The Fermi Paradox is pretty stupid, in my opinion. It's tantamount to claiming that because a person in San Diego is capable of walking to New York in a year, that he should have stumbled upon a random person in Texas in a few months.

Alright. Let's assume for a second that there is a near omnipresent and invisible alien force in the universe that hunts and makes civilizations disappear. Would not an intelligent force with such capabilities not be the most capable moral agent to be making those decisions? And that we as intellectually inferior beings should have no quarrel when their interests are ultimately more informed and meaningful than ours because we lack the scope and perspective that they do?

Such a social contract already exists on Earth. We control the fates of animals, often without care for their individual needs, but in return we as more intelligent beings can ensure them stable lives, food, and safety from the hardships they endure in the wild. Humans should be trusted to control the fate of Earth. Why shouldn't the masters of the universe be trusted to control the fate of their domain?

Oh I guess Carl Sagan cares more about mah human bean feelings than any moral agent anywhere doing what their knowledge leads them to think is the correct course of action.

Alright. Let's assume for a second that there is a near omnipresent and invisible alien force in the universe that hunts and makes civilizations disappear. Would not an intelligent force with such capabilities not be the most capable moral agent to be making those decisions? And that we as intellectually inferior beings should have no quarrel when their interests are ultimately more informed and meaningful than ours because we lack the scope and perspective that they do?

Such a social contract already exists on Earth. We control the fates of animals, often without care for their individual needs, but in return we as more intelligent beings can ensure them stable lives, food, and safety from the hardships they endure in the wild. Humans should be trusted to control the fate of Earth. Why shouldn't the masters of the universe be trusted to control the fate of their domain?

Oh I guess Carl Sagan cares more about mah human bean feelings than any moral agent anywhere doing what their knowledge leads them to think is the correct course of action.

But good thing the Fermi Paradox is unscientific bullshit.
you might as well say we shouldn't explore the Mariana Trench because Cthulu might live down there, you'd be equally sound

Would not an intelligent force with such capabilities not be the most capable moral agent to be making those decisions?

Quote from: Executioner Sigma on September 10, 2015, 06:15:08 AM

Quote from: eggsalad on September 09, 2015, 10:46:20 PM

Would not an intelligent force with such capabilities not be the most capable moral agent to be making those decisions?

Most capable? Yes. Would they be correct? I'd guess not on the limited knowledge we have on evolution.

Well in the same vein that animals should probably trust our judgement, I'd say we should trust these aliens' judgements.

There would actually be no way to stop our signals from being broadcasted unless you shut down every single electronic wireless device on the planet, shut down all the relay satelites, and shut down all broadcast towers.

Unless we could develop technology beyond different wavelengths of communication, the spooki fermi paradox has little merit because we'll always be broadcasting our signal. Even without radiowaves our own planet will broadcast a signal.

You know how astronomers are able to take guesses on a planet's atmosphere composition based off the radiation and light wobble their equipment detects as it orbits its star?

Surprise surprise, I'd put money down that a race capable of easy inter-system travel could also be aware of that technique for finding places, and may have far better equipment and techniques to deduce things.

Basically, if there's hostile lifeforms out there advanced enough to travel between star systems with ease?

We're fucked no matter what we do.

Quote from:  on September 10, 2015, 01:33:10 PM

There would actually be no way to stop our signals from being broadcasted unless you shut down every single electronic wireless device on the planet, shut down all the relay satelites, and shut down all broadcast towers.

Unless we could develop technology beyond different wavelengths of communication, the spooki fermi paradox has little merit because we'll always be broadcasting our signal. Even without radiowaves our own planet will broadcast a signal.

You know how astronomers are able to take guesses on a planet's atmosphere composition based off the radiation and light wobble their equipment detects as it orbits its star?

Surprise surprise, I'd put money down that a race capable of easy inter-system travel could also be aware of that technique for finding places, and may have far better equipment and techniques to deduce things.

Basically, if there's hostile lifeforms out there advanced enough to travel between star systems with ease?

We're fucked no matter what we do.

And any species that figured out parallax and using em spectrum emissions to figure out the presence of certain elements will be in the same position as us.