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If they are super advanced they dont have to able to physically reach us to do serious damage. Just a targeted Gamma-Ray-Burst would do a great damage & we wont

If they are super advanced they dont have to able to physically reach us to do serious damage. Just a targeted Gamma-Ray-Burst would do a great damage & we wont see it coming either.

GoblinSlayer 5y ago
Even if we assume that aliens have our exact mentality, we figured out to not genocide the Sentinelese. Why the aliens can't figure out as much?
- krapp 5y ago
  >Even if we assume that aliens have our exact mentality, we figured out to not genocide the Sentinelese. Why the aliens can't figure out as much? There is a kinship bond within members of the same species, although it isn't universal. As John Donne said, "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." We're human and the Sentinelese are human, and even though we're not genociding them (mostly, I think, because they have nothing worth killing over otherwise they would have been dead a long time ago,) we're still genociding plenty of other fellow humans. We even avoid killing animals to extinction because humans share and suffer the consequences of living in a complex ecosystem with other beings. But we also cut the fins off of sharks for soup and throw them back into the water to drown. But none of those connections would exist between aliens and humans. We're not one of them, nor do we share the same biome, so our deaths might well be entirely void of meaning or consequence for them. In a Dark Forest scenario, there's little to no advantage to contact or cooperation with an alien species, and every possible advantage in sending a GRB to fry anything that so much as looks like life before it has a chance to evolve into a threat.
  - KronisLV 5y ago
    In case anyone would like to know more about the Dark Forest scenario, have a look at some of the books by Cixin Liu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_of_Earth%27s_Past https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_of_Earth%27s_Past
  - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
    Sentinelese are worth killing per the Dark Forest logic: they are aggressive and have incentive to kill you, so you must kill them before they even get a chance to kill you. Notice how this logic doesn't differentiate between humans and aliens: self preservation overrides whatever compassion you might have. >But none of those connections would exist between aliens and humans. That's exactly why humans are more worth killing than aliens: we have conflict of interests with humans but not with aliens. >We're not one of them, nor do we share the same biome, so our deaths might well be entirely void of meaning or consequence for them. If the Sentinelese disappear, the biome will likely become only more rich.
- DesiLurker 5y ago
  Would you really want to stake our entire species (& biosphere's) fate on that piece of logic? even if you do I dont think any of the current world leaders ( & about 50% of developed world population) would. at the very least it would be a strong reason to go build the biggest space shield and hold it between this planet and earth while we figure out the rest. Anything short of that would be incredibly naive.
  - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
    You seemingly assume that dark forest is a safe strategy. But if you position yourself as a dark forester, you send a message that you're aggressive and dangerous (dark forest is a projection obviously). The only case when this can go well is when we're alone, but in that case it makes no sense to play dark forest.
deepsun 5y ago
Yes, but why wasting energy on the burst? Yet another planet out of billions.

If they are super advanced they dont have to able to physically reach us to do serious damage. Just a targeted Gamma-Ray-Burst would do a great damage & we wont see it coming either.

GoblinSlayer 5y ago

Even if we assume that aliens have our exact mentality, we figured out to not genocide the Sentinelese. Why the aliens can't figure out as much?

krapp 5y ago
>Even if we assume that aliens have our exact mentality, we figured out to not genocide the Sentinelese. Why the aliens can't figure out as much? There is a kinship bond within members of the same species, although it isn't universal. As John Donne said, "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." We're human and the Sentinelese are human, and even though we're not genociding them (mostly, I think, because they have nothing worth killing over otherwise they would have been dead a long time ago,) we're still genociding plenty of other fellow humans. We even avoid killing animals to extinction because humans share and suffer the consequences of living in a complex ecosystem with other beings. But we also cut the fins off of sharks for soup and throw them back into the water to drown. But none of those connections would exist between aliens and humans. We're not one of them, nor do we share the same biome, so our deaths might well be entirely void of meaning or consequence for them. In a Dark Forest scenario, there's little to no advantage to contact or cooperation with an alien species, and every possible advantage in sending a GRB to fry anything that so much as looks like life before it has a chance to evolve into a threat.
- KronisLV 5y ago
  In case anyone would like to know more about the Dark Forest scenario, have a look at some of the books by Cixin Liu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_of_Earth%27s_Past https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_of_Earth%27s_Past
- GoblinSlayer 5y ago
  Sentinelese are worth killing per the Dark Forest logic: they are aggressive and have incentive to kill you, so you must kill them before they even get a chance to kill you. Notice how this logic doesn't differentiate between humans and aliens: self preservation overrides whatever compassion you might have. >But none of those connections would exist between aliens and humans. That's exactly why humans are more worth killing than aliens: we have conflict of interests with humans but not with aliens. >We're not one of them, nor do we share the same biome, so our deaths might well be entirely void of meaning or consequence for them. If the Sentinelese disappear, the biome will likely become only more rich.
DesiLurker 5y ago
Would you really want to stake our entire species (& biosphere's) fate on that piece of logic? even if you do I dont think any of the current world leaders ( & about 50% of developed world population) would. at the very least it would be a strong reason to go build the biggest space shield and hold it between this planet and earth while we figure out the rest. Anything short of that would be incredibly naive.
- GoblinSlayer 5y ago
  You seemingly assume that dark forest is a safe strategy. But if you position yourself as a dark forester, you send a message that you're aggressive and dangerous (dark forest is a projection obviously). The only case when this can go well is when we're alone, but in that case it makes no sense to play dark forest.

deepsun 5y ago

Yes, but why wasting energy on the burst? Yet another planet out of billions.