Intergalactic imperialism?

[Hannah Bell]

Scientist Stephen Hawking thinks that if extraterrestrials ever came to Earth, they would try to conquer and exploit us. Brian Lenzo begs to differ.



There is no doubt that Dr. Hawking is among the most intelligent terrestrials...For this reason, his recent musings on extraterrestrial life are worth looking at a little closer:

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach," Hawking said. "If so, it makes sense for them to exploit each new planet for material to build more spaceships so they could move on. Who knows what the limits would be?"

Ironically, Hawking unwittingly constructs an alien version of his former rivals Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gould and Hermann Bondi's treatise--the so-called "Steady State" theory.

According to Hawking, this is it, folks. Capitalism is not only the best we can do on Earth, it's the best any civilization anywhere in the cosmos can hope to achieve, ever. Hawking seems to be suggesting that the things we associate with capitalism--war, poverty, environmental degradation--are not only part of human nature, but are general facts of existence.

A civilization that has figured out interstellar travel has somehow not figured out how to satisfy their basic needs of food and energy in a sustainable manner. It doesn't seem to matter how long a civilization has existed or how advanced they have become: scarcity, competition for resources, and war are the universal norms.

BUT DON'T worry too much. Like the global warming deniers, Hawkings predictions rest on shaky scientific ground...

http://socialistworker.org/2010/05/14/intergalactic-imperialism

[cherokeeprogressive]

1. Humans have not figured out interstellar travel. Let's be clear on that.

The nearest star is light years away.

In my mind, that's the Catch 22 thrown at us by the Universe... There MIGHT be life out there, but it's too far away for us to travel to it using what technology we have at the moment.

[Hannah Bell]

2. "A civilization that has figured out interstellar travel" = the aliens, not us.

[cherokeeprogressive]

4. Read that wrong. I'm sorry. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

6. no problem, just clarifying.

[Moochy]

9. At the moment ....

1) Quantum modems that take advantage of photon entanglement.
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080813/full/news.2008.1038.html

2) Zero latency, high-bandwidth, tele-presence enables instant control systems, regardless of the distance between the endpoints of the quantum modem.
The average 'ping' to a Predator drone from the USA is about 400-500 milliseconds, or a half a second for the round trip through the satellites and ground stations.
As far as I can determine there is no fade-out of the quantum modem's effect as distance increases between the entangled pair of photons.

3) A very small delivery vehicle utilizing solar sails, space-based laser arrays, coupled some sort of nuclear rocket with a fuel scoop.

4) Nano-fabrication factories at the destination star system to make reactors and bases on moons with which to send out probes,

5) Create swarms of exploration vehicles once in system with zero latency video feeds back to earth controlled by humans.

Sounds like a UFO to me... :)

[onehandle]

3. Hawking = Global warming denier?

Ha!

I'm with Stephen. Nothing good would come of that meeting, which tells me they've never been here.

I've been saying this for many, many years. Glad Stephen is backing me up.

[Hannah Bell]

5. The author does not say hawking is a global warming denier. that's a misreading.

[onehandle]

7. And I didn't mean it that way in my response.

There are a lot of 'shaky ground' analogies you can make. The global warming one made me laugh.

[Hannah Bell]

8. sorry, *my* misreading, then!

[Confusious]

10. Stupid

As most SHOULD know, it's all personal opinion right now, as we have not even found a microbe on another planet. That we shouldn't converse with aliens was Hawkings opinion. Saying "Hawkings predictions rest on shaky scientific ground..." is just stupid. There is little science to it. Seems lenzo doesn't like him expressing his opinion.

I haven't seen a blue or green guy walking around, have you? If so, please contact your nearest medical professional.

P.S. After reading the article, it is my opinion that Brian Lenzo is an ASSHOLE.