Could we be the most intelligent life in the entire universe?

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Bedlam
What is the sound of a paramecium?

Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Roma-roma-mamaa! Ga-ga-ooh-la-la!

I always thought it was "ooga chaka ooga ooga ooga chaka"

No, that's the resting state of a lion.

a reply to: DJW001

I thought that was 'A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh'?

a reply to: ssenerawa

These are not "frequencies of life", they're "frequencies of organ systems peculiar to Earth vertebrate life".

A plant is certainly alive, but has no brain, nor heart, nor vision in a strict sense.

1) this is a measurement of gross activity, in terms of the rate of change of an overall electric field. However, a metal box has the same thing due to it being a closed conductive cavity, and it's not alive

2) potential doesn't have frequency, so that one's a dud

3) That's actually a frequency, but a plant is alive and doesn't have one, so that's not a 'frequency of life'.

4) A rock has thermal vibrations too, and they're not alive. Anything over absolute zero will do this. And no, 1000 Hz isn't anywhere near IR. You're off by about a dozen orders of magnitude

5) you can't really say it processes images at 60Hz, because it's all over the place, and again, a plant doesn't do this and is alive, so it's not a 'frequency of life'.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I was in grade school before I realized there really wasn't a verse that went

"In the lion, the happy lion
the village sleeps tonight"

originally posted by: Bedlam
a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I was in grade school before I realized there really wasn't a verse that went

"In the lion, the happy lion
the village sleeps tonight"

You're not going to claim Mandela on that one?

a reply to: roadgravel



Only if I had an older brother named Mandela.

a reply to: Bedlam

I was thinking on these points last night in another discussion miles away from here. In light of how old the universe is we as a species may be in a time period in between huge stellar empires that would rival anything we`ve come up with in science fiction, we might even be the leftover remnant of one of these ancient, dare I say possibly extinct empires.

All we know about the universe is what we`ve been able to observe from this planet and from a few hundred probes we`ve sent out. Until we have our own "Enterprise" to explore we should be prepped, there could be Anything out there.

But seriously, what if Earth is it? What if we've got the only intelligent life in the galaxy, or this arm of it maybe, and we're the top but not the only possibility? Maybe Earth's a repository for a storm of future intelligent speciation, like chimps, gorillas, dolphins, whales, grizzlies, elephants, dogs et al?

What if humans are "supposed" to be uplifting these other species to sentience?

I'd hate the think the galaxy bet all the chips on us.

I'd hate the think the galaxy bet all the chips on us.

And I'd say life doesn't work as well as we think it could.

But then it would explain no life form more advanced than us. Life craps out at about our level. We might be in a low rent universe, so to speak.

originally posted by: StratosFear
Until we have our own "Enterprise" to explore we should be prepped, there could be Anything out there.

What if we had already started gingerly poking about the local few dozen light years and there wasn't anything much?

A few places with plant and lower animal analogs, some fishy things, a few lichens, some things that looked like cliff dwellings with nothing else to show, and which might be geology instead?

There's a big question there, I'd suppose, about 'what constitutes intelligent life'. If the local critters were a telepathically linked colony creature you might never know that the planetism was intelligent as a whole but that neither of you had any way of realizing the other was intelligent or communicating meaningfully.

For all I know there's some big breakthrough we've yet to make that will give us the keys to some superluminal wave phenomenon and we'll find everyone there to talk to us. But EM is pretty obvious as a starting point, and there's just nothing to hear so far.

That to say, would we recognize intelligent life if you HAD an 'Enterprise' to trot about in? Is it going to be like us? Or is it possible it's going to be a upscale Darmok and Jilad at Tenagra thing where we can't even be sure it's life, or intelligent life, or communicate with it ever? It's way unlikely to look like people and speak English.

originally posted by: ssenerawa
a reply to: Hecate666

Yeah I see what you mean like judging a fish on his ability to climb a tree. But I mean intelligence is just ones perspective, and that's all we have. I'm talking more towards survival and capabilities wise.

Ok, but survival instincts have nothing to do with intelligence. Are we the most adapted life form who is surviving best compared to all other species?

If I said 'No way Pedro' before, you can time this by 1000 as an answer to that.

We have only been around for a few blinks of the universe's eye and by the looks of it we won't be around for that long. So if you look at crocodiles and Tarantulas, who have been around for millions of years, we are pretty far down the list of 'best at surviving'. Heck we can't even be outdoors without a jacket if it gets cold.


ETA: About capabilities. If you mean we manage to build houses and cars and computers. I always look at termites and their far superior building skills to us and the rest was borne out of necessity. Our cat doesn't need computers, neither do dolphins. But will they ever be able to leave the planet?

Probably not but then neither did Einstein, Buddha or Ghandi and they weren't exactly thick. It's all relative I think.

originally posted by: ssenerawa
The government had ufo's in the 1950's this Disney cartoon explains exactly how they can or would be made m.youtube.com... Skip to 17:00-19:00

By universe I mean any visual spectrum we will ever be able to see. If you understand that

I think it's very possible, Yeah the ancients were very advanced without technology.. and yes there are billions of stars, solar systems, planets, galaxy's etc.. And our entire universe could possibly be inside a quark. inside a neutron. inside an atom next to billions of other atoms all on a fly's #ss that's currently eating cow's poop.

But. But. But. we somehow invented computers and technology. I still try to comprehend how could a human possibly invent the first technological device, let alone a computer

So now we can hack reality by that I mean technology. That's basically what it does.. or we create a vr reality and hack that too if we wanted and I don't think that happens very often in that universe although I could be entirely wrong. But think about it. Anything you can imagine we can do the only problem would be none other than money.

We can also hack any computers and or biological life-forms. By directing the right energy, code, waves(electromagnetic etc..), frequencies or vibrations. Up to an elephant down to an individual particle.

Most intelligent: In a nutshell, NO! It would be my assertion that we are probably one of the least intelligent forms of life because of the minute amount of time we have been in existence in the grand scheme of things!

a reply to: Bedlam


Humans lifting other species to sentience, a philosophic idea that will consume my thoughts the rest of the day. May I ask where you came across this idea?

If that is indeed our purpose then something must have put us here intending we do our purpose, I`d be worried we are not fulfilling that purpose and either need to be fixed or replaced.

a reply to: Bedlam

Not sure telepathic communication would count as intelligence, it's more on the gene side. Unless you're a human then I'm pretty sure you can buy some technology from a nerd that's let's you transmit brainwaves to a reciever via special helmets. or some type of EM fields. That on the other hand would account for intelligence

a reply to: StratosFear

You're obviously not taking in to account we were not always at the top of the food chain.

I don't think it matters technology changes the ballgame

a reply to: Bedlam

Valid points, the phrase "intelligent life" gets pretty vague quickly doesn't it? I didn't mean to go all Star Trek, just using the exploration ship as an example. I`d really hope the galaxy wasn't full of bad acting humanoid looking peoples in tights all speaking English. I imagine if we did come across another hypothetical ship in our hypothetical Enterprise for the very first time open dialogue would be a very difficult thing to achieve, if not impossible.

If we had already started poking around out there... IMHO we should stop and fix the problems on the planet first so we can ALL go out there and see whats to be seen. Hit the people with what truths have been discovered, let it sink in and nature take its course, then go back out.

Does knowing exactly what you mean in that last paragraph make me a Trekkie or just well versed?

a reply to: ssenerawa

Ive never considered the human being as being at the top of any food chain. There are plenty of organisms that feed off us. But in this context there isnt any other creature on this planet flying jet fighters either.

Like you say in your very next post,

originally posted by: ssenerawa
I don't think it matters technology changes the ballgame

Not just no but...HELL NO.a reply to: ssenerawa

a reply to: DJW001

I think the difference between "being able to communicate to others" and not is essentially the difference between an intelligent animal, and an intelligent species.

The heron that fishes with the piece of bread (if you've not seen the video, its a must watch for this subject) represents an intelligent animal that is unable to communicate his discovery to others in his species. This isn't due to a lack of language. Birds, like all animals, have a wide array of noises they can make, and tend to also use physical gestures as specific communications. The framework for language is in place, and likely utilized far more than we realize.

Herons, in general, are rather clever. Clever enough to recieve information? What if they simply witnessed what was going on? Would there be enough abstract or lateral thinking to allow them to contemplate doing that themselves?

Its an interesting subject. Thanks for making me think a little this morning.