Aaron Moodie
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Aaron Moodie (M, 30)
Melbourne, AU
Immortal since Apr 20, 2008
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Aaron Moodie
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    From Alan Smith
    Nationhood : The future of...
    Now playing SpaceCollective
    Where forward thinking terrestrials share ideas and information about the state of the species, their planet and the universe, living the lives of science fiction. Introduction
    Featuring Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames, based on an idea by Kees Boeke.
    From Aaron Moodie's personal cargo

    Not Alone, Just Isolated

    With the discovery of the three Super Earths found recently, I started thinking. Maybe the question is not 'Are we alone?', but are we just isolated?

    As Washington astronomer Alan Boss says, the discovery of the three new planets is "really making the case that we live in a crowded universe." If that's the case, where are all the aliens and extraterrestrial contacts? We are at the point where we are able to leave the confines of our planet, scour the solar system and shoot satellites into deep space, so why haven't we ran into anyone?

    Earlier this year a Amazonian tribe that had been hidden away in a remote part of the rain forest was discovered by a plane flying low over the canopy. Here were are people that have remained unknown while the developed world moved on around them, leaving them in a primitive time capsule. If this is possible on our own planet, why not in out galaxy?

    Just like this tribe, our planet may be sitting in a remote area of the Milky Way unaffected as the rest of the galaxy is abuzz with interplanetary trade and commerce.

    Wed, Aug 13, 2008  Permanent link
    Categories: space, exploration, civilization
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    shandora     Fri, Aug 15, 2008  Permanent link
    Fermi Paradox poses a similar question. One estimate is that technologically advanced civilizations always hit catastrophe ( nuclear holocaust, resource depletion etc. ) before ever developing the capabilities required to make contact with other civilizations.
    This is like universal bad news ;-)
    matthewspencer     Tue, Aug 19, 2008  Permanent link
    It turns out that the lost tribe was actually found in 1910. It is an interesting twist to your metaphor though. Like maybe we did have contact at some point?

    Also, the Fermi Paradox is really depressing.
    nagash     Wed, Oct 14, 2009  Permanent link
    my point of view on this subject is extremely radical, but I'm going to say it anyway...

    - what if we are not alone, nor isolated, but we are just doing it wrong?

    think about it: the whole idea of building a ship out of pieces of metal or any other material source, pushing it forward with jet engines in an effort to cross distances millions times above what our physical bodies can endure... maybe it is just as absurd as trying to access the internet using paper airplanes. maybe this "interplanetary trade and commerce" are all around us, and we are looking at the wrong direction.

    I know it sounds crazy but with everything new I discover seems to point in that direction. in fact, I see the entire universe and existence in a completely different light now, compared to just a couple years ago. It's hard to explain, but this book is a good starting point!


    gamma     Thu, Oct 15, 2009  Permanent link
    There was a report that the lost tribe discovery is a fake. They just photographed some people in the forest.

    :-)
    Amfoes     Thu, Oct 15, 2009  Permanent link
    @ nagash

    Your view is not crazy at all. If one is to put in a more provocative way, another possibility is that we are somehow trapped into a distorted reality by some cosmic misunderstanding or by "little green men" on purpose.

    That being said, I think the view that "we are just doing it wrong" misses the whole point. We, as humans, are well aware of that possbility; yet this is simply the best we can do at the moment, given the postulation that these other creatures are made of the basic elements that are today within the grasp of our knowledge.

    ps. As far as I know, that tribe turned out to be fake.
    gamma     Thu, Oct 15, 2009  Permanent link
    The most recent encounter with UFO reports I had, I remember, was described on CNN few months ago. There were eyewitnesses and analysts of a situation with a hovercraft floating above some folks for awhile... It seems to me they are telling truth; the situation is plausible and I think its great.

    Reasons for UFOs not landing on Earth are:

    1. they have no need for food or energy...
    2. its to far to travel at all unless they live very long (speed of light is a limiting factor)
    3. they have a remote vision and no needs
    4. something about different ecosystem (we smell)

    Reasons for landing on Earth:

    1. they are likely wild animals in search of fun
    2. they are similar to us
    3. we're next

    Reasons for in-between solutions:

    1. aliens are a go, but everything interesting happens only once every 10000 years
    2. everybody is busy traveling to some important place or doing something important (e.g eternal life in virtual reality)
    3. we have exchanged information and goods, the result is aspirin
    4. this is the third world (now its my hairstyle??)
    .
    .
    .
    Olena     Thu, Oct 15, 2009  Permanent link
    Amazing... I have to agree with nagash, about this feeling that we're doing it wrong - I've been feeling that way for a while also, not that I have an idea about what "right" might be, now.
    We are like toddlers. Being constantly surrounded by technology makes it look like we've progressed so, but really our scientific revolutions were only a couple hundred years ago and still so little is truly known.

    Why do we even have this idea that They will come here, first? What if they are just as (or more) primitive as we are?
    gamma     Fri, Oct 16, 2009  Permanent link
    Well I don't know about something being wrong in the universe. There are countless stars over billions of year to produce countless:

    1. forms of life
    2. occurrences of cosmic migration (slow travel could do it)
    3. mathematical theorems that result from millions of years of evolution
    ...and in turn they kick ass.

    Imagine civilizations creating civilizations impervious to cold of space, intelligence on chip, giant moaning fungus of Sirius, space fish with solar sails, or they could invent a blade-less fan.
    Infinitas     Fri, Oct 16, 2009  Permanent link
    nagash: I've read the book as well and I definitely think that the way to explore the universe is through ourselves. Is it possible to achieve such a result now though? Technology will eventually allow for this "mode of transportation," but I think that achieving Nirvana through Buddhist practices is the closest we currently can get(excluding the use of drugs because drugs wear off.)

    I also agree with gamma. I've taken a liking to idea that the universe (and multiverse) is infinite, meaning every possible outcome is possible so long as they are within the laws of their respective universe.
    nagash     Wed, Oct 21, 2009  Permanent link
    I'm pretty convinced there are "billions and billions" of alien civilizations out there, both more primitive and more advanced than we are right now. but I think the whole idea of aliens physically visiting us, or finding aliens ourselves, is extremely unlikely to happen! I don't say impossible, but you need such a number of convergences to allow it to take place... it's like winning the lottery.

    but even if I'm not buying tickets for the flying saucer show, doesn't mean I don't think we can't contact "alien" intelligence. In fact, as Infinitas said, Buddhists have been psychonauts for millennia, and developed a series of smooth techniques and traditions around it.

    so, humanity looks Isolated right now, but things are escalating faster and faster.
    sooner or later, our monkey may hit the light switch and find out that we are right in the middle of the party :)
    AsylumSeaker     Wed, Oct 28, 2009  Permanent link
    I've wondered if perhaps the lack of signals from intelligent life could be due to life being affected by some sort of 'season' that we're unaware of. Perhaps all the systems within range are still in their gestative periods in the same way that seeds are before spring, and all of them are just coming into bloom now.
     
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