Originally posted by True-seer
reply to post by CitizenNum287119327
Actually yes i do think aliens would be different we are a very voilent race.
That doesnt mean every other race in the universe is.
Kind Regards
True-seer
I disagree.
While there is the possibility for life that is completely unrelated to our own biology and physiology to develop - it's more likely that we will
bump into life that is rather similar to us, in principle, at least.
Now - look at our life - what are the most intelligent animals on the planet? Humans (predators), dolphins (predators), apes/chimpanzees/other
primates (predators), birds (predators, mostly), raccoons (predators) - there's a rather distinct pattern. Additionally, there is a distinct social
pattern; intelligent animals tend to have far more complex social behavior and communicative dialogue.
This is really simple to explain - predators, by their very need to hunt prey, must be able to accurately gauge and observe their environment while
considering the various factors before them to successfully hunt their prey - pack-hunters also need to have social skills (and the benefits of
hunting in packs far outweigh the disadvantages of conflict within that social structure).
So - those are the only forms of life that really develop substantial intelligence that would allow them to take note of, say, fire and how to utilize
it to an end.
Why would we expect life to suddenly change that fundamental principle? I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule out there - but you are looking at
the likelihood that anything marking what we would consider "sentient" would be a predator by nature, and very accustomed to manipulating its
environment (look how we are engineering plants and bacteria to produce hydrocarbon chains that we need for various industrial processes).
To a sufficiently advanced species - we could be considered little more than part of the environment - just as we consider the ants, bugs, birds, and
bacteria as part of the environment. Sure - we can enjoy watching them and be fascinated with their behavior - but we will ultimately try to utilize
their behavior. There was a city that experimented with training crows to pick up loose change on the streets and deposit it into boxes. Since crows
learn from watching each other - the phenomena caught on very fast, and the program was rather successful.
Perhaps we are the crows - we go pick up the change and drop it in the box to get some food. We think we are being really smart by manipulating the
environment - but, really, we are just doing what another species needs us to do. We could be a sort of R&D center - a sort of 'fresh perspective'
on their technology and way of looking at things. Maybe they completely missed solid state electronics - or vacuum tubes - and went to some sort of
photon-based computing, so they are sitting up there going "well, ain't that the darnedest thing!" - They get answers to their problems and we get
a little pay-off.
There could be a symbiosis going on that we don't really realize is going on.
In the end - I think humanity is a bit naive when it comes to its own tendencies. "We are too violent." - Have you ever seen dogs go at it? Cats?
Birds? Ants (those little things are meaner than hell) - the whole world is a pretty violent place. We just seem to be naive enough to believe we
are going to will ourselves out of the laws of nature that we are still governed by.
Doesn't mean go kill people because you're "just an animal" - but, really, you can't expect another form of life to be any different than us when
it comes to the potential for conflict - whether it's an energy being or cold-hard-crystalline matrices - if we are in competition for resources,
then there's likely going to be a conflict, and they are likely going to come with what they think is necessary to handle us with. They may or may
not be more advanced than we are - technology is not a single-dimension; they may have achieved space flight through a rather simple process we simply
skipped right over, but couldn't figure out a light-bulb if they had a hundred years because they have no concept of electromagnetism or
electricity.
But, therein lies the solution to the problem.
Space is really friggin' big. If you ran into a planet that had indigenous intelligent life, you'd likely just move on - just like if you walk by a
picnic table and see a bunch of ants crawling on it, you go to the next one. While you may (or may not) have the ability to exterminate those ants -
you have no need to, because there's another table to sit at, and it's more hassle and work to get rid of the ants than it is worth to you (unless
you just like killing ants).
Of course, you could also make the analogy a little better by saying those ants are really a completely unknown bug to you. You don't know what they
are, if they bite/sting, if they are venomous, etc. You're not going to mess with them, you're going to go to the next available table.
So - taking that perspective, I think we are not as violent as we give ourselves credit for. If we are truly in the midst of a large interstellar
network of species like Star Wars or something, then I think we've got aliens visiting us. If we were being looked at as a menace, then we would
likely have already been exterminated by their 'exterminating service' (much like we have one to deal with our undesired life forms). Since we have
not been destroyed, I come to the conclusion we are not in a high-traffic area, or we are simply not half as bad as we think we are. Note: "not in a
high traffic area could also translate to "no aliens")