Would you recognize an alien and how?

[Graham]

[ QUOTE ]
Roy said:
.. I allways like to think that is the site where a intergalatic starship crashed landed and the survivors were the seed stock for the human race.

[/ QUOTE ]

I recently read a novel which used this premise, and quite enjoyed it.
Mutineer's Moon, by David Weber. Quite good SF.

Graham

 

[budlight]

[ QUOTE ]
The LED Museum said:
[ QUOTE ]
budlight said:
That reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode called, "To Serve Mankind."

[/ QUOTE ]

I always thought the episode was called "To Serve Man", just like the ****book says. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I've only seen it once, and it was rather scary. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Hopefully, real aliens aren't that way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

One of the same, but I think you're right.

 

[budlight]

[ QUOTE ]
Tombeis said:
[ QUOTE ]
budlight said:
We have lots of aliens here in So California /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Budlight: Switch from watching the SciFi to the History channel and it won't be so noticable. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Guess that means WE are the aliens...thanks for the clarification. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[KC2IXE]

[ QUOTE ]
Graham said:

I recently read a novel which used this premise, and quite enjoyed it.
Mutineer's Moon, by David Weber. Quite good SF.

Graham

[/ QUOTE ]

The followups are ALMOST as good

 

[LiteFreek]

I dunno, but I'm of the opinion that any alien would avoid our planet by light years if he/she/it was smart.

-the local LiteFreek

 

[GJW]

[ QUOTE ]
d'mo said:
If we really come in contact with aliens, chances are, our culture and language will be so different, mathematics will be the only common language.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard this from Carl Sagan and others but I don't buy it.
It might be true if we discovered them by accident (a la Contact) but if they were to actually visit us intentionally and if they were truly advanced I figure they would do their homework.

Come on....
Doesn't anyone have any ideas for a sort of litmus test?
I think we need to get a committee working on this.

 

[Graham]

I agree. You can't even assume much about mathematics. For instance, a different race may very well use a different base rather than decimal. Base 11 or 12 or something would make things interesting, to say the least..

Graham

 

[Tomas]

"Come on....
Doesn't anyone have any ideas for a sort of litmus test?
I think we need to get a committee working on this."

That's a really tough chore. On the one hand we have the possibility that "aliens" advanced enough to get here and wanting to "infiltrate" without being noticed would be very difficult to expose.

On the other hand there are a lot of, uh, "genuine humans" who are really far, far out in left field, and could actually be mistaken for aliens ...

On the third hand, there were maybe 5% of the really intelligent, productive, interesting people I worked with at Bell Labs who could go either way ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/huh.gif

 

[Roy]

If it had not been because a cosmic accident, our math could have been base 6....three fingers on each hand. When the dianasaurs got wiped out, it cleared the field for the five fingered critters to take over. Thus our math is base 10.

To answer the orgional question, I think they would know they were visiting a fairly technological advanced world and would make their presence known straight away. I would make the odds of a frendly first incounter to be 50/50.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The question to me seems to be, if there is a race of beings out there that is so advanced that they are aware of our planet, and able to visit here, then why haven't they spoken up by now? Why is our total communication with them just a glimpse of their space ships once and while? Why do they come here? What do they want? Why don't they help us with our problems of over-population and pollution and war?
I think I have an answer; they want our excrement! That's right, earth's population is just like some big guano farm to them, there's something in our caca they want..and that's it. That explains why they don't care what we do or what happens to us, so long as the population doesn't shrink, and we all keep pooping!
We see them sometimes, often out over the oceans, because that's where they extract their "brown gold" -- and then carry it all back home.
Explains alot doesn't it?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

 

[DrAg0n]

Litmus test = get them to show me technology not yet possible, and take me to their leader...

 

[James S]

Never met a real one, however I've seen plenty of spoilt rich kid aliens. You know the type, land their ship in front of some poor fellow who nobody will believe and dance up and down in front of him wearing antennas and saying "bleep bleep"

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Can you tell I just bought a copy of the BBC production of the Hitchhikers Guide on DVD?

Base 6, base 10 (I use a lot of base 16 every day and used to have a midi patch bay that required you enter addresses in base 8!) a prime is a prime, thats what makes them interesting!

At this point I choose not to fully accept the fact that you can't find a way around the speed of light /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif But it's not going to be something that you can build in your basement or garage. If aliens are getting here it's taking the entire engineering output of multiple worlds and the entire energy output of several stars. It's not something that could be disguised as a black project.

(well, it's not something YOU could build in your basement, wait till you see what I've got in MY basement! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif)