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> I've never understood the position that the greatest scientific question is whether or not we're alone in the universe. FWIW, the actual paper does not put i

by gspr 5y ago

> I've never understood the position that the greatest scientific question is whether or not we're alone in the universe. FWIW, the actual paper does not put it like that. It instead calls it "one of the most profound and fundamental questions posed to science". That seems reasonable. > Given the number of stars out there, it seems wildly improbable that we are alone, and if we're not then it's anyway going to be basically impossible to communicate with them due to speed of light limitations. Don't you find it fascinating that we think it's wildly improbable that we are alone, yet have not been able to find other life? I certainly do. Ignoring the huge philosophical implications intelligent life elsewhere would have, it would also provide some very useful bounds on a bunch of the quantities involved in e.g. Drake's estimate. It would also offer some clues as to whether or not a great filter is likely, and wheter or not it lies ahead of us or behind us. Surely massively important! > P ?= NP is IMO way more significant for a start Important, yes, but not a scientific question (it is a mathematical one). > to say nothing of questions about consciousness, fusion energy, ways to explore and colonise space, ... A complete understanding of consciousness would also be monumentally important, I agree. But fusion and space exploration? Great, but surely "just" (huge and important) technological advances, rather than fundamental scientific questions?

teachingassist 5y ago
> Don't you find it fascinating that we think it's wildly improbable that we are alone, yet have not been able to find other life? I certainly do. Given that we can scarcely communicate with a chimpanzee, our nearest living relative, nor fully comprehend how any other species on Earth communicates (those which evolved under the same conditions that we did), I find it totally unsurprising that we're unable to communicate with aliens.
- aksss 5y ago
  Humans have determined that chimpanzees and other species do communicate, and in many cases how they communicate, even if those who study such things don't understand the communications in anything but the broadest sense. Being able to communicate with aliens isn't really what we're asking for, but merely detecting that communications are happening at all.
  - teachingassist 5y ago
    Right! That's as much as we can manage with chimpanzees - our immediate relatives, who we have physical contact with. Humans scarcely care how other earth-bound species communicate enough to identify it as communication - how do insects and plants and fungi communicate? What information is whale song (mammal) transmitting? Is the 52 Hz whale communicating, or not? Alien communication will look far more different even than that.
pmoriarty 5y ago
"Don't you find it fascinating that we think it's wildly improbable that we are alone, yet have not been able to find other life?" We haven't been looking for very long, and out searches have been very very limited.

by gspr 5y ago

teachingassist 5y ago

> Don't you find it fascinating that we think it's wildly improbable that we are alone, yet have not been able to find other life? I certainly do. Given that we can scarcely communicate with a chimpanzee, our nearest living relative, nor fully comprehend how any other species on Earth communicates (those which evolved under the same conditions that we did), I find it totally unsurprising that we're unable to communicate with aliens.

aksss 5y ago
Humans have determined that chimpanzees and other species do communicate, and in many cases how they communicate, even if those who study such things don't understand the communications in anything but the broadest sense. Being able to communicate with aliens isn't really what we're asking for, but merely detecting that communications are happening at all.
- teachingassist 5y ago
  Right! That's as much as we can manage with chimpanzees - our immediate relatives, who we have physical contact with. Humans scarcely care how other earth-bound species communicate enough to identify it as communication - how do insects and plants and fungi communicate? What information is whale song (mammal) transmitting? Is the 52 Hz whale communicating, or not? Alien communication will look far more different even than that.

pmoriarty 5y ago

"Don't you find it fascinating that we think it's wildly improbable that we are alone, yet have not been able to find other life?" We haven't been looking for very long, and out searches have been very very limited.