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Where are the aliens?

In a new post at the Huffington Post, SETI’s Seth Shostak asks the question that haunts his organization – “If advanced alien civilizations are common in the Universe, where are they?” (Fermi’s Paradox) – and then proceeds to offer possible answers:

Some folks have opined that no aliens have colonized the galaxy simply because they inevitably blow themselves up in massive, hi-tech wars before completing the project. Others say that it’s too expensive — you can better stay home, and improve lifestyles in your natal solar system. A personal favorite of mine is the idea that the galaxy might be urbanized, and we happen to live in a largely empty, rural district.

The onset of the digital age has spawned other suggestions: Maybe truly advanced societies don’t build big stuff — honking interstellar rockets for boldly going to someone else’s galactic quadrant. Rather, these sophisticated sentients start miniaturizing their technology, eventually uploading their minds into some sort of microelectronic computer, at which point colonizing star systems will seem as tempting as oxcart travel.

A more draconian explanation for why we don’t see the trappings of empire is the suggestion that there really is no galaxy and no us. Everything we experience is just a software simulation run by someone as an experiment (or as an amusement). Our daily lives are no more than computer code. And the rules of this giant matrix-like existence forbid contact — just because.

Fermi’s remark continues to pique our imagination, and explanations for his provocative question keep popping up like whack-a-moles. Last month, two researchers in the Ukraine, Igor Bezsudnov and Andrey Snarskii, reported on a computer simulation in which galactic civilizations randomly arise, spread out to a greater or lesser extent, and then — eventually — fail and fall. As a time-lapse movie, this would look something like raindrops hitting a pond. Splashes would occur here and there, generating brief waves of local colonization. But eventually each splash would dissipate and die. Well, there’s nothing new in this — the model is just saying that every culture has a finite lifetime. But the Ukrainian scientists added a twist: if two civilizations chanced to overlap in time and space, the resulting contact would give the merged society a longer lifespan. In other words, the researchers assumed that meeting the neighbors was ultimately good for you.

What, no “maybe they’re already here”? Not even as a bit of fun speculation? Feel free to share your ideas as to why aliens haven’t made contact with Earth in the comments – perhaps we’ll make a poll of it to see what our favourite answer is.

Previously on TDG:

Editor
  1. Needles in the haystack
    It’s surprising sometimes how poor at reasonable speculation the experts often are. Considering what we know- such as having some estimate of how large the universe is and the what and general whereabouts of life supporting planets may be, there’s one simple answer not covered here- intelligent life as needles in the haystack of material space. When you account for coinciding spans in any distint civilizations’ lifetimes where they are advanced enough to contact each other and are close enough where it were possible- imaginably rare- that seems to explain the “failure” of contact. There is a prevaling idea that we have been capable of one-way contact since the radio age and there’s plenty of evidence to say that either it is either a complete myth or at best, unrealistic. Once you put the science fiction aside, it’s obvious we have been communicating with space for only a few decades. The mystery of talking to the miriad races of beings of “Star Trek” keeps us from the fear that we will always be absolutely alone in the universe. It’s reasonable to believe that neither is true and that our own civilization still has many more centuries to come.

    Simulation? Bah! Get off the holodeck once and for all, Seth. Still- many kudos to the searchers and the search itself. Huzzah!

  2. Yes, they are real
    There are ETs and they’ve been here. They stay in stealth-mode because they are bending “the rules” by being here. Our planet is mostly quarantined and we will not be joining the federation until we stop destroying our planet and each other.

    We are evolving to be more like them. They better understand the nature of reality and the role of the individual. A few earthers are living a 5th-dimensional awareness but the ETs are at 5 & 6 –to us it would seem like they can instantly “manifest” reality.

    The ships we see are mostly for getting around in our 3 & 4 dimensional framework—–to get here they are able to jump through space-time (like a portable worm hole or “reality bubble”) Our team was mostly unable to figure-out the captured ship in Hangar 18 in Dayton. Bottom-line: we only need for ONE of the gajillion ET-encounters to be real.

    1. Stealth Mode

      They stay in stealth-mode because they are bending “the rules” by being here.

      It’s debatable whether UFOs act in “stealth mode”, or rather in a pretty absurd conspicuous mode.

      It’s precisely the theatricality of UFOs —they don’t land on front of the White House, and yet people keep seeing them all over the world— one of the things that most skeptics find so repulsive about the phenomenon.

      The famous sightings on 1952 in Washington D.C. —confirmed by radar— were anything but stealthy.

  3. Seth Speaks
    One really has to wonder whether Shostak truly subscribes to the arch-skeptical view he espouses re UFOs–or if that’s simply the stance he feels he must take for reasons of professional respectability. By analogy, Zahi “I smell a camera!!” Hawass certainly holds more metaphysical views in private than he lets on in public (if what I’ve heard from various colleagues and mutual acquaintances is to be believed), yet he obviously feels compelled to shoot down every “fringe” theory concerning Egypt that comes along, probably so as to remain in good standing with the academic community. Ditto for Seth, I suspect. At any rate, I’d be curious to know how Shostak would react to Leslie Kean’s new book–although I don’t think there’s any question how he’d respond in his public pronouncements. Until the scientific establishment at large accepts the reality of UFOs, he can surely be counted on to tow the party line.

    1. p.s.
      One more thing: Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of this entire discussion for me over the years has been the profusion of skeptics who purport to be alien mind-readers–i.e., “If there were aliens, THIS is how they would or would not act” (they would want to their presence known, they wouldn’t mutilate farm animals, they wouldn’t need blinking lights on some of their spacecraft, the occupants wouldn’t act in such bizarre ways at times, etc.). The fact is, if they are indeed “alien” then there is no way we can know for sure how they would act towards Earthlings, or how their crafts would behave.

        1. Just like us
          Not only would their planet need to have the same dimensions, but it would have also need to be at the exact distance from their sun —which would also have to be a class M star; this world would also need to have the *exact* same evolutionary history, including the exact same periods of extinction that permitted primates in this planet to evolve into us.

          In an infinite Universe, it’s not impossible. But it’s kind of a really unlikely scenario.

          Also, if they are indeed more advanced than us, then it’s the other way around: WE look like them.

          I would go with other scenarios: THEY are indeed completely different from us, but they project a humanoid appearance so we can accept them.

          Or they used nano-technology combined with genetic engineering in order to “grow” humanoid bodies based in our OWN DNA. This is an elegant scenario because instead of sending a huge spaceship you only send a small probe packed with nano-machines.

          And there’s Vallee’s (and Hynek’s, and Keel’s, and McKenna’s, and Tonnies’) scenario that they are not really extraterrestrials to begin with 😉

          1. Twas just a thought
            Maybe they could be based on something other than carbon, perhaps silicon? Would seriously impact form.

          2. Quite possible
            We tend to think in terms of carbon-based life because we are biased —after all, we are made of that stuff. But also because carbon allows a great many cool molecules, and it dissolves with water.

            But life made out of silicon is not far-fetched. We might even have indigenous silicon-based organisms right here on Earth.

          3. Seth Speaks (the original)
            [quote=red pill junkie]
            And there’s Vallee’s (and Hynek’s, and Keel’s, and McKenna’s, and Tonnies’) scenario that they are not really extraterrestrials to begin with ;)[/quote]

            I think the first time I saw this alternative explanation in print was in one of the Seth books by Jane Roberts. Roberts’ version of Seth maintained that most of our sightings of UFO’s and ET’s are visitations from other dimensions. Our minds are aware that something is there but, because it is not of our world, we create an image or a manifestation to go with it. I remember thinking that this might explain why the shape of the “space craft” seemed to mirror the popular fictional images of the time … from rudimentary saucer shapes in the 40’s and 50’s, to the elegant mother ship of Close Encounters.

            By the way, some ghostly manifestations would also fall into this category.

            Dave.

          4. Seth vs Seth
            LOL… imagine if we could somehow arrange the meeting of Robert’s Seth with SETI’s Seth.

            It would probably create a puncture in the fabric of space/time and suck the entire planet up 😉

          5. We Can Travel to “Other Dimensions”
            Maybe some tiny percentage of unidentified flying objects are metallic vessels from elsewhere in the galaxy but in line with the comments of Jane Robert’s Seth alluded to in Dave’s comment and my own experience, anyone who wants to do some serious travelling need not steal such a vessel.

            The chief difficulty, as I see it, is assembling enough people who are truly serious about such endeavors and agreeing on the process.

            If I ever get around to writing a book it will include a chapter on something I experienced in Georgia in 1999.

            A good sized group of on-line Seth readers had convened in someone’s large house for the weekend and the overall group included a smaller group that had been experimenting with what we called “portaling,” an on-line exercise based on some prior amateur channelling found towards the bottom of http://www.realitytest.com/gcpe/1997.htm . We looked forward to trying this out live and in-person in Georgia and did so, three times (I’m quite sure I’ve written about this here before).

            Anyway, the last exercise was performed in the living room of the house, the six portalers lying on the floor with their heads close together. Nothing astounding resulted; indeed, the most powerful portaling experiences had happened during our on-line activities.

            Later, during the evening of the same day, the entire group imaginatively created a whirlpool in exactly the same location.

            There was so much psychic energy that several of us were able to easily visualize this, complete with strong sensations. I went around and around the whirlpool (mentally), my arms in front of me as I descended and gained velocity with each revolution. (This was very “real” although in fact I was just sitting in the circle with everyone else, my eyes closed.)

            At the very bottom, I was totally surprised to find myself shooting up and out through a portal at a frightening velocity, a bit like a circus clown being shot out of a cannon. Apparently the portalers had succeeded, earlier, but hadn’t even realized it.

            I’ll describe the entire experience in that future book (assuming I write it) but the short version was that I found myself high above Georgia, looking down — but this wasn’t the same Georgia in which I was physically sitting in the living room. For one thing, there were no signs of any human habitation — no roads, houses, towns, anything — it was all very green, lush forests everywhere, giving off a pungent smell (yes — a smell!).

            This experience alone was enough to convince me that just about anyone could “do” interdimensional travel, given the above challenges.

            Unfortunately, we’re living in a time when our collective understanding of the nature of reality is crap, but I’m optimistic about probable futures in which this is no longer the case.

            We could launch a major effort tomorrow, given sufficient resources, and that seems to be the rub. Who has time for this stuff? We’re all busy working or, if retired, unable to afford to travel.

            Even though I’ve long been fond of the Seth material, I have yet to meet — on-line or in-person — a fellow enthusiast who has employed Seth’s teachings to become filthy rich and sponsor such endeavors.

            Even if I did meet such a person, allowing me to assemble a team and really get into this stuff, who would believe us? We’d have to keep it to ourselves to keep from getting locked up. (I suppose we could publish our findings here, true, but even amongst TDG readers, who would believe us? The only way to know that our procedures were effective would be to emulate them, requiring a similar assembly of those who shared — at a minimum, beliefs in the possibility of such activities. What would the likelihood be of that happening?)

            This holds for other unusual explorations. It’s possible that people discovered such things long ago and that some are even rediscovering them now, or will do so in the future, but once again, who believed them? Who would believe them? Who will believe them?

            Per Seth, this particular kind of conundrum — where narrow beliefs regarding the nature of reality prevent almost everyone from even believing, let alone reviewing or trying out validating techniques regarding what is possible, will be effectively solved much later on this century, but I’ll be dead by then and won’t get to enjoy this.

            Bill I.

          6. Think and Grow Rich
            [quote=RealityTest]
            Even though I’ve long been fond of the Seth material, I have yet to meet — on-line or in-person — a fellow enthusiast who has employed Seth’s teachings to become filthy rich and sponsor such endeavors.

            Bill I.[/quote]

            Hi Bill.

            This may be way off-topic and maybe even worthy of its own topic in another thread, but I have often pondered about the reality-creating aspects described in the Seth Material. I believe that it was these accounts that kick-started many of the New Age bandwagons from the 70’s to the 90’s, culminating in such media events as “What the Bleep” and “The Secret”. And the latter is a perfect example of what is wrong with the way it has been interpreted. What a waste it will have been if all we can take from those wise words are methods by which we can get a bigger house or a sportier car. How very western and materialistic. How very sad. But please, Bill, don’t think that I meant that you were endorsing that interpretation in any way.

            If anyone would like to run with this subject a while, please create a new thread and leave a pointer here.

            Dave.

  4. A love/hate thing.
    I want to like Seth, I really do. Well, I suppose I will just say that I do. His clearly biased tirades against the notion of another intelligence being present on the earth, I do not like however. I understand though that in his line of work, and with funding issues, to be open to such a possibility isn’t very productive. There’s a sort of sympathy there, because in a way he’s a prisoner.

    I appreciate the work he and the rest of the SETI team do, but it does become frustrating at times when they can’t return that sentiment to legitimate UFOlogists researching the phenomena. You take a look at what they’re doing, scanning infinity for morsels of intelligence out in the great expanse, and you know that while it is incredibly far fetched, at least someone is doing it. Why can’t they be supportive in that same regard that someone is manning the helm and looking around in our own back yard?

    Though, I suppose I digress. To answer the question regarding why we haven’t heard anything yet, I hold the contention that we simply do not understand enough quite yet to even begin to ask. We’re reaching the point now where we can definitively say that we understand the cosmos on the level of a solar system, our own neck of the woods. The physical laws and mechanics we’ve observed so far are supreme here, even time. To apply that to the rest of the Universe as a whole and attempt to understand it is premature in my opinion, but perhaps that is too rigid of a contention to have. I can’t help but have it though. There could be new laws and ways things operate on a stellar scale that we aren’t even aware of yet. Dark energy? Ok.

    1. Good points

      Maybe our exasperation with mute aliens is similar to that of the ants, which have been yelling at us for eons:

       

      [H/T to Mac Tonnies, wherever he is]

  5. To boldly pay what no man has paid before…
    In musings of this sort, we must first acknowledge that we lack one important factor: the actual mechanics of interstellar superliminal travel. Therefore, we have to make some basic assumptions.

    First, all current indications suggest that a vast amount of capital is necessary in order to construct and operate an interstellar spacecraft. Under this assumption, any voyage is likely to require a sufficient reward for the capital to undertake it.

    Second, interstellar travel is not instantaneous, at least where prior infrastructure does not exist. This assumes that travel needs careful planning and preparation and takes time to achieve.

    With these assumptions in mind, what purpose does such spacefaring accomplish and is it likely to be profitable to travel to Earth?

    A)Habitation. An advanced civilization in need of living space would naturally seek the best and most economical solution to their problem. A balance would be contemplated between proximity and suitability of the target world. You would only go as far as necessary to find a planet that you could easily use. Earth would have to be very similar to the aliens’ environment and very close to them to ignore the existing biosphere and potentially hostile inhabitants. Remember that the aliens might not even consider Earth’s basic conditions to be ideal for them. Another factor is the immense amount of real estate and resources afforded by even a single suitable planet. How many planets would they actually need?

    B)Material. Many of the arguments are similar to Habitation above. However, there is an additional consideration. What is rare enough for an advanced civilization to seek out that they could not find elsewhere or manufacture themselves? This is doubly important when you can exploit plenty of empty rocks out there in the void.

    C)Trade. Cultural and intellectual product would be the only prizes not covered under Material. To this point, we just don’t have the ability to advertise any intellectual accomplishments or creations and probably fall beneath some essential threshold as a result. Obtaining cultural artifacts or artwork would fall under the luxury goods category with these assumptions and simply might not be worthwhile to pursue.

    D)Biology. The aliens would have to cast a net wide enough to include Earth. Would our biosphere be considered too dangerous to touch? Even if it were considered, wholesale transport of large quantities of herbs or livestock would be entirely too expensive. The alien would most likely seek samples for cultivation, husbandry, or synthesization if more than information were essential.

    Beyond these considerations, any expedition might be very selective before setting out. Our system might be weeded out by something as simple as a tiny variance in spectra from ideal numbers.

    Our literature and film tend to emphasize a universe where wandering, adventuring, or exploring are quite easily justified. Simply remember what happens to those aimless weekend drives the next time gas prices spike at the pump and you will have a pale notion of how likely such trips could be among the stars.

    1. O.K., but…
      You make some very good and interesting points, Delalah. However they’re all based right at the outset on one *very* big assumption–namely, that UFOs are “interstellar” in origin. We simply don’t know that to be the case. They could be inter- or ultra-dimensional, hidden terrestrials, time travelers, all of the above, etc. Like I say, we simply don’t know. And until we do, we need be very cautious laying out firm perameters as to motives/means/mechanics, etc. Perhaps the biggest danger when talking about UFOs and aliens, IMHO, can be summed up in one word: preconceptions.

      1. Remember the premise
        I have always understood that Fermi was referring to the lack of evidence of alien civilization in the traditional sense, that is, civilizations travelling or communicating from other planets through space. I also specifically set out an assumption that the travel is not instantaneous. Unfortunately, we are constrained by our lack of knowledge of UFOs to say what exactly they actually are. We are pretty much stuck with whatever preconceptions we may carry about them until more information is available.

        If travel is essentially instantaneous, transdimensional or temporal in nature, physical distance might become irrelevant to the equation. Then it boils down to how you transcend the appropriate barrier to reach our Earth. Is it difficult technically or costly materially? Some of my points might adjust to the scenario. If it is fairly easy to “get here”, then other factors have to be in play to prevent travel (or at least open travel).

        1. multi-demsional travel
          Even with (near-) instantaneous travel, using other dimensions or some such thing, there still must be an interesting payoff for the trip.

          The number of destinations made available would be very large, and the different qualities of these destinations would probably be much larger than we know of.

          So there is a cost to coming here, in the sense of not going someplace else that is more interesting, or profitable, or otherwise better suited to the traveler’s objectives.

          We not only don’t know why they are not visiting here (in a way we can reasonably recognize). We also don’t know why they would.

          There are plenty of places on Earth that are easily accessible, but rarely if ever visited by non-natives.

          So maybe they are just picky.

    2. Human economics
      IMO you’re basing your arguments on the limitations of human economics. And even modern human economics.

      Sure, interstellar travel might be costly —even among types 2 or 3 civilizations, who could very well harvest all the energy of entire stars the way we put dams around rivers.

      But then again, even our own history shows our ancesters were not afraid to undertake monumentally expensive projects that made all the sense of the world —to them.

      Projects we wouldn’t dare or bother to reproduce.

      Why would they bother to come here? What’s in this planet that might be incredibly exotic and hard to find on most planets? That’s easy: THIS.

      Mac Tonnies used to muse: maybe they are just desperately lonely! 😉

      1. Exploration
        Basic economic concepts apply even to non-capitalist systems without money. Capital in the form of labor, material, energy, and genius have to be expended in the pursuit of a goal. Once committed, that capital is not available for other purposes. An alien civilization will have to make choices about the expenditures of their capital. If they are inclined to explore, they will have to have the surplus resources to accomplish their voyages. We have no idea how much the endeavour of interstellar travel requires. We already understand the nearly impossible obstacles of the “light-speed limit” concept. I merely propose a universe where travel is sufficiently difficult to require careful consideration before taking flight. It could explain why we do not see alien visitors interacting with us as we might interact with a Chinese or a Bushman.

        The meet-and-greet motivation is a perfectly fine one. However, not everyone feels the need to travel about in this fashion. We are spoiled by a Western mindset full of historical explorers and forget that wealth and opportunity drove most of them in their adventures. The more modern Western man of science or the tourist lives in a world where capital is abundant. Many terrestrial civilizations also don’t appear to have had the same impulses despite the fact they could have possessed the ability to travel great distances. The motive PLUS the ability to explore may be rare. More base or commercial needs likely predominate.

        For example, I certainly have the motive. The ability is something else. If I had the funds, I would love to visit Teotihuacan near you and see the carvings and pyramids, not to mention other locations around the globe. We can only hope on Earth or elsewhere someone can put it all together and man can stand and shake hands with the denizens of other worlds.

        1. Teotihuacan
          I’d love to serve as tourist guide for Grailers visiting Teotihuacan and the Templo Mayor —I promise to be less Woo Woo than David H. Childress 😉

          So we come back to the issue: Motivation that may or may not be fueled by necessity. But then we are back to square one: what exactly are the necessities of an alien being? does he drink methane and get high on mercury? [Hmmm… that might explain why mercury was mentioned as the “secret” of the vimanas’ engines :-P]

          I suppose we shouldn’t be too hard on Seth and his minions who are constantly anthropomorphizing the little greenies —that’w what we’ve always done. But then again, maybe SETI should support studies focused on understanding the mentality of non-human intelligent beings living right here on Earth, like dolphins and octopi —as far as I know they’re only focusing on peering the night sky.

    3. You are making some mighty big assumptions there, Delaiah
      Firstly, why assume that any civilisation would have a capital economy? It could quite as easliy be a resource based economy. Or maybe they would be advanced enough to have dispensed with the notion of an economy altogether – if indeed they had one in the first place. Plenty of civilisations on Earth have no concept of an economy. On top of that, why use Earth as a model for Alien society, or even behaviorism in the first instance.

      Its also unreasonable to assume that the motivation for space travel would be for any profitable reason. Maybe sheer inquisitiveness would be enough to drive an alien society to seek out new worlds. Again, it could be a motivation that is completely alien (operative word here) to our human way of thinking. Its also possible, probable even, that an alien society has no need to exploit resources, as they may have possibly developed free energy etc.

      An alien society may not have the materialistic and/or imperialistic view that is prevalent here on earth to want to collect cultural artefacts, or even promulgate their own

      Why would it be most likely that Aliens would seek to colonise or strip mine Earth? That maybe sacrosanct to them. They may have absolutely no need for it.

      Your whole argument is based on you assigning human values (corporate American values, in actual fact), which given that you have absolutely no criteria on which to base these assumptions, they dont make a whole heap of sense

      1. economy
        Every civilization, and very barbaric society on earth has and has had an economy. In some cases they were not aware of having one, that is correct. And not always an economy with fixed rules and structure.

        But an economy in the sense of sharing needs, goods, protection and services, has been there.

        Anyone who undertakes a journey weighs the pros and cons of going and not going. If the balance shows not going will be advantageous, they don’t go.

        Of course we may speculate that some aliens go just for entertainment. That resources don’t matter to them because they have achieved a miraculous desirable balance with the universe. Or because they exploit everyone and everything to the max and are so filthy rich that they can afford it.

        Still in that case they go for the most entertaining trip, and we may not be near the top on that list.

  6. They seek him here, they seek him there,they seek him everywhere
    The first problem, we as humans have is the fact that we as a species still have a poor understanding of the nature of our reality. Our scientists still waste their time on knobs and counters and as such are completely immersed in a mechanical view of reality. Looking for aliens in their own image as it were.

    Every night thousands of humans venture into space, some go as far as dropping in at other civilizations, their modus operandi is their (sub)consciousness. All this is still very poorly understood and often ridiculized..try and get a grant for this kind of space research and you’ll hear NASA scream, even when it would cost only a fraction of the money they burn…You won’t see support from the powers that be either, fearfull as they always are their dirty little secrets will no longer be safe with developped out of body researchers going round.

    The same mental route is/has been used by aliens, they likely have developped a system whereby once location aware, they can displace their ships in a way as portrayed in Dune where the mindtraveller extends his field. Such capabilities will have taken many generations to establish, but im sure we humans have the same capabilities be it very crude still.

    As for aliens, and i reckon there are several species around here, not ringing the bell and say hello…C’mon our species isn’t ready for that, too many still caught up in infantile beliefsystems, that at the same time are ignored, as power and greed still dominates and is proactivlly pushed by the greediest and powerful.. So who’s bell should the alien ring ? My take is most aliens watch and observe, likely they dont have too much an issue with time.

    So what are we to do in the meantime ? Develop our understanding of ourselves and our relation to reality and once we mastered that to abetter degree, aliens will pop up all around us.

  7. Aliens, ufos, occult stuff your mind
    We are being held by an unseen power that blinds the mind into a 4 dimensional reality of fractal glitter so shiny it fills the eyes with neural matrix projectional distractions. That stuff our minds make up as not belonging here is simply the matrix, occult, supernatural or what ever plane you wish, playing on the neural network to our heads. We are nothing but toys for it to amuse itself with our sanity to chaos as we experience its power in this obscure time stream. Think about it if you can and if you cannot, you are lost within its fabrication and may remain trapped reincarnating till you can see it working you to its persuasion.

    The power of the matrix projection can enter our time stream at any point and confront you into a moment of fear or physical attraction to a construct it uses to either weave itself into your trust or physicaly hurt you by bewildering the logic of the learned mind, thus, induceing mental stress.

    So you see, aliens and the ufo are simply from the matrix projection over the neural network connected to our minds.

    1. Re: neural stuff. The most
      Re: neural stuff. The most interesting question before us is what do we look like and how do we operate in such a relative space once we have truly embraced the reality of the martix. It is like we don’t know quite how to act in it yet. By that I mean we don’t know how to continue on being feeling loving humans within that web. I am sure we will get the hang of it. These are the most fun days when we learn to take the baby steps.

  8. The web site “Earthfiles” has
    The web site “Earthfiles” has latey been running some very compelling stories about UFO interference with nuclear weapon storage
    facilities. These sitings are the most compelling for me because the eyewitnesses are all trained military observers and they have presumably been vetted for psychological
    stabilty though that stability was severly tested by what
    they saw.

  9. All Around Us
    Several great points have been made so far.

    RPJ brings to light that our trying to use radio wave propagation to communicate with interstellar civilizations might be like ants trying to use pheromones to communicate with us. In this case, the medium IS the message and the message is: “We’re a scratch away from cave men, look how we send smoke signals by strumming the electro-magnetic ether!” From the medium of our message it would be obvious we are primitive.

    If their motivations are even remotely like our motivations, we can make some rationalizations about their actions based on their knowledge that we are primitive:

    1) They are busy and resource constrained, as Delaiah has posted, and therefore would not be bothered with trying to expend said constrained resources in trying to communicate or visit with us dumb brutes. Case closed.

    2) If there isn’t really a resource issue and they might be bothered, they most likely wouldn’t enjoy a conversation with us any more than one of us would enjoy talking about Existentialism with a chimpanzee, therefore they wouldn’t be coming to talk. They’d be tourists on safari. It would still be logical to assume that it would be easier to transport a smaller mass than a larger mass, therefore it can be suggested that they would most likely be here to collect samples and specimens and act out their inquisitiveness, as Moonchief suggests. Again, assuming they were anything like us in intellect, they would understand that the best socio-anthropological samples are collected from a ‘blind’, where the ‘natives’ can’t see you.

    3) If the life in the universe is even a smidgen like life here on Earth, then life is nearly ever present and striving to reach every nook and cranny it can expand too. ALL habitable planets (for ANY forms of life) are like gems shining in the vast emptiness of space. Once a race is capable, it will begin to catalog every habitable world in viewing range, and beyond as is technologically possible. We are doing it ourselves.

    4) Life here on Earth is mighty competitive too. If life out there is even a little like it is here, then given fixed resources (habitable planets in our Galaxy for example), there will be competition for these resources.

    5) When the Europeans conquered the Americas, they were loath to give any firearms to the natives. To do so was called ‘Enablement’. Even worse than giving away specific firearms was giving the knowledge of chemistry (alchemy) or metallurgy. Teaching a native these skills, or even to read, was a crime for a very long time. Why? Because the Europeans didn’t want the competition. They preferred to have the technological advantage in order to keep the natives down so their resources could be plundered more effectively or they could be subjugated and converted more easily.

    6) If some race decides to come here against all the odds not just for tourism or to collect some samples, knowing full well we are primitive, then they most likely are coming for conquest or integration. Conquest would require a very large amount of resources transported over very large amounts of distances. We would be a troublesome conquest, what with our being warriors and such, so they’d have to kill many or most of us. Integration, however, would require only control of the intellectual elite, and then a slow and steady program of acclimatization. Like the frog in the boiling pot of water, the inferior civilization being integrated into the more advanced civilization would not know what was happening until it was too late and dying. Society would stop being suited for what was best for humans, and instead be for some other purpose, something perhaps not best suited for us.

    7) Integration would require the total control of the ‘psyche’ of the population so the Integrators wouldn’t want any other races interfering, because remember, it’s competitive out there. There would need to be some kind of blockade in place to keep information about interstellar civilization away from the victims of the integration effort, lest they come to understand what is going on and the Integrators would be forced to switch to Plan B – Conquest. Since the Integrators might not have the capacity to do Plan B conquest, it would be CRITICAL that no interstellar civilization information leakage occur.

    From this train of rationalizations I think it becomes clear to me why Steven Hawking has been raising the alarm about contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.

    So to summarize: The universe is most likely teaming with life, and much of it on the prowl for hot new real estate. We’ve got some nice digs and are pretty good at manipulating matter so can be considered a good raw-material for an expanding interstellar civilizations. We’ve not been able to communicate in any publically knowable fashion with extraterrestrials, and it seems as if we are all alone. This is because we are being kept in a blockade by the race that has been undergoing Integration efforts for an indeterminate period of time.

    They are here, have been here for a long while, and most likely will be coming out of the shadows when they feel the integration has proceeded far enough. How do you like your Alien Overlords now?

    1. too big
      The reason we can’t detect them is because they are small. Like say, 3 millimeters for an adult male (they have 3.3 different sexes, one of them is male). Their space ships are typically about 3 to 5 centimeters long.

      That’s why their distance in all these blurry images is, well blurry. They are out of focus because they are too close.

      Some of them tried to talk to President Obama, but he didn’t take them seriously, because they are small. And can’t vote.

      1. Liquid Sky Aliens
        Those sound like the human endorphin eating miniature aliens from the movie Liquid Sky. If you don’t know what Liquid Sky is about, look it up and you’re in for a treat.

        Here’s the Wiki Entry for the uninitiated.

        ASM

        1. actually
          Some time ago I had a variation of this, I think it was UFOs as lint on the eyes, that can be seen when the lighting is just right. And I vaguely remember aliens landing on an apple a long time ago.

          Oh, and then there are the aliens in “Fiasco” by Lem.

          Small size makes a certain amount of sense when you assume genetic engineering and miniaturized technology. Particularly when the aliens are resource-constrained, or just environmentally responsible.

          Even today on earth, we would have much less trouble feeding everyone if everyone was smaller.

          And again we see, as RPJ pointed out, that this view of the aliens is about us.

    2. Quarantine
      ASM has given here a good exposition of one of the scenarios allowed by the so-called “quarantine” explanation of the Fermi paradox.

      A more positive scenario is that these others are keeping us quarantined because we’re not ready to go play with the “big boys” in the galact playground. This would be the “prime directive” theory that was also exposed in a previous comment; I used to adhere to this one when I was younger —and more optimist.

      In the end, it very well may be that all these theories —all highly intelligent and well-thought— reveal more about our current fears and worries, than about the reason the stars remain stubbornly mute.

        1. Communication methods
          There is one important factor to consider. What medium would these civilizations use for communication? If you need to arrive somewhere in any but the longest of timeframes, you would want faster than light travel.

          Once you can travel faster than light speed, why would you want to communicate by radio or light waves? They would be so slow as to be useless except at the shortest distances. Therefore, you would seek a different type of communication entirely or simply send messages by courier/probe. Maybe some kind of quantum system would be employed?

          In essence, we may be trying to hear other people’s phone calls on two tin cans and a string. It will never work. The messages may be all around us; we just don’t know how to receive them!

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