# Intelligent life out there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 3, 1999, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755 "1999-09-03T23:07:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gorkamorka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@gorkamorka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gorkamorka)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755/41 "2001-02-19T03:56:02Z")
The surest sign that intelligence is to be found elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755/42 "2001-02-19T15:04:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by manhattan \* > \*\* > Your first choice might be to go visit places that you have evidence that intelligent life exists. That ain’t earth, because we’ve only been producing radio waves of any strength for a little while. Evidence of our existence hasn’t even reached most of the denser parts of the galaxy. (insert quips about “intelligent life” and “denser parts” here) > \*\* The signals we’ve been broadcasting wouldn’t be strong enough to reach them, anyway. I don’t know exactly what the distance is, but the weak sort of electronic signals we’ve been sending eventually fade until they are no longer distinguishable from the general background noise. They’re still there, it’s just that there wouldn’t be any instrument strong and/or sensitive enough to pick them out from the static. ---
**Author:** ![dal\_timgar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@dal\_timgar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dal_timgar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755/43 "2001-02-19T17:13:29Z")
suppose these aliens showed up around 1900 and have been watching since then, hiding with their stealth technology. due to the fact that they are so advanced, they have greatly extended their life spans. suppose the average life span is 1000 earth years. do you think they might have a different concept of how long we were worth watching b4 making contact? or might have some “strange” ideas of what our state of civilization should be to make us worth contacting. the trouble with figuring out aliens is that, ‘they’re alien.’ Dal Timgar ---
**Author:** ![WhiteRaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@WhiteRaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhiteRaven)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755/44 "2001-02-20T03:03:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dal\_timgar \* > \*\*suppose these aliens showed up around 1900 and have been watching since then, hiding with their stealth technology. due to the fact that they are so advanced, they have greatly extended their life spans. suppose the average life span is 1000 earth years. do you think they might have a different concept of how long we were worth watching b4 making contact? or might have some “strange” ideas of what our state of civilization should be to make us worth contacting. > > the trouble with figuring out aliens is that, ‘they’re alien.’ > > Dal Timgar \*\* I have alot of trouble with the whole “we cant understand them, because they dont think like us” line. (or in understanding God because hes infinite blah blah) Its not hard to get your mindset into an “alien” mindset, nor is it very difficult to imagine things without letting your personal bias’ to corrupt your thought. Ok, so it might be hard for some people. Its certainly not hard for me. I love psychology because it makes me realize that alot of people dont think “the same” as me. Yet I can come up with a decent hypothesis on how they DO think with some careful observation. (really easy too). I read alot also, and tend to let myself escape into the writers/characters perspective, yet I have no trouble to get my mind to think similar to thiers even though they think nothing like me. Its called being Objective. Its not perfect by any means, but it gives us something to work with. Saying that we cannot possibly imagine it because you cannot, or will not try to, doesnt mean that we cannot. Is it Wholely scientific? Probably not. Does it work? In many cases yes. So what am I trying to say? Just because a species has developed in a different enviroment, has a more advanced technology, longer life spans, or a different view on civilization does not mean that we cannot imagine what it would be like to be one of them. Writers do it all the time. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755/45 "2001-02-21T00:54:30Z")
Assuming an exponential technology curve, it would be very unlikely that any alien race able to contact us would have anything in common with us. If they are at the stage where they could travel through space fast enough to meet us where we couldn’t sense them with our radio telescopes, they’d probably ignore us anyway. All they’d need to do is monitor our broadcasts, see what paranoid, violent xenophobes we are and just scoot off to study some quasars. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755/46 "2001-02-21T02:51:00Z")
WallyM7 wrote: > [@](#): > > Lynn Margulis champions this theory. Woo, it’s eerie seeing a message from WallyM7, if you don’t notice that it was posted two years ago. It’s like he’s come back to haunt us or something. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755/47 "2001-02-21T05:33:50Z")
I’m taking a class titled Interstellar Migration and extraterrestial intelligent life was mentioned. Given the numerous stars in our galaxy (about 300 billion) and assuming life can be supported in stars that are similar to the Sun (G2V), there could be a good number of civilizations out there. However, there was mention of a possibility of a noninterference ethic similar to Star Trek’s “Prime Directive”. Perhaps intelligent life has visited the Earth yet they do not want to establish contact as they might fear it will interfere in the natural development of our civilization. I’d buy that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intelligent-life-out-there/16755.md?page=2)