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LongTomH

(8,636 posts)
17. If we, as a species, continue to evolve, then it will be our evolutionary successors.
Sun Feb 11, 2018, 09:24 PM
Feb 2018

Some relevant quotes:

From Arthur C. Clark: "They will have time enough, in those endless aeons, to attempt all things, and to gather all knowledge … no Gods imagined by our minds have ever possessed the powers they will command … But for all that, they may envy us, basking in the bright afterglow of Creation; for we knew the Universe when it was young."

"If man survives for as long as the least successful of the dinosaurs, those creatures whom we often deride as nature's failures, then we may be certain of this: for all but a vanishingly brief instant near the dawn of history, the word 'ship' will mean spaceship.'


Frank. J. Tipler: "If the human species, or indeed any part of the biosphere, is to continue to survive, it must eventually leave the Earth and colonize space. For the simple fact of the matter is, the planet Earth is doomed… Let us follow many environmentalists and regard the Earth as Gaia, the mother of all life (which indeed she is). Gaia, like all mothers, is not immortal. She is going to die. But her line of descent might be immortal… . Gaia's children might never die out--provided they move into space. The Earth should be regarded as the womb of life, but one cannot remain in the womb forever."


Robert Shapiro, Planetary Dreams: "Earth has provided a stable platform for the evolution of life over 4 billion years. But that lease is limited; we know for sure that it will expire after a few billion more… . If we are wise, we will have furnished our new apartments long before that time."


Tom Wolfe: "The purpose of the space program is not to maintain superiority in space but to build a bridge to the stars before the sun dies. Homo loquaz (man speaking) or Homo sapiens (rational man) is the only thoughtful creature in the universe, so far as we know. If he doesn't build himself that bridge to escape across, all is lost."


Ray Bradbury: "We are beholden to give back to the Universe… . If we make landfall on another star system, we become immortal."


There are more such quotes here.
All our communications methods consist of using the electromagnetic spectrum. LiberalArkie Feb 2018 #1
Telepathy?! PJMcK Feb 2018 #2
Sorry, out was the only thing that came to mind that fit "they might not use the same LiberalArkie Feb 2018 #8
We're good! PJMcK Feb 2018 #10
Thank you.. LiberalArkie Feb 2018 #40
They also listen somewhere in the electromagnic spectrum PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2018 #3
Good points...also, what if they don't simply care about us? Possible. NT SWBTATTReg Feb 2018 #5
Your digital TV can not pick up the old analog signals. Your digital TV would LiberalArkie Feb 2018 #9
I don't think it's inevitable that a technological civilization will destroy itself before ......... LongTomH Feb 2018 #12
But individual species simply don't last for millions of years. PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2018 #16
If we, as a species, continue to evolve, then it will be our evolutionary successors. LongTomH Feb 2018 #17
Maybe. And maybe not. PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2018 #20
But individual species simply don't last for millions of years. Moid62 Feb 2018 #24
And in those 200 million years what, exactly, have alligators accomplished? PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2018 #25
They are indeed an anomaly Moid62 Feb 2018 #30
I think we're headed for a population crash much, much sooner. PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2018 #32
Actually, almost everything we broadcast Sailor65x1 Feb 2018 #26
Yes, but you have to tune in very specifically PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2018 #29
Not as simple as just tuning to the specific frequency, but to be able to decode the information. SeattleVet Feb 2018 #31
And there are probably more ways to communicate that we ... SWBTATTReg Feb 2018 #4
Give it time and I'm sure we will find something... Thyla Feb 2018 #6
Maybe we are the first. Kablooie Feb 2018 #7
I often find myself saying to myself, that Fermi, he was no Bill Nye. NNadir Feb 2018 #11
I think I get your point. Shemp Howard Feb 2018 #14
Maybe because they are ... GeorgeGist Feb 2018 #13
The first problem is that this is not so much a paradox as a question... TreasonousBastard Feb 2018 #15
Have you ever heard of the song Vlad the Astrophysicist? Staph Feb 2018 #18
Thank you for posting that. PoindexterOglethorpe Feb 2018 #21
I postulate that it could "possibly" be sound frequencies below Lint Head Feb 2018 #19
They shut us down when they saw Trump SpankMe Feb 2018 #22
Tight beam communications, like lasers or masers, are more efficient. Broadcast is wasteful. tclambert Feb 2018 #23
That doesn't seem to me to be a paradox at all considering the vastness and distances of space. brush Feb 2018 #27
Why would intelligent life want to contact us? FuzzyRabbit Feb 2018 #28
Most likely either they have or they are benld74 Feb 2018 #33
Maybe they're out there but we scare the bejeebers out of them? marble falls Feb 2018 #34
They listened to one of tr-dump's rally speeches.. magicarpet Feb 2018 #35
Drumpf's rally speeches will not have gotten to the nearest star yet. longship Feb 2018 #37
The sheer size of the Universe makes it very difficult to receive signals from other civilizations. world wide wally Feb 2018 #36
ONE MAJOR PROBLEM ?? bleedinglib Feb 2018 #38
DU Rec. raging moderate Feb 2018 #39
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