30 MAY 2016 by ideonexus
Humans are Intelligent and Hierarchical
“You have a mismatched pair of genetic characteristics. Either alone would have been useful, would have aided the survival of your species. But the two together are lethal. It was only a matter of time before they destroyed you."
[...]
Jdahya made a rustling noise that could have been a sigh, but that did not seem to comer from his mouth or throat. "You are intelligent," he said. "That's the newer of the two characteristics, and the one you might have put to work to save yourselves. You a... 1 
notes
notes30 MAY 2016 by ideonexus
Oankali Crave Difference
Human beings fear difference,” Lilith had told him once. “Oankali crave difference. Humans persecute their different ones, yet they need them to give themselves definition and status. Oankali seek difference and collect it. They need it to keep themselves from stagnation and overspecialization. If you don’t understand this, you will. You’ll probably find both tendencies surfacing in your own behavior.” And she had put her hand on his hair. “When you feel a conflict, try to go the ...Folksonomies: extraterrestrials otherness
Folksonomies: extraterrestrials otherness
1 notes
notes05 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
100,000-Light-Year Iron Curtain
Scholars found that, contrary to the happy wishes of most people, it was not a good idea for the human race as a whole to make contact with extraterrestrials. The impact of such contact on human society would be divisive rather than uniting, and would exacerbate rather than mitigate the conflicts between different cultures. In summary, if contact were to occur, the internal divisions within Earth civilization would be magnified and likely lead to disaster. The most shocking conclusion of all ... 1 notes
notes07 NOV 2014 by ideonexus
Kardashev scale
TYPE I
Characteristics:
Planetary Society.
Developed Technology.
* understanding the laws of physics.
* space technology.
* nuclear technology.
* electromagnetic communications.
Initiation of spaceflight, interplanetary travel, settlement of space.
Early attempts at interstellar communication.
Starting to push planetary resource limits.
Information Level: I.
Energy Consumption: 10 to the 16 power to 10 to the 17 power Watts.
Manifestations: Intentional or u...Folksonomies: extraterrestrials
Folksonomies: extraterrestrials
1 notes
notes16 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
Dyson Spheres
The material factors which ultimately limit the expansion of a technically advanced species are the supply of matter and the supply of energy. At present the material resources being exploited by the human species are roughly limited to the biosphere of the earth, a mass of the order of 5 X 10^19 grams. Our present energy supply may be generously estimated at 10^20 ergs per second. The quantities of matter and energy which might conceivably become accessible to us within the solar system are ...Folksonomies: astronomy extraterrestrials
Folksonomies: astronomy extraterrestrials
1 The energy and time required to dismantle a planet and turn it into a biosphere surrounding a sun.
16 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
Seeing Dyson Civilizations
In summary, the circumstellar shells of Dyson civilizations-at temperatures ~300 degrees K and radii ~1 a.u.--can be detected with existing telescopes and state-of-the-art infrared detectors in the 8-13-u window out to distances of several hundred parsecs. But discrimination of Dyson civilizations from naturally occurring low-temperature objects is very difficult, unless Dyson civilizations have some further distinguishing feature, such as monochromatic radio-frequency emission.
Folksonomies: astronomy extraterrestrials
Folksonomies: astronomy extraterrestrials
How difficult would it be to detect their heat signature?
09 AUG 2013 by ideonexus
War is an Alien Threat
More than a century ago a young Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited America. After that visit he predicted that the two great powers of the future world would be, on one hand, the United States, which would be built, as he said, ``by the plowshare,'' and, on the other, Russia, which would go forward, again, as he said, ``by the sword.'' Yet need it be so? Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we ... 1 notes
notesRonald Reagan suggests we would put aside our differences if threatened by extraterrestrials, but then notes that war is an alien threat--alien to how we desire to live.
13 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
Look for the Improbable in Extraterrestrial Life
To land a spacecraft on Europa, with the heavy equipment needed to penetrate the ice and explore the ocean directly, would be a formidable undertaking. A direct search for life in Europa's ocean would today be prohibitively expensive. But just as asteroid and comet impacts on Mars have given us an easier way to look for evidence of life on that planet, impacts on Europa give us an easier way to look for evidence of life there. Every time a major impact occurs on Europa, a vast quantity of wat...Folksonomies: exploration extraterrestrials
Folksonomies: exploration extraterrestrials
1 notes
notesWe should look for freeze-dried live ejected from impacts with Europa rather than trying to send probes into the ice.
13 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
Dyson Spheres
The purpose of this report is to point out other possibilities which ought to be considered in planning any serious search for evidence of extraterrestrial beings. We start from the notion that the time scale for industrial and technical development of these beings is likely to be very short in comparison with the time scale of stellar evolution. It is therefore overwhelmingly probable that any such beings observed by us will have been in existence for millions of years, and will have already...
1 An extraterrestrial civilization grown to a certain population will need to harvest the full resources of it's environment. By converting a planet like Jupiter into a shield around the system's star, the civilization could maximize the use of the sun's output.
01 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Complexity of the Octopus
[The octopus has] an amazing skin, because there are up to 20 million of these chromatophore pigment cells and to control 20 million of anything is going to take a lot of processing power. ... These animals have extraordinarily large, complicated brains to make all this work. ... And what does this mean about the universe and other intelligent life? The building blocks are potentially there and complexity will arise. Evolution is the force that's pushing that. I would expect, personally, a lo...Folksonomies: evolution extraterrestrials
Folksonomies: evolution extraterrestrials
1 notes
notesDemonstrates that incredible complexity in life can originate anywhere through evolution.
