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A comment on Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come to Regulate Them Both. Parent comment

Re:Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come... by pdonis on Saturday February 11, 2017 @05:34PM (#13625258)
> Premature panic, perhaps.

I would say pointless panic. The paper itself makes the point that if there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe that is capable of coming here to Earth, it is going to be millions of years (or more) ahead of us technologically. That means we would be at the mercy of such beings if they came here. But it also means we have already betrayed our presence to them, whether we make SETI broadcasts or not; we have been broadcasting radio and TV signals that, to such a species, will clearly indicate intelligent origin for about a century now. So the instant such a species comes within 100 light years of Earth, it will know we are here. There is nothing we can do about that, and draconian restrictions on further broadcasts will not change it.

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Re:Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come... by dogma1138 on Saturday February 11, 2017 @06:00PM (#13625367)
It's not the same thing. Even without any intention of malice Columbus would not have ended well for the natives.

Any sufficiently advanced civilization would supercede lesser ones. Even if contact would be limited to prevent any cultural leakage the knowledge of the existence of intelligent life will lead to collapse of at least 3 major religions and their cultural frameworks.

Aliens might know we exist but they might have rules against visitation unless being invited first. Individuals that send powerful invitations can be seen as putting the earth and human civilization as we know it at risk.

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Re:Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come... by Animats on Saturday February 11, 2017 @06:29PM (#13625501)
"Even if contact would be limited to prevent any cultural leakage the knowledge of the existence of intelligent life will lead to collapse of at least 3 major religions and their cultural frameworks."

Religion isn't that vulnerable to rationality. Christianity has survived Copernicus, Martin Luther, evolution, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and 2000 years of Jesus Christ failing to show up as promised.

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Re:Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come... by throwanem on Saturday February 11, 2017 @10:14PM (#13626451)
I don't really know of anything in Christianity, at least, that's incompatible with the idea of life elsewhere in the universe. Biblical literalists would take it hard, probably, but those guys have a lot more problems than space aliens.
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Re:Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come... by molmalo on Sunday February 12, 2017 @01:31AM (#13627108)
Nope, The Vatican has been saying for a couple years now, that the existence of extraterrestrial life, even intelligent life, does not contradict the Bible. They accept the possibility, because after all, "In the beginning God created the sky and the earth."
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Re:Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come... by pdonis on Saturday February 11, 2017 @06:30PM (#13625511)
> Even without any intention of malice Columbus would not have ended well for the natives.

I think that's true, but it doesn't change anything I was saying.

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Re:Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come... by dogma1138 on Saturday February 11, 2017 @07:49PM (#13625883)
Invitation is different than just being aware of ones existence.
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Re:Post-Detection SETI Protocols and METI: The Time Has Come... by BrailleHunting on Saturday February 11, 2017 @09:05PM (#13626193)
The weak are meat and the strong do eat.
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