With what we know about galactic distances I think it’s a moot point discussing the scenario. It’s akin to asking, “If I stand on a ladder am I closer to Moon?” Technically, yes, practically, not a chance. Who cares what we beam out into the void. We’ll never get a chance to see these aliens. Likely, our generation would never get a chance to respond to them. People, even the smart ones, fail to remember the enormous distances involved. We’ve had probes out since the late ‘70s and they’re just now passing heliopause. I don’t care what intelligence these aliens possess, they will bump up against physical reality just like everyone else. Within space-time nothing travels faster than light. Getting a massive object to that limiting velocity is not possible. Going any slower doesn’t get one very far in this universe. This is assuming we are dealing with the lifetime of a biologic organism, a pretty safe assumption. Let’s see, what multicellular organism on Earth could make an extended voyage (say two to three thousand years with no technical difficulties (highly unlikely), which, by the way, won’t get one very far even at the speed of light). Oh, yeah, a bristlecone pine. The last time I checked bristlecone pines aren’t great conversationalists nor are they concerned about planetary conquest. As a species we’ve never been visited by aliens nor are we likely to. Throw those signals out into space, put the return address. No one will deliver a reply for a very long time, if ever. They, certainly, will not come in person. This is purely an anthropocentric view, but what’s the point of conquering if one can’t be there in person to reap the reward? This would be a real bummer for a “galactic Viking”. I love science fiction as much as anyone. However, one must always remember, at least as concerns intergalactic or intragalactic space travel, that it is just fiction. Dave
On Feb 21, 2015, at 00:43, Wiggins Patrick <paw@getbeehive.net> wrote:
On 21 Feb 2015, at 00:34, Joan Carman <jcarman6@q.com> wrote:
Didn't Chuck post about a scifi story where earthlings were "meat" a while ago?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIufLRpJYnI
Though I prefer "giant bags of mostly water"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAlqp0_a0tE
Grins,
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