Re: The Fermi Paradox and SETI Success

On Aug 21, 3:46�pm, Robert Carnegie wrote:

(I'm not responsible for the tastes of aliens. �Except, I did imagine
them. �As it happens I'm Scottish, so...)


Well, nobody is perfect. Isn't that really the point about
civilisations? Despite my dislike for hierarchy this has proved to be
one of the most enduring a useful tools for the human race. We
progress and survive on the efforts of a few unique individuals per
generation. Most of us are mere extras on the stage of life. Worker
ants programmed to carry out all the vital/ utterly pointless tasks
allotted to our particular place/role in society. If there were no
criminals there would be no need for a lot of walk-on extras. Just
imagine if there were no politicians! Most the cast would become
redundent overnight.

Anthropomorphism is a serious weakness in the arguments/guesswork
concerning "aliens". Many seem completely unable to acccept that
anything which has developed intelligence cannot be just like us but
with naturally larger breasts. I wouldn't want to a meet any alien
which pretended to be my mother in law in any shape or form. We place
such importance on appearance that anything falling outside of "the
norm" might be rather terrifying or downright ugly to most of us.
Hairy legs in women? Cleft lips? Thinning hair? Cross-eyed? Acne? An
odd skin colour? Sweaty hands? These are all unattractive features to
most of us. God help anything turning up on the White House Lawn with
any of these characteristics. Or worse, a combination of all the
above.

None of you seem grasped the significance of my earlier ("bizarre")
posting styles. Don't we all carry a heavy load of prejudices around
with us concerning communication? I'd hate to meet you on a desert
island if I was made to learn your language rather than the converse.
Shouldn't we choose an intermediate language which neither of us know?
Just to be fair to both?

How do you judge the format and quality of a message from space? By
your own standards of educated, middle class, 21st century English,
competent punctuation, broad vocabulary and decent spelling? You'e not
going to get far with the four tones with that lot in your baggage!
Are these the same standards you apply to dolphins and whales? Can you
speak dolphin? It can't just be all about  fishing, racing against
ships and sex. Can it? Do dolphins have local accents and hierarchy?
Upstream boy and downstream girl? Shouldn't we know by now? It might
be important. Who knows what vital secrets they hold? It might be the
one rite of passage which the aliens are just waiting for us to manage
alone before showering us with their technological gifts.
Communicating with the aliens living on our own world could be our
vital step to emancipation. May our many fantasy gods help us if the
aliens are women! We'll be stuck here for another bl��dy millenium.
*<;^{#