Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:33 pm
by rickyarbino
Doesn't make it any less emotional.
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 9:56 pm
by ehbes
We'd probably kill it before it got close enough to communicate tbf
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:03 pm
by Gannon211
I saw a quote once that said "There are two possibilities. We are completely alone in the universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying"
I hope I live to see any living organism discovered anywhere other than earth, it would be amazing and open soooooooo many questions
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:10 pm
by nowaysj
Genevieve wrote:
nowaysj wrote:Like a major moment in world history.
No, definitely. I'm certainly not denying that and I believe that everyone would be aware of the cultural significance of the discovery. But would people lose their shit over it? A few people definitely would. But I think many people would just go 'awesome' without being fully blown away by it on a gut level and would await the next scientific breakthrough.
In a way, we're kind of spoiled with scientific breakthroughs in that we don't completely appreciate their significance anymore.
Again, what I said there was in the context of flesh and blood aliens showing up here on this planet and dialoging with us. That is the end of the world as we know it, in terms of energy, space, and time. Unless the poor chumps have been humpin it across interstellar space for millennia to get here, in which case, I hope they like the desert, cause we're looking more and more like mars every day.
I do feel you about the rate of scientific and even engineering breakthroughs. What was that headline I saw a couple of weeks ago, night vision contact lenses... haha, slipped that one by. Soon we'll have night vision, FLIR and all the rest of the electromagnetic spectrum contact lenses that are google glassed, providing instant access to the world's knowledge base on anything and everything we see. And that shit will just slip by, haha, like, oh neat, oh grandma has been digitized, oh cool, oh I can take a pill and re-sequence my dna and in a year be 24 years old again, oh neet. And all the rest.
The singularity is not just some university joke, and at the rate it is going, we're more likely to be the aliens, than have aliens show up here.
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:19 pm
by Muncey
Watched this yesterday actually:
Someone on there said it'd pretty much change the way we all thought and behaved if there was life out there. Could someone explain why it'd be that radical? I mean it'd be a massive human achievement to find life in space somewhere else but most people probably think a life form is out there anyway.. if they understand how vast the universe is. Whether theres anything as evolved or intelligent (as we define it) as us is another thing though and even if they were it could be a completely different type intelligence or whatever.. like how if a lion could speak English you couldn't have a conversation with it because your points of references or whatever are entirely different.
I think what excites most (common/non scientist) people about finding life form out in space is communication. Its probably very likely there is many life forms out there but its incredibly unlikely that we'll be able to communicate with it, on any meaningful level anyway.
So yeah be a good human achievement and will be a massive milestone for science but I don't see how it'd majorly change the every day person in the street.
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:21 pm
by titchbit
ehbrums1 wrote:We'd probably kill it before it got close enough to communicate tbf
This.
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:20 am
by wysockisauce
No sensible aliens will fuck with a bunch of unstable humans unless they want to harvest us.
If we discover life somewhere we wont fuck with it either unless we can profit from it.
The only way any kind of relationship can be formed in earths current state is if we encounter aliens that are more or less on our level.
The discovery of cellular life will only confirm our assumption that it exists outside of earth. It wont bring us any closer to interacting with sentient beings in any way. Where's my warp drive!!
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:53 am
by Lye_Form
Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:03 am
by nowaysj
There are two possibilities, either you read the thread or you just post.
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:05 am
by ehbes
Lye Form wrote:Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
thanks Carl Sagan
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:08 am
by Phigure
sagan wouldnt say something that dumb
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:09 am
by Lye_Form
nowaysj wrote:There are two possibilities, either you read the thread or you just post.
i read m8
You grew up before 1988?
edit: shit missed that post by gannon211 though
ehbrums1 wrote:
Lye Form wrote:Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
thanks Carl Sagan
Arthur C. Clarke u numpty
Phigure wrote:sagan wouldnt say something that dumb
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 6:19 pm
by kay
Muncey wrote:Someone on there said it'd pretty much change the way we all thought and behaved if there was life out there. Could someone explain why it'd be that radical? I mean it'd be a massive human achievement to find life in space somewhere else but most people probably think a life form is out there anyway.. if they understand how vast the universe is. Whether theres anything as evolved or intelligent (as we define it) as us is another thing though and even if they were it could be a completely different type intelligence or whatever.. like how if a lion could speak English you couldn't have a conversation with it because your points of references or whatever are entirely different.
It could change quite a lot of things because, while the concept of there being alien lifeforms seems pretty natural to someone brought up with a decent amount of exposure to and acceptance of scientific notions, the fact is that the majority of humans have not been brought up this way. In a world still rife with racism and homophobia, it seems more likely that xenophobia would spring up too. And conversely, such a discovery could also spur xenophiles towards actually pushing further development of spaceflight. The effects are likely to increase with the level of intelligence of the lifeforms.
Having said all that, the likelihood of us finding evidence of non-intelligent aliens without leaving our planet is probably a lot smaller than us finding intelligent aliens.
Re: If it were announced that we discovered multicellular li