Why Alien Life Would be our Doom - The Great Filter
Not people running into things but interesting.
TL:DW? If we find E.T we're doomed.
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Cerebus Sticky! Sticky! Stick! Stick!, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 17:02,
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Great video, but:
The filter is selfishness. It's a trait found in every sentient being. All living things are territorial to some degree and will quite gladly fight to the death in order to both protect and expand on that territory. They may choose to share that territory with a mate, or a gang, but you're unlikely to find a sentient species that will openly share its territory without receiving some kind of return. Humans are particularly bad at it, which is why Communism never, ever works long term. But it's written into the code of everything that has life.
Which brings up another philosophical issue. Who says the our planetary definition of 'life' is the intergalactic dipstick that should be used when attempting to observe extra terrestrial life? If you lock somebody in a concrete box from birth and feed them nothing but Jaffa Cakes, they'll perceive Jaffa Cakes as food, but the concept of food outside Jaffa Cakes would be completely beyond their comprehension because to them Jaffa Cakes and only Jaffa Cakes look like food. You could take them out of the box after a couple of decades, and show them a plate is sausages. It's food, but it's going to take a massive fucking leap of the imagination for that to click with them because it bears zero resemblance to their perception of food, the mighty Jaffa Cake.
(, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 18:40, Share, Reply)
I'm hungry
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evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 19:00,
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Sorry but you lost me at the first paragraph.
Sharing of territory happens all the time in the animal kingdom where different species don’t have the same food source whether it’s a mixed troupe of monkeys or grazers mucking around together on the veldt. Mutualism often happens when they share sleeping spaces but even then it’s not certain.
If aliens arrive en masse they might conceivably need living space, of which there is plenty spare, but given the fact that they’ve just travelled who knows how many light years in self-sufficient habitats it seems far more like to me that they wouldn’t need to compete with us for anything at all. The trouble with humans is that we assume any intelligent species must be as horrifically shitty to fellow creats as we are ourselves. It’s analogous to the exoplaanet search: we only have one example of (intelligent) life so we assume all life must follow the same evolutionary path.
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jonbob loves you, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 19:09,
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And sometimes they even fuck!
www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/15/sex-between-snow-monkeys-and-sika-deer-may-be-new-behavioural-tradition
I can't wait until I get humped by an alien. Unless it looks like Gilbert.
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Draconacticus Reject shampoo. Demand real poo!, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 19:16,
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That's fine then
so long as they aren't interested in energy, living space, water or volatile organics we'll get on like a fucking house on fire.
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The Ann Coulter Fan Club Babylon is burning at, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 19:57,
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What if it turns out they are highly evolved dung beetles and human excrement turns out to be the alien equivalent of foie gras?
We'll be rolling in space diamonds, I tell thee.
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Draconacticus Reject shampoo. Demand real poo!, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 20:16,
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So how have they coped before actually finding for the first time...
I'm guessing energy & water. Oh yes, and your sweeet tassssty soulsssss are more their beans on toast.
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The Ann Coulter Fan Club Babylon is burning at, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 22:02,
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drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Wed 21 Mar 2018, 8:35,
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Oh god, I didn't think about that.
I'm doomed!
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Draconacticus Reject shampoo. Demand real poo!, Wed 21 Mar 2018, 10:26,
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That’s exactly my point; all of those things are comparatively easy to find in space.
If aliens had already travelled here none of those things would be a problem for them. As I see it the only reason why aliens would come here is because they want to for one reason or another. They might conceivably come on some transgalactic jihad but I tend to agree with Carl Sagan in that any race that can advance far enough technologically to make the trip will have had a few millennia to breed out any lingering aggression.
The notion of aliens coming here for air/water/meat always makes me remember that jokey comment about things like Dyson spheres and ringworlds: if aliens are advanced enough to build such things they wouldn’t need them anyway.
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jonbob loves you, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 22:11,
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Mad assumption
If you have the drive to go out to the stars you will also have aggression.
Stick with Fermi.
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The Ann Coulter Fan Club Babylon is burning at, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 22:21,
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Rubbish. It's a long way to travel for a bit of a dust up.
They will be driven by their kinks. They will be exploring space looking for new things to fuck. They won't believe their luck when they find planet earth is populated by sentient monkeys that have dedicated 95% of the internet to wanking.
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Draconacticus Reject shampoo. Demand real poo!, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 22:28,
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That's exactly what the Inca's said about the Spanish.
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Tusk knows where you live, Wed 21 Mar 2018, 14:59,
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By definition animals defend territories against their own species.
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Mudface The web isn't callipygian, Wed 21 Mar 2018, 6:39,
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But they would be the world authority on the "is it a cake or a biscuit" debate.
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MyFrontFellOff ; his mouth full of teddies, urinating defiantly, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 21:52,
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It's a cake.
Because, science.
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Cerebus Sticky! Sticky! Stick! Stick!, Wed 21 Mar 2018, 6:12,
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Pfft, good luck living on Jaffa cakes mate...what an idiot lamo
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transparenttown Dead to worse..., Wed 21 Mar 2018, 8:09,
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Jaffa Cakes incorporate the five food groups.
Who's the idiot now?
(, Wed 21 Mar 2018, 8:49, Share, Reply)
I guess being human gives us the arrogance to .....
think intelligent life might be like our own. If it is that explains why there is nobody out there as the way we are heading it's almost certain we will not be around much longer nor have a viable planet. If we do continue to exist like other intelligent life out there the means to reach to each other is just impossible as it would mean faster than light travel which on paper does not happen. Perhaps a constant put in place by the 'creator' to make sure we don't reach each other. I do love this sort of stuff though.
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spazzcaptain Misses Valin @, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 20:02,
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Seems appropriate to post this again:
www.terrybisson.com/page6/page6.html
(I think I first came across it on here anyway.)
(, Tue 20 Mar 2018, 21:30, Share, Reply)
