In essence we should not expect ET lifeforms to be humanoid or equal to our
intelligent levels.... Or should we ??

We should expect everything and assume nothing.

Don't you just love it on those SF programmes, when we Earthlings land on an alien planet and hear "Earthlings are scum, go home
...." in good English?

The one that gets me is ... "I have detected an energy source of unknown origin", or "I have detected an unknown energy field from
over there".

"I can see him right in front of us, but my instruments are not detecting anything there.  Its life captain, but not as we know it"

I do live in hope to see good SF story lines and we do get them, but only in the very best SF programmes and then only 10% of the
time max.  Ones to look out for are Stargate SG1 (vastly improved since its cheesy beginnings), Deep Space Nine, the odd Voyager
show, and my fav - Babylon 5 (which I feel deeply betrayed at its pathetic U turn endings).
With the exception of episodes that were just there for padding, the serries just got more and more exciting.  Until when Sheridan
on Zahadom spoke to one of the 'First Ones'.

Where did your species come from? - 'Sheridan
We have always been here, from when the Universe started - 'First One'

My thoughts/emotions - Thud smash crash splat and despair - where's the off button?
Who ever wrote that dribble should be pilloried.  Here was a complete lack of understanding of even the most basic aspects of the
simplest tenants of science, and current knowledge.
I did watch the rest of the remaining shows with no more than a 10th of my previous pleasure.  Here was an opportunity to slaughter
some sacred cows (a required feature of good SF), instead I was watching a plug for creationism!

Life from other planets may well be completely different, although there are good reasons for thinking the bipedal upright body with
a head on top, maybe some variation with eyes, ears and others? parts would be a common template through out the Universe.  I do
wonder though about the octopus, who would say no to 8 arms?

Second point is duration.  We show no signs that this is a possibility.
Those that have would just die from shock upon any Human contact.  Which is why the Universe is the way it is, sorta like under
quarantine we are.

If we do get our act together by eliminating:
Poverty, Ignorance, Racism, Prejudice (in all its forms), Death (accidental), Pollution, Over Population, Nationalism (Patriotism),
Money, and politicians then there is the chance we will get to tackle some real problems.  (more on this latter)


Regards Robert
"And religion - almost forgot that one"

"Steve-O" <nochance@all.com> wrote in message new
s:lECec.15787$4N3.1564@newsfe1-win...

I read this post with enthusiasm, as one of the myriad of astronomy
enthusiasts and scientists but it the statement fell apart for me with the
following

In other words, with a collection of mirrors, a small laser, and a
computer to run it all, a knowledgeable and entrepreneurial
extraterrestrial could produce detectable signals with only as much
power as a handful of batteries could supply. No mammoth antennas, and
no beefy transmitters are required. The broadcast could be an alien
science fair experiment.

!!! Computer !!!! ---- aaarrrggghhhh

We go all this way to expect other life forms to be "out there" somewhere
and then make a blatant statement as to expect another life form, how ever
intelligent to have a developed a computerised system of types.

In essence we should not expect ET lifeforms to be humanoid or equal to our
intelligent levels.... Or should we ??

"Spooky Mulder" <hobbitfan111@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e36da23.0404051308.a4aedd@posting.google.com...

This is from space.com today.  So why aren't we doing this?

Maybe because it could be dangerous.  We don't know who's out there.

<snipped for size, and not to annoy :)>


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.655 / Virus Database: 420 - Release Date: 09/04/2004