5 ms·
I worry that this is the case. The idea that we’re in some advanced species sphere of influence is a bit unnerving. Given the ability to create deep space probe
by redeux 4y ago
I worry that this is the case. The idea that we’re in some advanced species sphere of influence is a bit unnerving. Given the ability to create deep space probes, it should be fairly easy for someone to keep tabs on a large swatch of the galaxy.
If a species had a mere 1 million year technological lead on us, they’d certainly have nothing to fear and would only need to do a drive by every ten-thousand years or so, to keep tabs on things.
Perhaps more concerning is that we could be in between two competing species and they’re monitoring to make sure the other hasn’t colonized this system.
When it comes to aliens there are many possibilities, and few of them are good for us imo.
- Reason077 4y agoAt least Oumuamua's light sail will only accelerate it to 15-20% of the speed of light. Unless they have some kind of warp drive we haven't seen yet, that should give us (at very least) 20-30 years before the invasion fleet gets here. Probably much longer.
- yojo 4y agoUnless it seeded a little self-replicating factory on the way by. The invasion force could already be growing exponentially out in the Oort Cloud. Or not. To paraphrase: sometimes a cigar-shaped interstellar mass is just a cigar-shaped interstellar mass.
- euroderf 4y agoAny factory way out there is going to operate exceedingly slowly, innit ? Unless there is power from nuclear, or some other source TBD (to be discovered, by us).
- jjtheblunt 4y agowhy worry that interstellar drive by visits might be real? also, might you presume such possibilities are rarely good for us because of implicit recognition how bad we humans are to other species?
- asdff 4y agoHow about how bad other species are to other species? Displacement. Hunting to extermination. Dramatic changes in the environment leading to extinctions. Parasitic relationships. All these things that we blame ourselves for are really pretty natural things in terms of life. There is no mantle held by any species to be a conservationist. The name of the game is to extract as much available resources as your genotype allows you to extract from the environment. To succeed at the expense of other life, to subsist off of it. In terms of climate change, us humans have nothing on cyanobacteria, who nearly ended life on earth entirely in the distant past: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Oxidation_Event