5 ms·

>but advanced alien civilizations capable of interstellar travel would probably look at us like we look at mold Why? An advanced civilization wouldn't have cul

>but advanced alien civilizations capable of interstellar travel would probably look at us like we look at mold Why? An advanced civilization wouldn't have cultural curiosity? They wouldn't want to study us from all the different perspectives we study people and literature and philosophy and even biology and neurology etc etc?

simonh 4y ago
Bear in mind we study mould. It’s some people’s life’s work.
- Karawebnetwork 4y ago
  We even use slime mold on representations of maps to see if it would have done things the same way we do. For all we know, perhaps we are in a galactic petri dish and the entire point of our existence is to test out the growth of life for some great universal scientist! (tongue in cheek comment) https://www.livescience.com/8035-slime-mold-beats-humans-perfecting-traffic-networks.html https://www.livescience.com/8035-slime-mold-beats-humans-per...
  - bee_rider 4y ago
    It would be sort of funny. So we put some humans on this planet. Now, keep in mind, they don’t possess any group consciousness — they have some limited ability to communicate information by vibrating the air around them, but they don’t have anything like the globalmindnetwork that we experience. But look: over many generations they create these little pathways, to ship goods from population center to population center. It isn’t obvious how, somehow despite lacking any overall coordination, they manage to perform these complex emergent behaviors…
    - Karawebnetwork 4y ago
      Worst... "They're made out of meat." "Meat?" "Meat. They're made out of meat." "Meat?" "There's no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They're completely meat." https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/thinkingMeat.html https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/think...
      - bee_rider 4y ago
        A classic. I was trying to not copy it too closely, but the bit about vibrating air is a little close, haha.
- LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
  Yeah, but we have also mass-produced mold-removal stuff in supermarkets, hardware stores. And insectizides.
wcarss 4y ago
The argument would maybe be more readily taken if instead of mold, the GP had said "birds". We think birds are kinda neat, but most people hold a perspective with inbuilt human-exceptionalism, and birds are fundamentally not humans. Birds may communicate complex things to each other, they may construct homes, feel emotions, dream, and even do some things we can't, like fly -- but they don't have Shakespeare or the Primes so if it comes down to us or them, it's us. A lot of humans believe only humans possess "souls". To fully go into the argument: an alien species may well hold their own form of self-exceptionalism, and they'll have their own practices and history which we can't compete with. It is perfectly possible that there is nothing we could accomplish which would make us read as peers, as opposed to birds, gorillas, or... mold. (edit: I do think the "at best" above may be unreasonably gloomy -- at best in this outlook, aliens might regard us with compassionate curiosity, as some humans do toward the species we share the earth with. That would be pretty lucky, but not impossible!)
- elevaet 4y ago
  If we found something chimp, bird, or even mold-like living on another planet, we would be utterly fascinated. I don't see why a "higher" life form would not.
  - mongol 4y ago
    Yes. And besides, it is not just us humans. There is incredibly diversity of life on this planet. If alien species have any curioisty at all they must be delighted.
    - jxy 4y ago
      Look at this planet, emitting some unusual EM wave, full of self replicating stuff mostly made of carbon and water!
      - xp84 4y ago
        "And when you put the self-replicating entities in a strong acid bath, they produce the most peculiar shrieks while they dissolve! Ha ha ha ha! Zorblux, come here, you drop in a handful of them! Do you hear that?"
LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
I don't like to be vivisected, anally probed, or something like that ;->
- SuoDuanDao 4y ago
  "After millions of sentient races and centuries of study, we've found most of them don't like the probing".
  - jamiek88 4y ago
    Most.
asdff 4y ago
Considering we are the only species on our planet that exhibits such curiosities, this seems pretty unlikely. Hopefully they don't just bat us around violently like my cat does with weaker species. That's my cat's definition of curiosity towards other life anyhow.
whywhywhywhy 4y ago
Thought and art are the true rare commodities in the universe.
pleb_nz 4y ago
I don't think they said the aliens wouldnt study mold. Just that we would be like mold to them. We do study mold, they might to.

simonh 4y ago

Bear in mind we study mould. It’s some people’s life’s work.

Karawebnetwork 4y ago
We even use slime mold on representations of maps to see if it would have done things the same way we do. For all we know, perhaps we are in a galactic petri dish and the entire point of our existence is to test out the growth of life for some great universal scientist! (tongue in cheek comment) https://www.livescience.com/8035-slime-mold-beats-humans-perfecting-traffic-networks.html https://www.livescience.com/8035-slime-mold-beats-humans-per...
- bee_rider 4y ago
  It would be sort of funny. So we put some humans on this planet. Now, keep in mind, they don’t possess any group consciousness — they have some limited ability to communicate information by vibrating the air around them, but they don’t have anything like the globalmindnetwork that we experience. But look: over many generations they create these little pathways, to ship goods from population center to population center. It isn’t obvious how, somehow despite lacking any overall coordination, they manage to perform these complex emergent behaviors…
  - Karawebnetwork 4y ago
    Worst... "They're made out of meat." "Meat?" "Meat. They're made out of meat." "Meat?" "There's no doubt about it. We picked several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, probed them all the way through. They're completely meat." https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/thinkingMeat.html https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/think...
    - bee_rider 4y ago
      A classic. I was trying to not copy it too closely, but the bit about vibrating air is a little close, haha.
LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
Yeah, but we have also mass-produced mold-removal stuff in supermarkets, hardware stores. And insectizides.

wcarss 4y ago

The argument would maybe be more readily taken if instead of mold, the GP had said "birds". We think birds are kinda neat, but most people hold a perspective with inbuilt human-exceptionalism, and birds are fundamentally not humans. Birds may communicate complex things to each other, they may construct homes, feel emotions, dream, and even do some things we can't, like fly -- but they don't have Shakespeare or the Primes so if it comes down to us or them, it's us. A lot of humans believe only humans possess "souls". To fully go into the argument: an alien species may well hold their own form of self-exceptionalism, and they'll have their own practices and history which we can't compete with. It is perfectly possible that there is nothing we could accomplish which would make us read as peers, as opposed to birds, gorillas, or... mold. (edit: I do think the "at best" above may be unreasonably gloomy -- at best in this outlook, aliens might regard us with compassionate curiosity, as some humans do toward the species we share the earth with. That would be pretty lucky, but not impossible!)

elevaet 4y ago
If we found something chimp, bird, or even mold-like living on another planet, we would be utterly fascinated. I don't see why a "higher" life form would not.
- mongol 4y ago
  Yes. And besides, it is not just us humans. There is incredibly diversity of life on this planet. If alien species have any curioisty at all they must be delighted.
  - jxy 4y ago
    Look at this planet, emitting some unusual EM wave, full of self replicating stuff mostly made of carbon and water!
    - xp84 4y ago
      "And when you put the self-replicating entities in a strong acid bath, they produce the most peculiar shrieks while they dissolve! Ha ha ha ha! Zorblux, come here, you drop in a handful of them! Do you hear that?"

LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago

I don't like to be vivisected, anally probed, or something like that ;->

SuoDuanDao 4y ago
"After millions of sentient races and centuries of study, we've found most of them don't like the probing".
- jamiek88 4y ago
  Most.

asdff 4y ago

Considering we are the only species on our planet that exhibits such curiosities, this seems pretty unlikely. Hopefully they don't just bat us around violently like my cat does with weaker species. That's my cat's definition of curiosity towards other life anyhow.

whywhywhywhy 4y ago

Thought and art are the true rare commodities in the universe.

pleb_nz 4y ago

I don't think they said the aliens wouldnt study mold. Just that we would be like mold to them. We do study mold, they might to.