starship-design: Re: Aliens, why haven't they contact us?

[TLG.van.der.Linden@tip.nl (Timothy van der Linden)]

Kelly,

>>If a few bacteria leak out, they may very well be killed before they can
>>replicate and mutate.
>>And if indeed aliens are in abundance, they may have infected Earth long
>>ago.
>>Furthermore, there is speculation that microbes come to Earth by meteorites
>>and dirty snowballs every day.
>
>Why?  If they were alien, the local life form would have no adaptations tuned
>for them.  Usually that sort of thing leads to major pagues.

Immune systems usually see almost every non-self organism as dangerous. I
wouldn't think that it doesn't matter much whether the non-self organism
comes from space or Earth.
In some cases the body even starts killing something of itself, this is
called an auto-immune disease.

>As to the microbes from space, thats a very thinly defined theory.  Besides
>it still gets back to no signs of alien organisms alive here now.

The latter is exactly the point I wanted to make. No apparent signs, so
whatever comes down, doesn't seem to spread.

>>You may have a point about older cultures. But I believe that for many today
>>the world view would change more than they could cope with. My best guess
>>is, that old civilisations believed in miracles, so a strange species wasn't
>>much of a shock. (I believe that several European explorers where seen as
>>gods)
>>A reason to believe that mentality has changed too is that not so many
>>centuries ago, the fear for the unknown was really bad (witchhunt).
>
>I doubt aliens would change anything for people.  Oh it would be an
>interesting spike in conversation (like the microbes from Mars) but it
>doesn't change anything fundamental.  The bulk of folks expect their is life
>out their.  Haviong it show up would be a shock, but not one that effects
>anything fundamental to us.

Expecting it, has shown to be completely different from knowing it.
Everyone knows that it is quite likely that something terrible can be
expected to happen to them during their lifetime. Yet many get badly hurt
psychologically when it actually happens.
Primordial microbes from Mars hardly compare to beings that have technology
that looks like magic.

>Sort of like the moon landings.  People thought that would change everything.
>It changed nearly nothing.

Hmm, I think in this case the reverse would have been true. If it had
failed, it would have changed a lot. It might have been a real big
disappointment with bad results for the space-programme.

>>Also for quite some time, sudden balance shifts in economical and military
>>power would have been rather critical.
>>This can't be bogus, otherwise I'd see little reason for certain programs to
>>be secret (stealth planes).
>
>They keep them secret so the other side doesn't have a chance to prepare to
>defend against them, or copy them.  Niether a big concern for aliens.

I didn't mean we were a threath to the aliens. If they start spreading
technology, some nations may use it in a different way than intended, which
may change world power in sudden ways. (Eg. Give Saddam Hoessein a ZPE bomb,
which he nicely puts somewhere in New York.)

>Also abos confrounted with culture vastly beyond theirs don't fold up and
>die.  They just want in!

Luckely they were only with few. Imagine 5 billion people knocking on your
door for the latest technology and information. Scary!

>>>Besides.  We never worry much about droping in on aborigional cultures.
>>
>>The reason for us dropping in on aborigional cultures is usually for
>>resources. What happened to the aboriginals seemed to be less important with
>>the result that it disappeared rather fast.
>>
>>Aliens are likely to have little interest in resources on Earth, so
>>contacting us would likely only create problems.
>
>We destroy or push aside abos for their land, but we drop in as
>anthropologists.  Not to trash them.
>
>If Aliens came all this way, we'ld be the major area of interest on this
>rock.

True, but dropping in as anthropologists would certainly destroy what they
where looking for. Only if they are psychologists, they would enjoy playing
games with us.

Timothy