Extraterrestrial Technology, could we ever understand it?

I would think using technology to understand technology is far different than using technology to figure out sticks and stones that have long sense decayed. We have found ancient structures that we don't understand how they were made since the tools are not there, still we're able to get an idea of how they were made based on such notions of reinventing the wheel, so to speak.

On the hand of alien tech, I'm certain we can cut this tech down to components then dig in to enough theory and thought to get an idea of what it does and how it does it. I wouldn't think it too difficult. At least not as much as any software these aliens would use to control their tech/ship. That would require ciphers or some kind of decoding of a language in a roseta stone sorta way. It's not impossible. We decoded the enemy transmitions in WW2. The CIA has people that do this sorta thing.

Possibly the power source could be the most difficult if we can't replicate whatever they use for power. Could an advanced race know what a nuclear detonation was if they didn't know about splitting atoms? Who knows... Maybe they advanced without that need to ever be a part of technology. Though, I'm sure they could figure it out.

Just rambling here but I do feel it's possible.

...maybe I play too much XCOM lol

a reply to: uloveme

Eventually we could probably understand extraterrestrial technology, but it wouldn't be easy. Reverse engineering terrestrial technology can be EXTREMELY difficult, imagine trying to reverse engineer tech that utilizes unknown laws of physics.

I have no doubt that the brightest minds could do it given 50, 100, or maybe even 200 years but it would not be an easy undertaking. Imagine trying to reverse engineer flash memory in the year 1935. Completely electronic with no moving parts. At the time our digital storage was much more primitive. Now advance tech another 2000 years, it's like trying to have Hypatia discover how to reproduce a laptop computer. Eventually it would be possible, but it would certainly not be quick.

Let me give a simple example of reverse engineering tech. It has been 2000 years and we still don't know how a Roman Dodecahedron works. It wasn't until very recently (within the last decade) that we figured out how the recipe for Roman Concrete after 1800 years of trying. Damascus Steel is superior to what we can produce today, and we only know of it because of a handful of swords which have survived and we have no way to reproduce it. The recipe was lost to time.

originally posted by: mbkennel
a reply to: MystikMushroom

Everything is different now. We understand basic laws of physics applicable to the entire universe at a fundamental level that did not exist in Franklin's time. We can predict, quantitatively, what is happening in stars at enormous distances.

We do not understand the laws of physics. We don't even know how gravity works other than to say we can observe that it's there. That's to say nothing of the theory of unification that would be required to traverse the stars.

a reply to: uloveme

How did these "extraterrestrial" folks understand their own technology?

If they evolved to the point they could create this theoretical technology, why is it that we could never evolve to the level we could understand it? Are we done evolving? Will we not evolve over say the next million years? Remember a million years is nothing when discussing these things. A mere moment in time.

originally posted by: Aazadan
a reply to: uloveme

Eventually we could probably understand extraterrestrial technology, but it wouldn't be easy. Reverse engineering terrestrial technology can be EXTREMELY difficult, imagine trying to reverse engineer tech that utilizes unknown laws of physics.

I have no doubt that the brightest minds could do it given 50, 100, or maybe even 200 years but it would not be an easy undertaking. Imagine trying to reverse engineer flash memory in the year 1935. Completely electronic with no moving parts. At the time our digital storage was much more primitive. Now advance tech another 2000 years, it's like trying to have Hypatia discover how to reproduce a laptop computer. Eventually it would be possible, but it would certainly not be quick.

Let me give a simple example of reverse engineering tech. It has been 2000 years and we still don't know how a Roman Dodecahedron works. It wasn't until very recently (within the last decade) that we figured out how the recipe for Roman Concrete after 1800 years of trying. Damascus Steel is superior to what we can produce today, and we only know of it because of a handful of swords which have survived and we have no way to reproduce it. The recipe was lost to time.

Your actually mistaken we know how Damascus steel was formed. What we don't know was what iron they used and what properties it has. We know vadnium was in the Iron meaning damascus steel could only be made with ingots from a particular mine. The reason the recipe was most liklly lost. Though its believed the Russians had a similar version called Bulatt steel.

We can reproduce the results artificially by adding vadnium but thus would have been beyond there technology or so we believe. Oh and so you know we can actually make better steel stronger then Damascus steel. At the time it was the top of the class now we can produce steel with twice the strength meaning we can make a sword that would tear through it.

As far as Roman dechohedrons we know how they were made what we don't know is why. They seem useless yet seem to have been highly valued that's the mystery. And as you pointed out the secret to marine cement turned out to be volcanic ash. Something we didn't consider adding to cement until we examined it in a lab. Which proves the point with technology we can discover what a coimpound is made of doesn't matter if it's steel or cement. But you did manage to prove the point with things like x rays and mass spectomitors we can reverse engineer the past.

a reply to: uloveme

It is hubris to think that math is the universal language. The concepts may be there...but...still.

I am largely very tempted to agree with the OP.

However, with world power's ability to throw time, money, and manpower at a given piece of tech....there is a possibility, if not a probability, that we might be able to find something. Perhaps, something akin to the rosetta stone, that would be useful in putting the pieces together.

However, logic...is a rather difficult beast to work with. As a programmer....whenever I use a boolean true false scenario, I tend to test for true rather than false. But, recently I had to figure out someone's code that was written from the opposite perspective...they always test for false.

Both were equally viable approaches...but, given the way my brain works....it was VERY difficult to look for questions that returned false instead of true. May sound silly, but, it was.

Now, take an alien race....... and look at comprehending the differences in how they might view such things as true and false. What if, they don't look for absolutes. Perhaps, they adhere to the concept of fuzzy logic...sometimes true...and sometimes false.

At the end of the day, all of this is speculation. We'll never, ever know...until we're faced with a widget that we have no freaking clue what it does, or how it might go about doing it.

If nothing else, OP..... you've provided a rather good intellectual exercise for contemplation....

originally posted by: dragonridr
We can reproduce the results artificially by adding vadnium but thus would have been beyond there technology or so we believe. Oh and so you know we can actually make better steel stronger then Damascus steel. At the time it was the top of the class now we can produce steel with twice the strength meaning we can make a sword that would tear through it.

We can recreate something similar, we cannot recreate exactly what they did. Sometimes that's good enough sometimes it's not. Good info on us having a superior type of steel now though, that I did not know.

As far as Roman dechohedrons we know how they were made what we don't know is why.

Knowing how to reproduce something is useless if you don't know how to use it, which is part of reverse engineering. To take a modern day example, a bullet is fairly simple to reproduce, but it's more complex to know what it's used for.

Which proves the point with technology we can discover what a coimpound is made of doesn't matter if it's steel or cement. But you did manage to prove the point with things like x rays and mass spectomitors we can reverse engineer the past.

And it only took 1800 years to rediscover. And that's for iron age technology. Modern day technology is much more advanced, and ET tech that came here would be beyond even that. As I said before, I have no doubt that given enough time and brainpower we could figure it out, but it would not be an instantaneous thing.

originally posted by: nullafides
It is hubris to think that math is the universal language. The concepts may be there...but...still.

Math is the universal language. You still need to discover advanced mathematics to communicate across language and culture though. The Ancient Egyptians didn't have a decimal system so to them a circle was 22/7 but to us it is 3.1415926535. We know what they mean by 22/7 in context with what it was used for, but they wouldn't know what we mean. Of course, we could translate down to their level.

The real obstacle is in how numbers are expressed, a base 10 system is very suboptimal, it's likely any ET wouldn't communicate in it. Not that it's difficult to translate but it does point out a difference in approach.

As a programmer....whenever I use a boolean true false scenario, I tend to test for true rather than false. But, recently I had to figure out someone's code that was written from the opposite perspective...they always test for false.

Both were equally viable approaches...but, given the way my brain works....it was VERY difficult to look for questions that returned false instead of true. May sound silly, but, it was.

It depends, I'm equally likely to test for == 1 or != 0 it depends on the context. Where this would really matter is if the ET's operated on a base 3 number system of -1, 0, 1. In that situation there is a very big difference between testing for true and false and that's the sort of thing that has to be reverse engineered.

I think that with stuff like chemistry, and processes like nano-deposition or methods of burning ICs into silocon and such, that we should be able to reverse engineer in terms of fabrication and most of the basic mechanics.

However even if we can replicate something and have it working, if the underlying mechanism of operation is one that is unfamiliar, we may still have to do our homework figuring out why it works.

It's also funny, but as backwards and planet-bound as we are, I suspect we may even have some tech aliens would be interested in. I know the idea comes from gaming, but there are many branches on the tech-tree and you don't need all of them to be successful. So we may have developed branches they haven't.

a reply to: uloveme


Great topic ! This will be my first attempt in debating on a thread lol

I have to assume that any species that has mastered the forces & laws of nature not to mention traversing space & creating "out of this world technoledgy" would be very placid & humble by nature.

They would of overcome all the challenges we are still painfully experiencing. The very things that we would have to overcome in order to become the sacred wielders & keepers of advanced technoledgy.
(The Grays) cough*cough* 😁

I would imagine there is a driving force behind these types of achievements. Eg
Overcoming climate issues, eradicating disease, abolishing religion & using science to advance their species & all aspects of themselves.

The math supports this idea if you can get your head around the "system" we are all participants in.. The sheer number of vast galaxies alone, is almost unfathomable 😅 So I could only dream of knowing how they classify worlds based on many factors eg. Size, climate, life, intelligent life & technology.

So getting back on track, we are now in an age where ET interactions are becoming much more common than any other known & recorded time period, which to me signifies a campaign of sorts to usher in a new epoch. It is only a matter of time before we are all briefed & have full disclosure.

It is crazy to think we have only been fumbling in space for such a short time period, when compared to the ET Grays that are helping us by ushering in this new & vitally important transition in our worlds history.

I myself have seen many ET Orbs & I must say their capabilities with zero point gravity systems & antigravity propulsion is unbelievable ! I have become very much obsessed with them & with this entire movement. Trying my best to educate myself as much as I possibly can & I find myself drawn towards magnetic energy, field energy, quantum mechanics etc.

If we are to ever master an advanced technology via reverse or back engineering, we have a lot of growing up to do as a species ! But I believe we could pull it of if, as I said earlier.. We would have to overcome so many other sensitive issues that a seriously large majority of people would not be able to comprehend let alone willingly comply to the cause. Hence why I suppose it's handeled in secret & classified operations. Such a pity.. as I really have high hopes for toppling the world economy & changing the energy sector by making fossil fuels redundant & implementing a cleaner & free energy source. I guess the domino effect would be very interesting to say the least & we would then be able to venture further into this incredibly vast & ordered system & start observing the true nature of the Multiverse 👽

a reply to: uloveme

We may not even recognise it!

Does an ant recognise a printer or a PC .. NO
it simply crawls over it ...unaware.

I think we could understand and then recreate Alien tec, would take a very long time though.

If we take it apart and analyse each part individually, start understanding how each part works.

Then recreate that part while building a replica craft of equal value, might not have the exact materials needed but a start with what we have will still fly at high speed around Earth till we find or create them,,so yeah we could understand and build a craft knowing what tec we have now and it's ever changing, plus military always have tec not knowing to the public.

Edit.. Another part to all of this, is, the time we figured it out, cause it's Alien tec, we might have already created a craft of equal value but didn't know it till we figured out what the Alien tec does, language and codes used in software etc.

Then that craft was useful to a degree of creating our craft but that craft is now redundant and we are more advanced, well to a degree of they would now have more advanced tec than us by then, all we need to do is as we always do is upgrade, we wouldn't be equal but can now move beyond the stars.

What if we started by finding what (fuel) they used (if any) being super advanced, then use that to build an engine and fuel our craft, we wouldn't need to find out everything at first just on engine first the rest as we advance in our own tec, that might work?

Just a thought.

a reply to: DarkvsLight29

It is as, I believe it to be a very, very extreamly scarse Element namely E 115 & E 116. It is believed that we have gathered & manufacture such a small amount, it can't evan be incorporated into the propulsion system at that scale.. (We are very very far behind) 😓

Check out this video of a signature I noticed about the aliens that bombed Dulce base. It is believed that American troops were sent into afaganistan to retrieve ET technology & study it & incorporate it..

The lights they emit are what give the UFO/ET/Aliens away.. Brilliant pulsating bright flashing lights that seem to be working in some sort of magnetically controlled microwave field.. Check the bright Blues & oranges ! It unbelievable that the Americans were warned not to take the technology & did anyways agaisnst been firmly warned. The result it the ET's bombed them with advanced weapons with absolutely no sound.. All the troops at the base lost their lives.

youtu.be...

The distances are so vast... what possible propulsion system could they use ? Some Tachyon God particle means? I lend more to the creation belief and that would include that the heavens would be rolled up like a scroll. A scripture in Revelations I believe, to my way of thinking, meaning an illusion. I know that don't set well with most, but I must follow Biblical doctrine. Believe me, I have tried to picture or imagine the concept.

a reply to: uloveme

The fact that an alien entered our space says that the alien understands our physical laws and how to manipulate them. If that's the case, then there's no reason why we should not be able to understand how they got here.

Imagine the reverse scenario where humans land on an alien planet whose technology was driven by very different dynamics. Once you recognize that their technology is different, well what do you do? You start the discovery process.

The fact that you can "see" each other says a lot about how much we really have in common. It's the uncommon, the ones who you can't "see" who are really intriguing. We're limited in our ability to "see" everything in the universe. Humans require all sorts of technology just to toast an English muffin.

At the end of the day, it's the same old process - get yee into the lab with data and figure it out (and a thank you to my prof at MIT who taught us that).

@ OP - it's a good conversation with good questions - who knows - we may be the most advanced life forms in the universe - we may also be at the bottom of the barrel. Maybe we should start at the bottom????

originally posted by: rigel4
a reply to: uloveme

We may not even recognise it!

Does an ant recognise a printer or a PC .. NO
it simply crawls over it ...unaware.

So you don't think we would recognize tech ?? Come on now if a space ship crashed we would know it's a spaceship. If we found something that shoots out a deadly beam we could figure out its a gun of somekind.

Bottom line is every species on every planet has to play by thr same rules. And even if they mastered interstellar flight there will still be areas we are ahead of them in.

Science is a funny thing you could have a space faring species that never learned how to make computers for example. Just because we have it doesn't mean they do. If a species developed a way to link to devices there would be no need to develop computers. Yet computers would still have major advantages. Maybe they don't understand DNA and can't manipulate it like we do. There is always something one group knows even if thr other is more advanced. Case in point mayans were math gurus compared to the spanairds. Even née far more about astronomy. Yet they didn't know anything about gun powder.

originally posted by: DonVoigt
I would think that reading the owners manual would be very helpful

REAL MEN don't need manuals damn it!!!! well unless its an ikea flat pack then we are all fooked I swear that # is designed by ET's with 6 arms cos they certainly aint designed for mere humans to build

a reply to: uloveme

Mathematics seemingly being the language the universe speaks, and one we also comprehend to a fashion. Given enough time and effort on our part im sure humanity could manage to fathom the workings and understanding of any extraterrestrial technology our respective governments manage to lay there sticky little mitts on.

Thing is through the concepts and logic behind such technology would probably contradict rather a few of the fundamental concepts we teach as science, our understanding of thermodynamics being only one of the culprits.

"They" are not ready or willing to unleash such technological break thoughts down to the fact that it could quite possibly retard there ability to control the masses.

a reply to: Plotus

"The distances are so vast... what possible propulsion system could they use ?"

Wormholes could offer a possible solution to the distances involved. To generate them though would seem to require some form of exotic matter and the energy requirements to open and sustain them just like other FTL solutions could quite possibly be infinite(near infinite).

a reply to: uloveme

Ill give ya a little hint....

'Technology' is 'terminology' is 'perception'....

there's some food for thought!

a reply to: one4all

The problem is not will people UNDERSTAND THE TECHNOLOGY....lol...we will ADVANCE IT IMMEDIATLY......the REAL PROBLEM is how to explain how and why this information was INTNTIONALLY WITHHELD FROM GLOBAL HUMANITY UNTIL OUR PLANET IS ALMOST 86ed???

I do know that keeping a secret "At all Costs", will in the end, cost all of us, everything.

It is not a easy thing to convince people they have been lied to for almost 12000 years. It is not a easy thing to convince people they are living a dilution, a well planned out dilution on almost every level. It is not a easy thing to stop a train running at full speed into a wall.

The only thing that can be done, is try. And the more people that try, no matter what their station in life might be, Im certain, the train can be stopped, in the same manner, it was started.......