9 ms·

NASA Memo: Thoughts on the Space Alien Race Question (1963)

16 points by Hooke 11y ago

ColinCochrane 11y ago
There likely is nothing to be done at the moment to prepare for these possibilities (the only body of writing on the subject available in an emergency is science fiction), because no one of consequence is going to take this rubbish seriously unless it happens. At that point, our policy will be determined in the traditional manner of grand panic. An entertaining conclusion.
- dogma1138 11y ago
  "because no one of consequence is going to take this rubbish seriously unless it happens. At that point, our policy will be determined in the traditional manner of grand panic." Pretty much sounds like every DR/BCP plan, long term scalability and performance architecture design recommendations, or anything that is more than 4-5 sprints away.
icanhackit 11y ago
Our biggest telescopes cannot resolve planets at the distances even of the nearest stars, so no direct confirmation is yet available. This Slate article has some fantastic images of exoplanets, though it's from 2012: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/bad_astronomy/2012/11/exoplanet_pictures_astronomers_have_photos_of_alien_planets.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/bad_astrono... A list of directly imaged exoplanets here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_directly_imaged_exoplanets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_directly_imaged_exopla... 50 years of progress.
- reedlaw 11y ago
  50 years of progress indeed. In addition, the biological sciences have almost completely traced a series of natural occurrences which lead from inanimate molecules to elementary living viruses. This statement reflects a certain naiveté about the complexity of living organisms. The Miller-Urey experiment may be what he's alluding to. But now their assumptions about the atmosphere have been disproven and there still hasn't been a major breakthrough in describing an evolutionary pathway from molecules to cells.
- dogma1138 11y ago
  If any one wonders what are the techniques and how the actual "imaging" looks like CNRC has an awesome presentation[0] on the subject (no actual scientific knowledge required, the pictures are pretty (amazing) on their own). Whats even more amazing is that the images we can take of exoplanets now are not that far from the images we can take of Pluto and other post Neptunian object with terrestrial telescopes. [0] https://exep.jpl.nasa.gov/files/exep/marois-Tahoe-20120317.pdf https://exep.jpl.nasa.gov/files/exep/marois-Tahoe-20120317.p...
dogma1138 11y ago
"...I would expect the Martians to be scared to death of what they have seen recently on this planet, and would expect that the highest priority development program in the solar system is being conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission of Mars." Probably (one of) the best note(s) to take from this entire article.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

16 points by Hooke 11y ago

There likely is nothing to be done at the moment to prepare for these possibilities (the only body of writing on the subject available in an emergency is science fiction), because no one of consequence is going to take this rubbish seriously unless it happens. At that point, our policy will be determined in the traditional manner of grand panic. An entertaining conclusion.

dogma1138 11y ago
"because no one of consequence is going to take this rubbish seriously unless it happens. At that point, our policy will be determined in the traditional manner of grand panic." Pretty much sounds like every DR/BCP plan, long term scalability and performance architecture design recommendations, or anything that is more than 4-5 sprints away.

icanhackit 11y ago

Our biggest telescopes cannot resolve planets at the distances even of the nearest stars, so no direct confirmation is yet available. This Slate article has some fantastic images of exoplanets, though it's from 2012: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/bad_astronomy/2012/11/exoplanet_pictures_astronomers_have_photos_of_alien_planets.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/bad_astrono... A list of directly imaged exoplanets here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_directly_imaged_exoplanets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_directly_imaged_exopla... 50 years of progress.

reedlaw 11y ago
50 years of progress indeed. In addition, the biological sciences have almost completely traced a series of natural occurrences which lead from inanimate molecules to elementary living viruses. This statement reflects a certain naiveté about the complexity of living organisms. The Miller-Urey experiment may be what he's alluding to. But now their assumptions about the atmosphere have been disproven and there still hasn't been a major breakthrough in describing an evolutionary pathway from molecules to cells.
dogma1138 11y ago
If any one wonders what are the techniques and how the actual "imaging" looks like CNRC has an awesome presentation[0] on the subject (no actual scientific knowledge required, the pictures are pretty (amazing) on their own). Whats even more amazing is that the images we can take of exoplanets now are not that far from the images we can take of Pluto and other post Neptunian object with terrestrial telescopes. [0] https://exep.jpl.nasa.gov/files/exep/marois-Tahoe-20120317.pdf https://exep.jpl.nasa.gov/files/exep/marois-Tahoe-20120317.p...

dogma1138 11y ago

"...I would expect the Martians to be scared to death of what they have seen recently on this planet, and would expect that the highest priority development program in the solar system is being conducted by the Atomic Energy Commission of Mars." Probably (one of) the best note(s) to take from this entire article.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]