Dr. Neil DeGrasse - A fascinatingly disturbing thought

He's a great guy with a solid delivery style but, like all scientists, he states his own personal thoughts as facts.

I agree with 90% of the things he says but the idea that visitors from another planet would not be interested in Humans/any lifeform that originated on another planet ( demonstrated by the conversation with a worm rhetorical analogy) is absurd.

I personally have not had a conversation with a worm but I'm sure there are over 1000 humans right now studying worm beahviour/habitat somewhere on the planet.

If we take this to the next step by adressing the animals we consider to have intelligence; Chimpanzees and Dolphins; I bet there are at least 10,000 people currently studying/testing/conversing with these animals right now in the search for understanding.

Why do these people waste their valuable time???

Untill you know it all; you have to turn over every stone in the process of understanding and although we dont have many answers here on Earth; any being visitng this sector would be guaranteed to study/observe us in some way.


More than anything...the overiding desire to understand the observers reality seems to be at the cornerstone of intelligence and to warrant the vast resource requirments of interstellar travel; you can bet the farm these beings would be interested in communicating/studying lifeforms from another planet.

The only being not interested in the unknown is the being who knows it all already so unless we're talking omnipotent beings or gods; the assumption humans and earth has nothing to offer is silly.

Higher dimension consciousness is where it's proabbly at...and in that case theres no reason for us to ever know if we are being observed/communicated with.

First of all... Wow! Why have I never even heard of this man before? A great inspiring, thought provoking speech.

Not sure about a few things though. When he's talking about the DNA difference between a human and chimp, he claims it's the 2% that is responsible for the large contrast of intelligence.

Does brain size not come in to this? The Human brain is 3 times the size of a Chimpanzee's.
Is the 2% DNA responsible for the massive growth of the brain? I'm not saying it isn't, as I'm no expert when it comes to genetics/evolution. Just that I'm not sure.

Thanks

panspermia is a neat theory

but where did life originate ?

it just passes the buck in a way

Originally posted by Jukiodone

If we take this to the next step by adressing the animals we consider to have intelligence; Chimpanzees and Dolphins; I bet there are at least 10,000 people currently studying/testing/conversing with these animals right now in the search for understanding.

Great point Jukiodone. I do think we are being observed by a small percentage of extra terrestrials that find us interesting to the point of amusement. How depressing...

And OP thanks for posting, great video. A very brilliant man with great points.

reply to post by Thisbseth


Dr. DeGrasse is RIGHT!!! (I'm a BIG, BIG fan of his....).....

At the end (not to stomp on your thread title....)...he says, "...we are too stupid."

I happen to agree, with him, there.....

Originally posted by Jukiodone
He's a great guy with a solid delivery style but, like all scientists, he states his own personal thoughts as facts.

I agree with 90% of the things he says but the idea that visitors from another planet would not be interested in Humans/any lifeform that originated on another planet ( demonstrated by the conversation with a worm rhetorical analogy) is absurd.

I personally have not had a conversation with a worm but I'm sure there are over 1000 humans right now studying worm beahviour/habitat somewhere on the planet.

Good point. While I did agree with most of what he said, I certainly do not think this would be the case. Of course advanced civilizations are going to be interested in us. Unless curiosity is striclty limited to humans and cats.

reply to post by Spooky1


Not everyone knows about science. He may not be breaking new boundaries with his lecture, but to the lay person and the majority of people, he conveys science in an interesting and inspirational way. The more people who are turned on by science the better and if Degrasse can deliver the message in such a way, then I am all for it.

It seems a little bit of science snobbery has crept into your posts.

www.youtube.com...

Why you Americans will be left behind. China and Europe will lead the new space race. The panel are indifferent towards him. Rather than have Government funding, even providing tax-breaks for private companies would be useful.

Originally posted by Jukiodone
Higher dimension consciousness is where it's proabbly at...and in that case theres no reason for us to ever know if we are being observed/communicated with.

edit on 18-4-2012 by Jukiodone because: (no reason given)

You mean like he thousands of people who have experimented with '___' and then reported on alien like contact with intelligent species !

Oh wait damn we cant discuss that here on ATS !

Originally posted by Drunkenparrot
Salutations Karl, good to talk to you. Its been a while

I believe that in all likelihood Dr. DeGrasse has explored the subject in a personal capacity at some length during his lifetime. I agree he comes off somewhat glib however, while he isn't my personal favorite among the current celebrity rock star physicists, I appreciate the few minutes of attention he publicly gave the topic

Hola Drunkenparrot and thanks for the reply, I'd have to politely disagree with you there on your opinions about Dr. DeGrasse's research into the UFO subject and I thought ATS member TeaAndStrumpets made some excellent points in this post which are well worth a read.

Maybe the good doctor is engaging in a spot of psychological projection when he talks about 'arguments from ignorance' because it sounds to me like he's never even bothered to lift a finger when it comes to objectively educating himself about the subject matter or many of the truly perplexing UFO cases.

Cheers.

In the end of the video, Dr. Tyson is laying down the foundation for an argument in support of transhumanism. This will occur, most likely, through a technological Singularity. This is what the illuminati have been waiting for, for many centuries. In many of our lifetimes, we will see the end of humanity as we know it, and the beginning of the next step in universal intelligence.

reply to post by Thisbseth


One word....Hypothetical.

Another word....Speculative.

Last word......We are paying these fools salaries......Blast!

There most certainly are higher intelligence in Outer Space children.....but they are not Aliens.... Daniel 4:17... They were here before we were....so that would not make them Aliens.

Originally posted by KJV1611
reply to post by Thisbseth

 

One word....Hypothetical.

Another word....Speculative.

Last word......We are paying these fools salaries......Blast!

There most certainly are higher intelligence in Outer Space children.....but they are not Aliens.... Daniel 4:17... They were here before we were....so that would not make them Aliens.

Now thats a thought.... a very good and probable thought at that.

Edgar Cayce (I know..I know) was a devout Baptist and went to church when the doors were open. HE actually had readings that did indeed suggest beings hovering over Earth and wanting to inhabit this planet. These beings chose to come here and "experience life on Earth". Maybe WE were one of those beings and have simply reincarnated. Never know... its fun to think about though.

Dr. Neil DeGrasse is a great, energetic and extremely intelligent speaker! Wow, I have seen him on PBS, Nova, Discovery channel before, but never knew that he had this public speaking side to him that is incredibly entertaining and profound as well.

Thank you OP for sharing this. Since I discovered this thread, I have spent at least 3 hours watching his other video's as well. I would certainly love to attend any lecture that he would give in the Boston area.

As for his "Disturbing thought" at the end of the OP posted video, I have always shared this view that a higher intelligence would treat us more like we treat cows and sheep, and have no meaningful communication with us other than the equivalent of "Moo" or "Bahh". His reasoning behind this though, is really profound and original. I have become a true fan of this great astrophysicist and cannot wait for new material from him.

reply to post by sapien82


Quite possibly.

Didnt know you couldnt discuss higher states on here...I'm sure the Mods are aware that behind most scientific breakthroughs there are first ideas...and sometimes those ideas have to come from the far left field...ask Francis Crick and his double helix LDS induced hallucination.

It seems mathematically feasible to have other dimensions that sit alongside ours and who's to say that in all these trillion year old atoms that make up our reality; some residual information is left behind and or doorways can be opened.

If we're all made of the same atoms that form our 4 D reality; it seems very anti-intuitive to imagine other beings...made of the same stuff...not having a least a passing interest.

reply to post by Thisbseth


I am "replying" to your OP just to say....THANK YOU!! for finding this!!!!

Dr. DeGrasse is (in my estimation) one of about THIRTY Humans alive today, who deserve great, great, great respect.

(Dr. Stephen Hawking, 'maybe' tops the list...and I say "thirty" as a BROAD brush 'guesstimate').......

OK.....'ProudBird'.....over, and out..... ( lol )......

The full video can be found here.


Pretty interesting lecture, always love hearing new perspectives in astrophysics. Seems like such a novel field at this stage of the game. S+F

reply to post by Thisbseth


That "they" are indeed out there somewhere, and number in the trillions of species (the sentient ones), is what blows my mind.

May they honor the "prime directive"..

Originally posted by watchitburn
That was a very awesome video there.
I like his analogy of having a conversation with a bug.

Ask your self this:
If aliens did make themselves known to us in a big public affair what do you think would be the first reaction?
We would shoot at them of course. That's what people do.

Now ask your self this:
What do you do, when you get bit by a bug?

what you have said makes no sense how is aliens showing themselves teh same as a bug biting you. a bug can make itself known without biting.. the proper response for biting it to defend yourself.. same if an alien bites you..

if an alien and bug fly by to say hi IT IS NOT FOR CERTAIN YOU WILL ATTACK

idiot statement


btw stop idolizing ETs, different doesn't make them better

reply to post by Jukiodone


I agree...I agree with him all the way, EXCEPT the fact that he does not believe that Earth would be visited by extraterrestrial beings.