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It's a fun thought experiment. I've had a similar one, imagining an alternate cold war with the divergent point being the mid 60's Mariner probe visit to Mars r

It's a fun thought experiment. I've had a similar one, imagining an alternate cold war with the divergent point being the mid 60's Mariner probe visit to Mars revealed canals, cities, vegetation, and a shallow ocean. A city on Ceres would make NASA's budgetary woes go away instantly. Either there would be a new space race, or the various spacefaring nations would quickly make an arrangement for a multinational crew to visit, with each nation (or group like the EU) reserving the right to make claims later. I'm not sure how the public would react. I think they'd be glued to the news, but there wouldn't be any sort of panic, since both science and science fiction has led many people to expect finding this sort of thing one day.

david-given 11y ago
Of course, it's worth considering that if there was an inhabited alien city on Ceres, the chances of them not knowing we were here would be nil. So, alternative (a): they know we're here and for some reason don't want us to know about them. Alternative (b): they know we're here but either don't care / are too alien to want to communicate. Alternative (c): the city is uninhabited. I would say that the most immediate reaction on earth would be shouting, initially at each other, but very quickly people would be shouting at Ceres --- everyone who can do some basic electronics and get hold of a satellite dish will be making transmissions. For alternatives (b) and (c) above, we wouldn't get a reply. For (a), well...
- grecy 11y ago
  > Of course, it's worth considering that if there was an inhabited alien city on Ceres, the chances of them not knowing we were here would be nil. What makes you say that? If they are there, then we don't know about them (yet). Also, imagine they're at the same level of technology we were 100 years ago (or 1,000, 10,000 or even 100,000)
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    I think GP is assuming that Ceres is not their homeworld, but the city is just a colony. This would imply a level of technology ahead of ours.
    - david-given 11y ago
      Yes, I was. I hadn't thought of the aliens actually been indigenous to Ceres. It's an interesting idea. They would most likely have evolved in the water/ice layer, and be based on weird and exotic ice chemistry. That would make the city their equivalent of a lunar outpost, and it's quite plausible that they simply may not have noticed electromagnetic waves. The chances of talking to them would probably be quite slim --- we would be appallingly alen to each other.
    - jonah 11y ago
      Why would they go to Ceres and not Earth? From our perspective at least it's much more attractive.
      - TeMPOraL 11y ago
        Depending on where they came from, it may require less Δv to get to Ceres than to Earth. Or who knows, maybe it's an automated surveillance platform set up to monitor the Earth?
      - david-given 11y ago
        If you're a space-travelling human-like species, Ceres is pretty hospitable. Lots of water, lots of rock, enough gravity to keep things down while still being easy to get off of, a manageable temperature, and it's in the asteroid belt so there's plenty of nearby materiel for development (not to mention Jupiter not far away, energetically). Earth's too hot, too far away from anywhere, and at the bottom of a great big hole. The only reason we like it is because we've adapted to its environment. It's not very good real estate. Plus, it's contaminated with life, which means lots of big, complex, wriggly molecules that get everywhere and fiddle with things. Get those in your life system and the alien equivalent of anaphylactic shock is probably getting off lightly.
    - 11y ago
deleted 11y ago
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ceejayoz 11y ago
> I've had a similar one, imagining an alternate cold war with the divergent point being the mid 60's Mariner probe visit to Mars revealed canals, cities, vegetation, and a shallow ocean. Reminds me a bit of the awesome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_%281998_video_game%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_%281998_video_game%2...
- Zardoz84 11y ago
  Also, take a look to StarLancer game

david-given 11y ago

Of course, it's worth considering that if there was an inhabited alien city on Ceres, the chances of them not knowing we were here would be nil. So, alternative (a): they know we're here and for some reason don't want us to know about them. Alternative (b): they know we're here but either don't care / are too alien to want to communicate. Alternative (c): the city is uninhabited. I would say that the most immediate reaction on earth would be shouting, initially at each other, but very quickly people would be shouting at Ceres --- everyone who can do some basic electronics and get hold of a satellite dish will be making transmissions. For alternatives (b) and (c) above, we wouldn't get a reply. For (a), well...

grecy 11y ago
> Of course, it's worth considering that if there was an inhabited alien city on Ceres, the chances of them not knowing we were here would be nil. What makes you say that? If they are there, then we don't know about them (yet). Also, imagine they're at the same level of technology we were 100 years ago (or 1,000, 10,000 or even 100,000)
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  I think GP is assuming that Ceres is not their homeworld, but the city is just a colony. This would imply a level of technology ahead of ours.
  - david-given 11y ago
    Yes, I was. I hadn't thought of the aliens actually been indigenous to Ceres. It's an interesting idea. They would most likely have evolved in the water/ice layer, and be based on weird and exotic ice chemistry. That would make the city their equivalent of a lunar outpost, and it's quite plausible that they simply may not have noticed electromagnetic waves. The chances of talking to them would probably be quite slim --- we would be appallingly alen to each other.
  - jonah 11y ago
    Why would they go to Ceres and not Earth? From our perspective at least it's much more attractive.
    - TeMPOraL 11y ago
      Depending on where they came from, it may require less Δv to get to Ceres than to Earth. Or who knows, maybe it's an automated surveillance platform set up to monitor the Earth?
    - david-given 11y ago
      If you're a space-travelling human-like species, Ceres is pretty hospitable. Lots of water, lots of rock, enough gravity to keep things down while still being easy to get off of, a manageable temperature, and it's in the asteroid belt so there's plenty of nearby materiel for development (not to mention Jupiter not far away, energetically). Earth's too hot, too far away from anywhere, and at the bottom of a great big hole. The only reason we like it is because we've adapted to its environment. It's not very good real estate. Plus, it's contaminated with life, which means lots of big, complex, wriggly molecules that get everywhere and fiddle with things. Get those in your life system and the alien equivalent of anaphylactic shock is probably getting off lightly.
  - 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

ceejayoz 11y ago

> I've had a similar one, imagining an alternate cold war with the divergent point being the mid 60's Mariner probe visit to Mars revealed canals, cities, vegetation, and a shallow ocean. Reminds me a bit of the awesome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_%281998_video_game%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_%281998_video_game%2...

Zardoz84 11y ago
Also, take a look to StarLancer game