Re:A Harvard Astronomer on the Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua
by whatshisface on Wednesday January 16, 2019 @03:07PM
(#18924527)
>That seems like the height of human hubris - we are stuck on a little rock in the corner of the galaxy, but somehow assume we are authorities on things astronomical.
The basic idea of science is that it's possible to do better than "assume we are authorities..." I don't want to come across as unsocial but in dismissing astronomy without knowing enough about it you may be guilty of some hubris yourself.
Re:A Harvard Astronomer on the Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua
by SketchySeaBeast on Wednesday January 16, 2019 @03:57PM
(#18925116)
I'm not dismissing astronomy at all. I'm saying that if we can't explain something, that doesn't mean it can't be explained in some other mundane way. When we look at a problem and go "well, we don't really know what caused it, therefore aliens" seems ridiculous when there's unlimited things that could be the cause, just because we aren't aware of those causes.
That seems like the height of human hubris - we are stuck on a little rock in the corner of the galaxy, but somehow assume we are authorities on things astronomical.
> I base that on the following conjecture, if we were to become capable of travelling among the stars with relative ease, then we'll go collect these two little artifacts and put them in a museum. But if we go extinct, these ships will continue on their way forever. So any alien that comes across them can know we're extinct.
You're assuming that we will at some point have the ability to catch up to them - we may develop interstellar flight, but it may be stuck in very slow speeds, we may never catch up to them with our giant colony ships as we sleep away the eons.