←back to thread

What do we do if SETI is successful?

(www.universetoday.com)
174 points leephillips | 1 comments | 20 Oct 25 17:13 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
theletterf ◴[21 Oct 25 20:50 UTC] No.45661520[source]▶
For a somber, deeply intellectual view of what could happen, I can't recommend enough Stanislaw Lem's His Master's Voice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Master%27s_Voice_%28novel%...

"Given that our civilization is unable to assimilate well even those concepts that originate in human heads when they appear outside its main current, although the creators of those concepts are, after all, children of the same age—how could we have assumed that we would be capable of understanding a civilization totally unlike ours, if it addressed us across the cosmic gulf?"

replies(3): >>45662589 #>>45663901 #>>45665230 #
themafia ◴[21 Oct 25 22:34 UTC] No.45662589[source]▶
Me and my dog cannot talk.

I understand my dog and he understands me.

If they experience death then we have massive common ground already.

replies(8): >>45662621 #>>45662679 #>>45662695 #>>45664653 #>>45664797 #>>45667041 #>>45667550 #>>45668911 #
1. Cthulhu_ ◴[22 Oct 25 11:35 UTC] No.45667550[source]▶
To bring in some cosmic horror, is an ant aware of humans? Can a deep sea fish comprehend what is happening when a deep sea probe illuminates it?

Of course, that has the assumption that aliens are a bajillion years ahead of us in terms of evolution, size, consciousness etc, that's only one school of thought. If there's an alien race with comparable intellect and the like, I'm confident we'd detect it and communication would be possible.

Anyway my cat understands me just fine, she just chooses to ignore me.