Don't talk to aliens, warns Hawking
I've always thought the same as the good Doctor - that the numbers statistically favour the evolution of life elsewhere.
He does run counter to Arthur Clarke or Isaac Asimov though, in suggesting that races capable of interstellar travel could be hostile. They both argued that evolving far enough to develop the technology would also see a respective evolution of morals and ethics that would render conflict abhorrent.
Opinions?
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timsinister
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Silver_Owl
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If they're giant squids I'm off. 
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Norman Hunter
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This dude will sort them out;
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Silver_Owl
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Gordon's alive? 
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Back in time
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giant squid = giant squid risottoHom_Corleone wrote:If they're giant squids I'm off.
Lord, what can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the reaper man.
The numbers don't really mean anything. On the one hand, the sheer number of things that have to happen the right way for life to evolve at all make it incredibly unlikely that it would have happened twice. On the other, the sheer size of the universe means that it's almost bound to have happened somewhere else. But it's infinite monkeys writing Shakespeare. No matter how infinite the number, the're more likely to sniff the typewriters, decide they aren’t good to eat and then pull out the ribbons just for something to do.
Staistics mean whatever you want them to mean and can't tell you that aliens exist, only that they might, which you already knew.
Staistics mean whatever you want them to mean and can't tell you that aliens exist, only that they might, which you already knew.
Any more of that and we'll be round your front door with the quick-setting whitewash and the shaved monkey.
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EvilBastard
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I for one welcome our new molluscular overlords.Back in time wrote:giant squid = giant squid risottoHom_Corleone wrote:If they're giant squids I'm off.
"I won't go down in history, but I probably will go down on your sister."
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I dunno, you could do a whole lot worse than giant squids. At least they'd keep the oceans clean.
If I told them once, I told them a hundred times to put 'Spinal Tap' first and 'Puppet Show' last.
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sultan2075
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I reject the Enlightenment equation of technological progress with moral progress for human beings, so I'd be inclined to agree with Hawking that it wouldn't be the case for non-human beings either. Clarke and Asimov presuppose it, I gather.timsinister wrote:Don't talk to aliens, warns Hawking
I've always thought the same as the good Doctor - that the numbers statistically favour the evolution of life elsewhere.
He does run counter to Arthur Clarke or Isaac Asimov though, in suggesting that races capable of interstellar travel could be hostile. They both argued that evolving far enough to develop the technology would also see a respective evolution of morals and ethics that would render conflict abhorrent.
Opinions?
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The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside.
The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities, that makes it seem inconceivable that other ways are viable, that removes the sense that there is an outside.
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markfiend
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There is an argument (sadly with some merit IMO) that we don't see any alien civilisations because any species that reaches our technological level inevitably destroys itself (via war, environmental collapse, or even accident) before they can become a proper space-faring civilisation. One of the more depressing possible solutions to the Fermi paradox.sultan2075 wrote:I reject the Enlightenment equation of technological progress with moral progress for human beings,
The problem is, if Hawking is right, we've already been blasting out radio emissions for a good while that we can't do anything about. If they're out there looking for us, they'll find us.sultan2075 wrote:so I'd be inclined to agree with Hawking that it wouldn't be the case for non-human beings either. Clarke and Asimov presuppose it, I gather.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
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streamline
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Oh God, I am going to be thinking all day what that is paraphrasing....EvilBastard wrote: I for one welcome our new molluscular overlords.
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weebleswobble
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The Simpsons - Ken Brockman!streamline wrote:Oh God, I am going to be thinking all day what that is paraphrasing....EvilBastard wrote: I for one welcome our new molluscular overlords.
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timsinister
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You've missed out the T, you silly Kent! 
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weebleswobble
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shi I'm such a itimsinister wrote:You've missed out the T, you silly Kent!
‎"We will wear some very loud shirts. We will wear some very wrong trousers."
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streamline
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Thanks Weebs!!weebleswobble wrote: The Simpsons - Kent Brockman!
It was driving me nuts!!! (No rude comments please.....
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Obviousman
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I like your styleBack in time wrote:giant squid = giant squid risottoHom_Corleone wrote:If they're giant squids I'm off.
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emilystrange
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hawkin(g)s + giant space squid = video for I Believe In A Thing Called Love.
sorted.
sorted.
I don't wanna live like I don't mind
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timsinister
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Good Grief, you can't stop anything getting onto that topic can you?
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emilystrange
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i didn't start this thread!
and.. umm... no.
and.. umm... no.
I don't wanna live like I don't mind
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EvilBastard
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Hawkwind(s) + giant space squid = a truly incredible new albumemilystrange wrote:hawkin(g)s + giant space squid = video for I Believe In A Thing Called Love.
sorted.
"I won't go down in history, but I probably will go down on your sister."
Hank Moody
Hank Moody