004-05-20 22:19:03

Nope, apparently some lasers travel faster than light.
Apparently being 300 times the speed of light.
Article on the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/841 … 841690.stm

Euler · 2004-05-20 22:40:39

Quantum tunneling... it cannot be used to transmit information faster than light.

quasar777 · 2004-06-03 21:00:44

how far along are you in physics? to show our good faith this is how far we are. now, perhaps between the two of us we can break C.

Euler · 2004-06-03 21:30:20

how far along are you in physics?

I am a math major with a physics minor, heading into my junior year of college. I am pretty good with Newtonian physics and relativity, though my knowledge of quantum mechanics is a little sketchier.

now, perhaps between the two of us we can break C.

I suppose anything is possible, but it will probably be 5-10 years before I am ready to make a serious attack on relativity.

quasar777 · 2004-06-04 07:01:17

d`oh, sorry this question was directed @ hypothetical alien civilization.

REB · 2004-06-16 06:40:14

On the Animal Planet, I was watching the Crocodile Hunter, and his mates, wrestle a huge crocodile. Steve mentioned that Crocodiles have been on the Earth for hundreds of millions of years, and have changed little.

Why is that? I believe it is because their form has proven successful for the niche they inhabit.

Humans have been around for about a million years. So why is the crocodile at our mercy? It is because, despite that animals long existence, it has become comfortable in its niche and not evolved. Humans have quickly come along and surpassed the crocodile in a short time.

So where are humans now. Have be become comfortable in our niche and stopped evolving. Will some other species come take over our world? (I don’t think we are in danger of any native Earth life taking over, but what about life elsewhere?)

Is their anyway we can insure that we continue evolving? Is the use of computers, robots and other technology to aid us a form of evolution- since they are extensions of ourselves?

quasar777 · 2004-06-16 09:38:02

excellent idea. & it possibly deserves a thread of its own. i remem in OMNI magazine many yrs a go aspeculation about how man would evolveif he stayed on Earth & our climate changes continued. & it`s prolly easy to find this now prolly on google. it actually was kinda sad. the brain continued to expand, no teeth, hardly any limbs as we could levitate & use telekinetics to bring food, etc to us.

REB · 2004-06-16 10:20:24

D'oh, I typed this one fast and did not proof read it.

This part shoud be;

"So where are humans now? Have we be become comfortable in our niche and stopped evolving?"

Quasar, do you see us becoming cyborgs.

Actually, I like the thought of placing my mind in a small starship and exploring the galaxy for thousands of years (After I am old and my body is giving out)

REB · 2004-06-16 10:22:29

I put the topic here because I thought about an alien race evolving beyond us as we become comfortable in our place in the universe.

REB · 2004-06-16 10:25:23

It might be a universal norm for an intelligent species to reach a point and get off the natural evolutionary path, and make their own evolutionary path- either through technical mechanical means, or bioengineering.

quasar777 · 2004-06-22 14:18:05

yes reb, i believe we are. however we should if possible continue to be an adaptable species. "do you have any colonies closer to us"? did y`all see an episode of star trek voyaqer where barkley used a pulsar to create a micro wormhole to communicate w/ voyager? would it help if we did use the help of a celestial body? i`d assume this message would be sent from the farside of the Moon or further out. we`d wanna have the sending unit clear of Earth`s interference.

TheMadCap · 2004-06-22 17:26:43

I would ask...

How do we keep from killing each other? It seems that evolution has left us with so much hatred and fighting in order to survive that we can get away from it. I guess my real question is, is the endpoint of evolution extinction???

MarsDog · 2004-06-23 09:00:51

is the endpoint of evolution extinction???

It is definition dependent.
Evolution implies the death of the individual and group;
to be replaced by the better adapted.

Evolution allowed the capability of flexible responses.
Most importantly, the ability to try things out in our imaginations.

TheMadCap · 2004-06-28 16:28:38

is the endpoint of evolution extinction???
It is definition dependent.
Evolution implies the death of the individual and group;
to be replaced by the better adapted.
Evolution allowed the capability of flexible responses.
Most importantly, the ability to try things out in our imaginations.

You're right, I shall restate my question....

Is extinction an inevitibility for all sentient beings???

REB · 2004-06-29 06:36:24

The way evolution works in the natural world, environmental changes or competition usually causes a species to evolve or become extinct. Sometimes a new niche will open up and several species will compete for it. (Some evolution results in freak genetic changes that turns out to be good. Like when a radiation particle mutates DNA.)

In an unchanging environment, a species, like the crocodile, will not evolve much. This is fine until the environment does change, or another species competes for that environment.

But when you throw intelligence in, does that change things? Certainly intelligence helps a species adapt to environmental changes and to defeat competition. And, in our case, it has allowed us to not only survive, but flourish in every niche on the Earth. It has even allowed us to survive in the environment of Space.

As we have mastered every natural niche on the Earth, we have solved our physical evolution. We are probably causing more change to ourselves than nature is.

I fear we are becoming stagnant. Now we could be like the crocodile, and survive for millions of years without needing to evolve further, but I have my doubts. We have much more of an effect on our environment than the crocodile. Over-Population causes a strain on the Earth resources. This causes more pollution. This also causes us to fight each other over the limited resources.

So how can we ensure our survival? We need to make sure the Earth can handle our population- not an easy thing to do. Education across the globe would help here. People need to stop having 6, 8, 12 or more kids. Two or 3 is enough. We need to keep recycling. We need to keep cleaning up our environment and finding cleaner energy.

So say we do all of this. We could last for millions of years, right. Maybe not. The dinosaurs were on this Earth 165 million years. They would probably be here today- there would probably be intelligent dinosaurs by now- had it not been for an impactor.

So how can we ensure our survival? Space.

Space will not solve our population problems on the Earth. Transporting billions of people off the Earth with rockets, or some other means would be a huge task..

So the Earth will always have to watch her population. Space does give us room to grow. It also gives us a place to move pollution causing industry.

But more importantly, space gives us a new environment to evolve into. The challenges of living and working in space will teach us so much. From moving and mining asteroids, to living on Mars, to terraforming Venus, space will change us.

If a sentiment species can get established into space, the chances of extension greatly decrease. And the more they establish themselves into space, the chances of becoming extinct keeps decreasing.

~Eternal~ · 2004-07-06 09:03:47

Why not build a meeting place of say, 10,000 colonist from each planet and build a massive space station or colonize a planet.

At 80% of the speed of light, it would take 31 years and 4 months to get to half-way point, If the colonist where 40-50 when they left and lets assume the new average lifespan is 120-???(Eh Gene Therapy baby), these people would most likely have to bring DNA and etc..., but think of the 'elite-ness' of such a project.

quasar777 · 2004-07-06 14:12:17

that`s about what i was proposing, a meeting place in the middle, approx 25 ly away from both of us, a few posts back. & radiotimelag would be less as well.

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Re: One question, what would it be? - Contact with an ET, what would you ask?

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