First question is, why is it that so many people assume that aliens are smarter and more advanced.
Second question is, are aliens less intelligent or more intelligent, and what do we base this on. Is it possible that our technology is different than theirs. Can we assume that they even exist on the same dimension as we do. Can we assume that what we know as technology stems from their technology or vice versa.
One of the human races most important inventions is the wheel, do you think aliens know what a wheel is?
I might not be making sense, but do technologies across the universe interlink
The standard assumption isn’t that all aliens are more advanced than us- just the aliens that we’re likely to meet. If we assume the aliens are the ones coming to us (since we’re not to far along on interstellar travel), then they would at least have the ability for interstellar travel, and presumably lots of other nifty stuff.
Another argument is that most aliens are either far beyond us, or far behind. Since technology happens so quickly (just tens of thousands of years from language to computers) relative to how long it takes life to evolve, the odds of two alien races being within 50000 or 100000 years of each other is small.
Another argument is that most aliens are either far beyond us, or far behind. Since technology happens so quickly (just tens of thousands of years from language to computers) relative to how long it takes life to evolve, the odds of two alien races being within 50000 or 100000 years of each other is small.
Arjuna34
hey I can’t argue with that. But do you think technologies interlink. Is what we know as technology the same as what aliens might think technology to be
SF author Harry Turtledove wrote a story once about an alien race that discovered interstellar travel but whose technology was otherwise primitive. They attempted to conquer Earth in the 1980’s using crossbows and muskets.
I have another sci-fi observation that fits with Siva’s post. I think it was Clifford Simak who wrote a story about an Earth guy who came in contact with aliens who wanted to trade with him. One of the things he traded was a bucket of paint and a paint brush. Seems they never had the concept.
I think we can assume that we are all in the same dimension. Getting to another or parallel dimension would probably entail travel through the sub quark size froth that is at the base of our continuum (Read John Gribbin).
I wager that “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” is true across the universe. Thus certain inventions required for civilization, putting an edge on a rock, making fire, the wheel, the SDMB, have probably been invented independently countless times on terrestrial planets throughout our galaxy. The interlinking of technologies that you mentioned might occur after those races develop space travel. Maybe something like everybody using the wormholes a la Contact or a species finds or is given a spaceship by another race. Again, off into the sci fi world but that is where this stuff has been thought of the most.
“We are doing so much to destroy our planet why would “they” want to come here to a used world?” *
nah, if you kill off all the humans now there’s lots of earth left to exploit/protect/inhabit. also they could be interested in some quality that we can’t mess up, like they want lots of nitrogen from the atmosphere or something.
back to the OP, interesting idea about the wheel. What’s a wheel worth on a low gravity or aquatic world? I would think that if humankind were to encounter alien life, it would be very difficult to compare us in terms of technological (or other) development.