Knowledge about aliens might be as dangerous as the aliens themselves.
Imagine that you’ve lived your entire life in a small village deep within a continental wilderness. For centuries this community has been isolated from the rest of the world. One day you go out exploring, skirting the edges of known territory. Suddenly, and against all expectations, you stumble across a signpost embedded in the ground. The script is highly unusual, foreign, but the text is clear enough. It says, simply, “We Are Here.”
The question is: What happens next?
There might be happiness and celebration to mark the end of isolation, or the news might be met with a shrug. But human nature suggests it’s more probable that this discovery triggers a chain of events that lead to utter disaster.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by pogostix on Friday September 05 2014, @06:05PM
Utter garbage...from the article:
The answer may lie in building a planetary firewall, a kind of “meme armor” to shield us from damaging knowledge of extraterrestrial life, while still allowing us to learn about the cosmos...... rather like an Internet firewall .......
The armor might involve a unilateral ban of private telescopes or radio antenna with enough sensitivity to chance upon extraterrestrial signposts. It could be equipped with its own automated listening posts and telescopes—spoon-feeding sanitized results to its masters.
.....
We’d build a vast Dyson sphere and live on the inside facing our star, sealed away from the infectious cosmos.
Such armor could also present a camouflaged state to onlookers; blocking attempts to discern the presence or nature of life on Earth, much like the hidden host addresses used behind today’s computer firewalls. Or—in a far more sinister version—it could seek to actively infect other worlds with destructive memes in order to reduce potential threats to Earth.
......
perhaps our form of intelligence actually has a degree of natural immunity to extraterrestrial meme infection.
......
(Score: 2) by tathra on Friday September 05 2014, @06:17PM
i agree, total garbage. the article is just xenophobia taken to a plantary level - so because some people are xenophobic bigots, we should make great efforts to hide ourselves? fuck off.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday September 05 2014, @06:57PM
A "firewall against knowledge"? I thought we already had that, and it is called "religion"!
[I also was thinking, this must be a Mormon thing, but then I recalled Kolob, so it can't be. Xenophobia? That's the fear of Xenu, right? Now I think I know who's behind this!]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DrMag on Friday September 05 2014, @06:28PM
That's my feeling as well. The whole thing disappointingly reads as "Hope that we never actually encounter alien life because, oh noes--they might not be friendly!"
Throughout the written history of mankind, we've discovered new species and peoples both. Some of them have even been hostile to us. We have yet to see a complete implosion of our culture, government, community, or whatever as a result of encountering something new. And discovering that our understanding of physics, chemistry, and biology is hardly complete would be welcomed by numerous people.
The discovery of other life and ideas has never been the harbinger of certain Armageddon and extinction. I sincerely doubt that it will be in the future.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday September 05 2014, @06:38PM
Throughout the written history of mankind, we've discovered new species and peoples both. Some of them have even been hostile to us.
Of course, none of them had nukes and told us to go away. I mean really...if I were an alien I'd be tempted to play it safe and just drop an asteroid on Earth before those crazy violent humans got off it in the first place.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Aighearach on Saturday September 06 2014, @07:41PM
Though nukes are fairly new, and post-colonization, the general concept is not impressive at all.
Historically, it really depends which side you were on.
But if we find and examine groups that would have been better off without outside contact... pretending there was no outside world would not have helped any of them. In fact, I think it is clear at this point that groups that absolutely refuse to engage other groups end up losing 100% of their land, and groups that do engage the outside world often get to keep at least 0.1% of it, and often get some sort of compensation, like guaranteed student loans.
A lo-fi Dyson Sphere of ignorance (+2) might not convince invading aliens that our culture warrants the creation of a Human Reservation.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Sir Garlon on Friday September 05 2014, @06:51PM
I take your word for it TFA is a load of crap. However, I would like to offer a counterpoint:
This is true from a European perspective, who by and large went out and did the discovering. From a Native American or Native Australian perspective, getting discovered did not work to their benefit. The Tasmanians were exterminated. The Aztecs' culture, government, and community were destroyed, though I wouldn't call it an implosion. (Let's set aside for the moment whether peaceful coexistence with the Aztecs would have been possible or prudent. My point is they're gone.)
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
(Score: 4, Funny) by tibman on Friday September 05 2014, @06:53PM
Ah, i see your point. Only Europeans should be our astronauts then : )
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2) by gman003 on Friday September 05 2014, @09:56PM
By that logic, we need to be the ones exploring. If we find aliens, we have the upper hand in any conflict. However, if aliens find us, we're a target ripe for pillaging.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday September 05 2014, @10:47PM
Merely meeting other populations is not the answer.
After all, China and Japan did not collapse upon meeting westerners. The problem is colonization, allowing the foreign explorers to stay long enough to transfer their diseases or their culture to the indigenous populations.
With extraterrestrials, there is some debate whether we could even catch a disease from them, as the differences in biology may be such that there is no foothold for an alien disease. But letting them stay long enough to impart their culture would certainly put our civilization at peril.
OTOH, our culture has embraced such a constant rate of change, and is so eclectic in nature, it might not be that traumatic.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday September 05 2014, @06:58PM
While I doubt that such a discovery would cause a society to implode, there most certainly would be problems caused, which are explained well in the Star Trek: TNG episodes Who Watches the Watchers [memory-alpha.org] and First Contact. [memory-alpha.org]
Both are similar but excellently contrasting episodes -- in the first, Captain Piccard is stranded in a Bronze-Age society, and trouble brews amongst the population even though he repeatedly states that he's just a man, and almost gives his life to prove the point. Heh heh, "the point," because he's shot in the chest with an arrow.
In the latter episode, Riker is undercover but gets caught and detained in a society similar to 20th-century earth. Eventually Piccard makes contact with the planet's leader, admits what happened, and the leader decides that it's "to early" for that society to accept such a revelation and so the Enterprise leaves with only a select few on the planet left with knowledge of the incident.
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Friday September 05 2014, @07:13PM
(Score: 1) by khedoros on Friday September 05 2014, @08:55PM
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Saturday September 06 2014, @03:10AM
(Score: 1) by khedoros on Saturday September 06 2014, @05:21AM
(Score: 1) by khedoros on Saturday September 06 2014, @05:24AM
(Score: 4, Insightful) by WillR on Friday September 05 2014, @07:17PM
Great idea, I'm sure none of those nasty aliens out there would ever notice an object radiating enough heat and with mass to be a star system, but with no emission in the visible spectrum. It's a perfect hiding place. /s
(Score: 1) by art guerrilla on Saturday September 06 2014, @02:51AM
um, you could plant vines...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 05 2014, @06:11PM
With decades of wild introspection about this topic, I think we'll be mentally prepared.
"In the HuffPost/YouGov poll, a quarter of Americans said that they think aliens have visited Earth, while a third said they have not -- the rest of the respondents weren't sure. Among those who said that life exists on other planets, 45 percent said that aliens have visited Earth."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 06 2014, @02:10AM
Americans don't even like people from other countries. Can you imagine what would happen in an alien visited America from another planet?
I really feel sorry for any alien that visits earth someday. They will probably be water-boarded to find out if there are any other aliens preparing for invasion, probed to make sure its not carrying any illicit drugs, gassed to make sure it isn't carrying any infectious diseases, dissected/vivisected for 'scientific advancement' and then crucified to maintain the religious status quo.
Humanity truly is not deserving of its name. We are the most inhumane species on this planet.
Agent Smith had it right when he compared us to a virus.
We should erect a Dyson Sphere, but to protect aliens from us rather than the other way around.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by velex on Friday September 05 2014, @06:37PM
Wtf kind of article is this. Fine, I'll give my cynical point of view. Behold, this is how humanity operates.
I've got a scout unit and I'm roaming around with him. All of a sudden, Abraham Lincoln (Beyond the Sword expansion) shows up and greets me. Then I say, "Your head would look nice on a pole!"
That's how it goes. Over and over again throughout history. It's how humanity operates. It doesn't matter whether I've got a pikeman to back that up. Your head would look nice on a pole!
What is up with the fear lately of meeting strange and new life forms? Even Hawking has expressed this sentiment. Gone is the Encyclopaedia Galactica. Here's one thing to consider: these humans are the first time intelligent life has evolved this side of the great attractor. What will humanity do? In my opinion, humanity will become all its own sci-fi villains. You want to know how the Borg start? Humanity. The Klingons? Humanity. The necromongers? Humanity. The Daleks? Humanity.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Subsentient on Friday September 05 2014, @06:46PM
I worry about this. Only by bringing it to the back of people's (specificially scientists) minds, can we reduce the odds of that.
People are aimless, directionless, and clueless. Because they have found no purpose, all that's left is frivolous personal endeavors and selfishness.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tibman on Friday September 05 2014, @06:52PM
Merlin's Gun by Alastair Reynolds was this way. Humanity spreads inward to the galaxy core and became profoundly altered in the process. Eventually the un-altered "normals" slowly expand enough to run into the much older heavily altered version. Sort of like if your entire civilization was living in a forgotten and uninteresting part of Borg space. It was an fun short story.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday September 06 2014, @12:54AM
Eventually the un-altered "normals" slowly expand enough to run into the much older heavily altered version.
Seems exactly like the time I stumbled into a Goth bar.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 05 2014, @07:35PM
> What is up with the fear lately of meeting strange and new life forms?
Media hype on terrorism. The news is constantly filled with fear of the other and the unknown. We used to have well-defined "enemies" now it could be anyone - not just brown people with scary accents but white people with guns, corporations that opaquely manipulated drug test results, secret genetic modification of foods (c.f. the corporate put down of labelling laws), etc. Without a single clear enemy (the USSR / communism) we are afraid of everything.
(Score: 3, Funny) by MrGuy on Friday September 05 2014, @08:07PM
As the (questionable) thrust of the article appears to be "OMG memes are potentially deadly!", I'm not worrying while we still have 4chan on OUR side.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Friday September 05 2014, @08:22PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1) by PlasticCogLiquid on Saturday September 06 2014, @03:31AM
You're the only person smart enough. That's why. W4yne the fucking brain. (Golf clap)
(Score: 1) by PlasticCogLiquid on Saturday September 06 2014, @03:36AM
Wrong person, sorry dude. :D
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday September 06 2014, @05:26AM
(Actually I did see your message that this wasn't directed at me, but I came from Slashdot and I'm accustomed to blindly arguing with people.)
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by khallow on Friday September 05 2014, @09:03PM
It's been kicking around since the 50s and has probably been kicking around for at least tens of thousands of years. So I'm not sure how "lately" you can call xenophobia when even the explicitly extraterrestrial version of it is sixty years old.
My view on this subject is that it's better to be the aliens visiting than the natives even if nothing bad ever comes of the visit. And we do have something of a choice in the matter.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Friday September 05 2014, @09:07PM
Great post. A friend of mine says that space is so big if anyone could go that far, we would be like ants under a magnifying glass to them. He goes on to say they wouldn't even look twice at us. It sounds good to me. If they did visit us, I'd be more worried about the bible thumpers pissing them off/driving them away/causing them to raze the planet.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 07 2014, @12:36PM
A friend of mine says that space is so big if anyone could go that far, we would be like ants under a magnifying glass to them. He goes on to say they wouldn't even look twice at us.
That analogy fails in that we actually study ants. It would be reasonable to assume that any alien species advanced enough to develop space travel is at least as intellectually curious as we are (if they weren't their science probably wouldn't develop enough for them to develop space travel) and they would at least want to study us out of intellectual curiosity.
(Score: 2) by dcollins on Friday September 05 2014, @10:03PM
"What is up with the fear lately of meeting strange and new life forms? Even Hawking has expressed this sentiment. Gone is the Encyclopaedia Galactica."
FYI: The idea of an "Encyclopedia Galactica" comes from Asimoc's Foundation stories, in which no intelligent alien life other than humans exists in the galaxy.
(Score: 2) by velex on Sunday September 28 2014, @02:00AM
Oh, sorry, you're likely right. That does make the statement rather foolish. I was attempting to invoke Sagan. I need to get around to reading more Asimov already, and Foundation seems quite popular.
(Score: 4, Funny) by MrGuy on Friday September 05 2014, @07:51PM
As an information-obsessed, intensely social species, we’re particularly vulnerable to memes. And not all memes are innocuous—some become toxic when they meet other established memes.
Oh my god, they've got WEAPONIZED LOLCATS!!!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 05 2014, @08:17PM
Bans on private telescopes? "Infectious memes" and a lack of understanding of insurgent demography? A bureaucracy that stands between the public and scientific information?
What is this Soviet bullshit?
(Score: 2) by meisterister on Friday September 05 2014, @10:12PM
It is fairly safe to assume that in my lifetime, at least one person will be born in space. They will be an extraterrestrial, and I will likely know about them.
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 06 2014, @12:22AM
Congratulations on redefining the question so as to have an easy but meaningless answer.
You have a bright future in government and PR work!!
(Score: 2) by khallow on Saturday September 06 2014, @01:40AM
Or in any field that involves logic. It's pretty obvious that the original question had huge gaping logic holes in it. One of those holes is the idea that the label, "extraterrestrial" means we can't possibly understand someone described by that label or resist the insidious memes they'll propagate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 06 2014, @04:05AM
Lol, so good of you to come along and double down on the dumb for the OP.
Who needs articles? Everything that matters is in the title, there is no way that the text of the article couldn't provide significantly more nuance. That would just be too alien for you two to grasp.
(Score: 2) by khallow on Saturday September 06 2014, @01:39PM
Where comes this mysterious implication that I didn't read the article? I even posted a comment there FWIW. But let's suppose all I did was read the summary, which happens to consist of a link and a sufficiently informative quote from the original article. And the title happens to be the title of the linked article. And given that the author proposes to set up a vast barrier of ignorance, his "meme firewall" in order to somehow protect humanity, indicates to me that there isn't enough nuance available to cover your argument.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday September 06 2014, @08:58AM
Yes, if we meet aliens, they will probably insist that we give all them a good spanking! And after the spanking, the anal probing!
We all are in terrible peril. We must not face the peril. You are probably gay. Apologies to Monty Python's Flying Circus, Arthur son of Uther Pendragon, and basically everyone in the universe. .