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Dr Colombano told Califoria's SETI-backed Decoding Alien Intelligence Workshop back in March that scientists need to broaden their idea of what an extra-terrestrial would like like.
'I simply want to point out the fact that the intelligence we might find and that might choose to find us (if it hasn't already) might not be at all be produced by carbon based organisms like us,' his report read.
He added that scientists must 're-visit even our most cherished assumptions', which has implications for everything from an alien's lifespan to its height.
'The size of the 'explorer' might be that of an extremely tiny super-intelligent entity,' he says.
Also at Tiny aliens may have visited us and we just didn't know: NASA scientist
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NASA Scientist Warns that 'Extremely Tiny' Visitors Could Have Been Too Small for Us to Spot
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McDonald's -- Because you're worth it.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 08 2018, @05:31PM (5 children)
FTFY
I guess that matters ... if any aliens are mammalian and have evolved with the same limitations that we have developed. Of course, there is a very slight chance that alien won't be mammalian, but who knows, right?
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday December 08 2018, @05:54PM (4 children)
If you or your sibling (permitting the assumption that you're not the same person--see what I did there?) would like to suggest an alternative mechanism for information processing, no matter how far-fetched, then I'm all ears. I love that sort of speculation. My point still stands that there are going to be physical limits on how small anyone can make a computer. It might be that the aliens know about some new physics that we don't (or their environment led their evolution to exploit it) and I don't doubt that the efficiency of our own brains can be improved upon to some degree. I just personally think it's unlikely there would be microscopic organisms with our level of intelligence, based on what I currently know. When new evidence comes available to the contrary, I'll gladly consider it and alter my position.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 08 2018, @08:35PM
I think that's the whole argument, in a nutshell. We don't know enough to make all the assumptions that we make. That is why no one is capable of making believable suggestions for alternative mechanisms.
The most believable alternative that I've ever heard (or read) involves a hive mind. Individuals within the hive may be dumber than rocks, but the hive mind is extremely intelligent. The bugs in Ender's War are probably the best example. "Communication" between the various Bug bodies is based on something that we might loosely translate into telepathy, although that is not the term that Card used.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 09 2018, @02:32AM (2 children)
I think it is a safe assumption, whether it's made by me or my sibling (see what I did there?), that any life form capable of interstellar travel - no matter their size - will know more than you do about all sorts of technology.
The problem with your position on this is simple: 100 years ago you could make the same claims based on the technology of the day and you would still think you were right.
I cannot venture a guess as to what knowledge (technical or otherwise) alien civilizations will hold. But if they can travel to Earth it is clear that they know more than we do by orders of magnitude.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Tuesday December 11 2018, @01:15AM (1 child)
>But if they can travel to Earth it is clear that they know more than we do by orders of magnitude.
Or stumbled upon some quirk of physics that we have completely overlooked.
Or are just patient and committed to the goal. We could quite likely reach another star using only existing technology, provided we were willing to dedicate at least several percent of global GDP to the endeavor, and were willing to spend a few thousand years making the trip. Spend a double-digit percentage of GDP, and we might be able to make the trip in a single lifetime.
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Thursday December 13 2018, @10:52PM
Maybe if you don't care about slowing down when you get there :D