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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.
by 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 agoYes. 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 agoLook 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?"
- asdff 4y agoI would not be surprised if our sense of curiosity evolved from our need to look at diverse species of life and identify some useful properties from them, like some primitive bipedal creature trying to identify what is safe to eat, leave alone, or run away from. Absent the same environmental pressures driving selection for these traits, its possible that higher life forms could evolve without these behaviors that we humans seem to be biased enough to assume all other intelligent life must have.
- xherberta 4y agoCuriosity killed the cat. We’ve developed disgust and taboos and physiological responses like vomiting to safeguard our interactions with living things that are small enough to eat. Perhaps an advanced form of life/intelligence that has survived contact with various others would be guided by some form of wisdom/disgust/caution/discretion. It would not be surprising if they noticed little clues like our rapid deforestation, rising temperatures, shrinking ice caps, nuclear detonations… which would make us seem slovenly or likely to have “poor friendship skills.”
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tjr225 4y ago[dead]
- geysersam 4y agoOr maybe we're the friendliest they've ever encountered. People like to present humans like some godawful species. It's more likely that we're in the middle of the spectrum.
- juliendorra 4y agoPrimatologists indeed rate humans as less aggressive than for example great chimpanzees. But more than bonobos. So we are not the most agressive primates or species on earth. That must count for something, doesn’t it?
- midoridensha 4y agoOr perhaps they'll observe and make contact with various different intelligent species on Earth, not just humans, and then decide that humans are making the planet inhospitable for other intelligent species like humpback whales, so we need to be eliminated to save the rest.
- xboxnolifes 4y agoFascinating, maybe. But would humans invite this chimp to be part of the UN, or bring it into a lab to be studied?
- ryandvm 4y agoThe first time, yes, but what if we're the 10,000 civilization they've found?
- wcarss 4y agoThis is what I was thinking. The first one is a gift from God, the tenth is still fascinating -- the ten thousandth might still get a doctoral student's attention.
- nwiswell 4y agoThis is how humanity would respond to something new, not necessarily an alien race.
- SuoDuanDao 4y agoIt seems likely (>40%) the mindset necessary to invent interstellar travel would necessitate that kind of curiosity. Though among humans, that curiosity is of course not evenly distributed and often absent from the key decision makers.
- elevaet 4y agoI mean, we know of millions of species on this planet, and when we discover a new one it sometimes still makes headlines. It's hard to imagine it would be uninteresting for an alien civilization to discover a 10,001th civilization, on a planet teaming with other lifeforms. If they were bothering to send probes, this would be a jackpot.
- throwawaylinux 4y agoParticularly if we found mold that had invented writing, mathematics, computers, discovered chemistry, relativity, quantum mechanics, nuclear fission, and had sent spacecraft to other planets. All these discoveries and inventions would be part of the history of an advanced civilization. It does not matter how "advanced" they were, making contact with humans would be a completely different prospect for them than even contacting chimp-like animals would be for us.
- edgyquant 4y agoThe idea is that discovering all of those would be as primitive to such a species as mold eating the Sheetrock in your house. They would not find it fascinating that you were that primitive.
- throwawaylinux 4y agoI know that's the idea, I just think that idea is false.
- edgyquant 4y agoI don’t disagree just pointing that out
- walrus01 4y agoBut what if they'd seen thousands of species on thousands of planets and it had become mundane? You as a human are undoubtedly aware that exotic wildlife exists in far off places but I bet you don't spend much time thinking about Tarsiers or Marmosets.
- midoridensha 4y agoWho's "we"? If we found any of those things living on another planet (or moon), even if it was intelligent and had language, some of us would certainly be utterly fascinated. Others of us would see those beings as obstacles to the valuable almost-unobtainable natural resources under them, and would be happy to use military force to exterminate them. I don't see why a "higher" life form might not be any different.