Aliens

[dholliday]

It would revolutionise human thought itself if there are confirmed advanced alien civilisations.

Like almost everyone else I've always wanted this revelation to come true, but now in the age of the Web, VR, Ai and knowing what certain psychedelics can do to a mind: nowadays I'm more inclined to the Simulation Theory. They (or we?) just didn't bother programming other civilisations out there...out there in that procedurally-generated universe full of lifeless cosmic stuffs.

 

[bluerobert]

It would revolutionise human thought itself if there are confirmed advanced alien civilisations.

Like almost everyone else I've always wanted this revelation to come true, but now in the age of the Web, VR, Ai and knowing what certain psychedelics can do to a mind: nowadays I'm more inclined to the Simulation Theory. They (or we?) just didn't bother programming other civilisations out there...out there in that procedurally-generated universe full of lifeless cosmic stuffs.

I feel like simulation theory is a bit like religion. You have to have faith it’s real. You can’t actually prove/disprove its existence. For that reason alone i tend not to buy into it

 

[dholliday]

I feel like simulation theory is a bit like religion. You have to have faith it’s real. You can’t actually prove/disprove its existence. For that reason alone i tend not to buy into it

I think we can eventually prove it. We're already on the way there, hence why Simulation Theory is considered seriously in some scientific circles.

e.g. in discovering the Higgs Boson we also confirmed the Higgs Field: all matter 'sits' on this field, we assume it allows particles to have mass. EDIT: almost all matter, we're not sure about Neutrinos yet.

The deeper we look, the more reality resembles code.

We could argue this is evidence of Intelligent Design too, tho' that too is a form of programming.

Regarding the arguable procedurally-generated nature of the universe, the famous Double-Slit experiment tells us something very strange about the nature of reality, and how the observer (the 'player characters') influence it:

 

[helpimonfire]

 

[bluerobert]

I think we can eventually prove it. We're already on the way there, hence why Simulation Theory is considered seriously in some scientific circles.

e.g. in discovering the Higgs Boson we also confirmed the Higgs Fields: all matter 'sits' on this field, we assume it allows particles to have mass.

The deeper we look, the more reality resembles code.

We could argue this is evidence of Intelligent Design too, tho' that too is a form of programming.

Regarding the arguable procedurally-generated nature of the universe, the famous Double-Slit experiment tells us something very strange about the nature of reality, and how the observer (the 'player characters') influence it:

I’ve seen stuff on it before and the double slit experiment. I suppose my view on the intelligent design element of it would be that everything is based on some sort of structure. I suppose you could argue all the way back to what created that structure. It feels like an easy cop out to say something designed it just becuase we don’t understand the processes of how it came to be. I wouldn’t rule out simulation theory like I wouldn’t rule out most things. I suppose given reality is based on everyone’s own experience of external stimulus everyone is in some sort of simulation. I’m
sure the people that argue it’s existence are far more intelligent than me but as I understand it we still can’t prove it regardless of what the evidence appears to suggest. Maybe it suggests that because a massive part of the knowledge to have the full picture is still missing From our understanding

 

[dholliday]

Maybe it suggests that because a massive part of the knowledge to have the full picture is still missing From our understanding

oh aye, agree on that...we don't have the full picture. Many feel solving the Dark Matter riddle will bring us very close...one way or the other.

 

[bluerobert]

oh aye, agree on that...we don't have the full picture. Many feel solving the Dark Matter riddle will bring us very close...one way or the other.

I don’t know if you watch these mate, I’ve posted them in the space thread before but PBS Space Time is an excellent watch. You strike me as somebody who’d enjoy it. The fellas voice does get a bit grating though

 

[dholliday]

I suppose given reality is based on everyone’s own experience of external stimulus everyone is in some sort of simulation.

Also agreed.

Have you tried high-end (graphically-realistic) VR?

While as an industry it's not exactly setting the world alight, but if tech can already make us experience that, what can it do in a hundred years...or a thousand? How far removed will that experience be from 'reality'?

 

[dholliday]

I don’t know if you watch these mate, I’ve posted them in the space thread before but PBS Space Time is an excellent watch. You strike me as somebody who’d enjoy it. The fellas voice does get a bit grating though

I'm familiar with the theory but not this video. Will check it out

 

[bluerobert]

Also agreed.

Have you tried high-end (graphically-realistic) VR?

While as an industry it's not exactly setting the world alight, but if tech can already make us experience that, what can it do in a hundred years...or a thousand? How far removed will that experience be from 'reality'?

I’ve never tried it to be honest. Especially once they’re able to integrate it directly into your brain so the images appear as something you can experience rather than just on a set of goggles. Exciting technology

 

[bluerobert]

I'm familiar with the theory but not this video. Will check it out

Mate the entire series is fantastic not just that one. Their stuff on dark matter, dark energy, gravity etc. it’s all good stuff

 

[Martin Alvito]

Ha, I think it was Kurt Vonnegut, in a short story, who depicted aliens with capability of traversing the galaxy as so tiny they could dissappear up our nostrils.

The concept shows up in Hitchhiker's Guide, as well.

 

[LostLegend]

Tim Urban talked about an interesting potential answer to the Fermi paradox in one of his blogs a few years back, saying that, given the age of the universe v the relatively minute time that we have been around as a species, it’s not unrealistic to suggest that any alien life in our vicinity could be many hundreds of thousands of years more advanced than us.

At that point, would we even be able to recognise them and their craft?

He goes on to talk about if you could bring people forward in time from the past to the middle of Times Square in the modern day on a Saturday night with all the lights and traffic, how far back would you have to go before the person you brought forward would struggle to make ANY sense of what they were seeing?

A person from the Middle Ages would at least be able to recognise the structures as inhabitable buildings and recognise the strange garments people are wearing as clothes, but if you went back to say the hunter gatherer period, when humans were more transient, the shock of seeing 21st century New York could possible kill them lol

You’re only talking 20k years back there.
Imagine a species 1, 2, 300,000 years or more advanced than us. We may not possess the frame of reference or context to even recognise their civilisation in its current form.

Anyway, that’s enough for today…

 

[Amw79]

Tim Urban talked about an interesting potential answer to the Fermi paradox in one of his blogs a few years back, saying that, given the age of the universe v the relatively minute time that we have been around as a species, it’s not unrealistic to suggest that any alien life in our vicinity could be many hundreds of thousands of years more advanced than us.

At that point, would we even be able to recognise them and their craft?

He goes on to talk about if you could bring people forward in time from the past to the middle of Times Square in the modern day on a Saturday night with all the lights and traffic, how far back would you have to go before the person you brought forward would struggle to make ANY sense of what they were seeing?

A person from the Middle Ages would at least be able to recognise the structures as inhabitable buildings and recognise the strange garments people are wearing as clothes, but if you went back to say the hunter gatherer period, when humans were more transient, the shock of seeing 21st century New York could possible kill them lol

You’re only talking 20k years back there.
Imagine a species 1, 2, 300,000 years or more advanced than us. We may not possess the frame of reference or context to even recognise their civilisation in its current form.

Anyway, that’s enough for today…

Another potential answer to the Fermi Paradox is the Great Filter, which is basically that any civilisation has a number of barriers to overcome in it’s development (planet being in the Goldilocks zone, multi cellular life developing, avoiding asteroid strikes, not blowing themselves up), and these barriers vastly reduce the likelihood of advanced civilisations developing.

| EarthSky

earthsky.org

 

[Bedfordblue]

Tim Urban talked about an interesting potential answer to the Fermi paradox in one of his blogs a few years back, saying that, given the age of the universe v the relatively minute time that we have been around as a species, it’s not unrealistic to suggest that any alien life in our vicinity could be many hundreds of thousands of years more advanced than us.

At that point, would we even be able to recognise them and their craft?

He goes on to talk about if you could bring people forward in time from the past to the middle of Times Square in the modern day on a Saturday night with all the lights and traffic, how far back would you have to go before the person you brought forward would struggle to make ANY sense of what they were seeing?

A person from the Middle Ages would at least be able to recognise the structures as inhabitable buildings and recognise the strange garments people are wearing as clothes, but if you went back to say the hunter gatherer period, when humans were more transient, the shock of seeing 21st century New York could possible kill them lol

You’re only talking 20k years back there.
Imagine a species 1, 2, 300,000 years or more advanced than us. We may not possess the frame of reference or context to even recognise their civilisation in its current form.

Anyway, that’s enough for today…

But that’s why we have the Prime Directive isn’t it?