3 ms·

What about a civilisation who never invented silicon diodes but kept using vacuum tubes? Or what about a civ. who invented logic programming first and never th

What about a civilisation who never invented silicon diodes but kept using vacuum tubes? Or what about a civ. who invented logic programming first and never then invented lambda calculus. Or what if they come from a much lower gravity planet, their spaceships might look completely different. Or what if they're not a carbon based species; why do we then assume they'd have to travel a similar tech path as us?

theamk 7y ago
Vacuum tubes are inherently limited by physics, they cannot be used to create an efficient and small power converters. So if civilization is stuck with vacuum tubes, it is highly unlikely they’ll get to renewable power sources, and therefore they’ll likely to die off once they run off of their oil-equivalent. If the civilization comes to us, it is likely they are at least as technological advanced as we are. Which means they likely has invented all the same math we did, and more. There is no guarantee that their version of lambda calculus is popular in their world, it could be it is an obscure and boring topic that no alien cares about, but they’ll still understand it if they need to. People did design and even flew spaceships from lower gravity planet - this was Appolo lunar module. The lunar module did look different that earth based rockets, but it was still pretty similar. Carbon life or not, there are only so much shapes a spaceship can take, physics forces your hand. There are only so many stable elements in the periodic table, and they combine in identical way everywhere. Lack of water and oxygen in the atmosphere may allow aliens to use a different metal, but a reaction rocket spacecraft will still look like a enclosure with rocket-shaped nozzles at the rear end.
- jacobush 7y ago
  Maybe they only ever used hydro power, on their, hot and humid 2G rocky water planet.
  - bigtunacan 7y ago
    Maybe they are vastly overrun by sandworms that spew unlimited supplies of oil rather than Melange?

theamk 7y ago

Vacuum tubes are inherently limited by physics, they cannot be used to create an efficient and small power converters. So if civilization is stuck with vacuum tubes, it is highly unlikely they’ll get to renewable power sources, and therefore they’ll likely to die off once they run off of their oil-equivalent. If the civilization comes to us, it is likely they are at least as technological advanced as we are. Which means they likely has invented all the same math we did, and more. There is no guarantee that their version of lambda calculus is popular in their world, it could be it is an obscure and boring topic that no alien cares about, but they’ll still understand it if they need to. People did design and even flew spaceships from lower gravity planet - this was Appolo lunar module. The lunar module did look different that earth based rockets, but it was still pretty similar. Carbon life or not, there are only so much shapes a spaceship can take, physics forces your hand. There are only so many stable elements in the periodic table, and they combine in identical way everywhere. Lack of water and oxygen in the atmosphere may allow aliens to use a different metal, but a reaction rocket spacecraft will still look like a enclosure with rocket-shaped nozzles at the rear end.

jacobush 7y ago
Maybe they only ever used hydro power, on their, hot and humid 2G rocky water planet.
- bigtunacan 7y ago
  Maybe they are vastly overrun by sandworms that spew unlimited supplies of oil rather than Melange?