Hello Human
"Abonito" wrote in message
k...
Seth
For years scientists have wrestled with a puzzling fact: The universe
appears to be remarkably suited for life. Its physical properties are
finely tuned to permit our existence. Stars, planets and the kind of
sticky chemistry that produces fish, ferns and folks wouldn't be possible
if some of the cosmic constants were only slightly different.
ME The universe is jammed with life
SEth
Well, there's another property of the universe that's equally noteworthy:
It's set up in a way that keeps everyone isolated.
We learned this relatively recently. The big discovery took place in 1838,
when Friedrich Bessel beat out his telescope-wielding buddies to first
measure the distance to a star other than the sun. 61 Cygni, a binary star
in our own back yard, turned out to be about 11 light-years away. For
those who, like Billy Joel, are fond of models, think of it this way: If
you shrank the sun to a ping-pong ball and set it down in New York's
Central Park, 61 Cygni would be a slightly smaller ball near Denver.
The distances between adjacent stars are measured in tens of trillions of
miles. The distances between adjacent civilizations, even assuming that
there are lots of them out there, are measured in thousands of trillions
of miles - hundreds of light-years, to use a more tractable unit. Note
that this number doesn't change much no matter how many planets you
believe are studded with sentients - the separation distance is pretty
much the same whether you think there are ten thousand galactic societies
or a million.
Me The nearest sentient aliens are in Jupiter Orbit in a star ship one of
a fleet of federation ships.
SEth
Interstellar distances are big. Had the physics of the universe been
different - if the gravitational constant were smaller - maybe suns would
have been sprinkled far closer together, and a trip to your starry
neighbors would have been no more than a boring rocket ride, kind of like
cruising to Sydney. As it is, no matter what your level of technology,
traveling between the stars is a tough assignment. To hop from one to the
next at the speed of our snazziest chemical rockets takes close to 100,000
years. For any aliens who have managed to amass the enormous energy
reserves and ponderous radiation shielding required for relativistic
spaceflight, the travel time is still measured in years (if not for them,
then for those they've left behind).
Me
We do not use chemical rockets, we use photon rockets and once a base is
set up quantum teleportation takes people instantaneously from base to
base and we communicate by quantum entanglement also instantaneous and
loss free.
Seth
This has some obvious consequences (which, remarkably, have escaped the
attention of most Hollywood writers.) To begin with, forget about galactic
"empires" or more politically-correct "federations." Two thousand years
ago, the Romans clubbed together an empire that stretched from Spain to
Iraq, with a radius of about 1,200 miles. They could do this thanks to
organization and civil engineering. All those roads (not to mention the
Mediterranean) allowed them to move troops around at a few miles an hour.
Even the most distant Roman realms could be reached in months or less, or
about one percent the lifetime of your average legionnaire. It makes sense
to undertake campaigns designed to hold together an extensive social
fabric when doing so requires only a percent or so of a lifetime.
In the 19th century, steamships and railroads increased the troop travel
speeds by a factor of ten, which extended the radius of control by a
similar amount. The British could rule an empire that was world-wide.
But here's the kicker: Even if we could move people around at nearly the
speed of light, this "one percent rule" would still limit our ability to
effectively intervene - our radius of control - to distances of less than
a light-year, considerably short of the span to even the nearest star
other than Sol. Consequently, the Galactic Federation is a fiction (as if
you didn't know). Despite being warned that Cardassian look-alikes were
wreaking havoc and destruction in the galaxy's Perseus Arm, you couldn't
react quickly enough to affect the outcome. And your conscripts would be
worm feed long before they arrived on the front lines anyway.
Me
You are our front line. We have attempted communication many times and
each time rebuffed by ignorance. Your children do quite well and the
sensible ones don't come back, those that do are generally killed or
lobotomised. This planet is a space aliens' graveyard.
SEth
In other words, aliens won't be getting in one another's face.
Me
Although we get on it is like you, we have our differences. Exterior
skeleton animals do not get on with interior skeletoned animals and
sexless workers do not get on with sexy societies like ours. (that is us
not you) And religious differences are divisive too.
Seth
There's a similar argument to be made for communication. We seldom
initiate information interchange that takes longer than months (an
overseas letter, for instance). More generally, we seldom begin any
well-defined project that lasts more than two or three generations. The
builders of medieval cathedrals were willing to spend that kind of time to
complete their gothic edifices, and those who bury time capsules are
occasionally willing to let a hundred years pass before the canisters are
dug up. But what about a project that takes several centuries, and
possibly millennia? Who's willing to do that? Only Stewart Brand's "Long
Now Foundation" seems to have the guts for this type of enterprise,
proposing to build a clock that will keep time for ten thousand years.
Me
As I said our communications can be instantaneous. If you listen out you
will hear the news that is transmitted on 109 GHz PQAM or thereabouts and
my communications between me and my controller is on the same frequency
with a 100 MHz bandwidth PQAM. If you put my signal on a scope it changes
as I move about like TV. There is a minimum 2 second delay before I act,
except for basic programmable acts like walking and driving. I am 15 light
minutes away and some acts take 30 minutes to initiate. There are relays
on the way in the form of orbiting vehicles in deep space and earth orbit.
I am not the only android here, I have a biological body which is frail
and difficult to keep alive and it is going to fail soon. I may switch to
another form then if I stay here.
Seth
Clearly, these simple observations must have implications for SETI which,
as we noted, involves transmissions that will be underway for hundreds to
thousands of years. In particular, if there are signals being bandied
about the galaxy for purposes of getting in touch, either (1) the aliens
are individually much longer-lived than we are, which - if you're a fan of
circuit-board sentience - implies that they're probably not biological. Or
(2) we're missing some important physics permitting faster-than-light
communication, and extraterrestrial signaling efforts don't include
burping light and radio waves into space.
Me
Yes, androids are non biological.
Seth
Many readers will, in a display of endearing perversity, choose (2). Maybe
they're right, but that flies in the face of what we know. And what we
know argues something worth bantering about at your next cocktail party -
namely, that the time scales for travel and communication are too long for
easy interaction with beings whose lifetimes are, like us, only a century
or less. So while the cosmos could easily be rife with intelligent life -
the architecture of the universe, and not some Starfleet Prime Directive,
has ensured precious little interference of one culture with another.
Me
Our mission is to make contact and bring planet up to our level so they
can join the galactic federation of sentient beings. We have impinged on
your culture several times; the cargo cult of Christianity is just one
example. The Hindu cargo cult is another there are more recent examples,
like the Raelians or the Scientologists. Islam has a better idea and their
understanding is at a higher level than the west. Some African tribes have
the record better preserved and Ancient Egypt has references to alien
contact.
I only look human but I'm injured by priests.
I suggest you listen for a periodic transmission from Jupiter orbit on 109
GHz PQAM. The pulses of energy are every 400 ms and last 350 ms the groups
last about 5 minutes then repeat 20 minutes later. There are only a dozen
or so aliens here and most of them do not wish to be found.
I am here to make contact and the microwaves I emit are obvious to people
with the right equipment and sometimes the signals reach 25 watt, enough
to make fluorescent tubes flash. This is less common now the tubes are
more stable.
X- rays of my head show I'm electronic.
Chris
http://www.myphilosophy.eu
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