Earthlike planet what if

[Prozac the Robert]

Imagine that in twenty or so years we use a new telescope to spot an earthlike planet orbiting a moderately nearby star. There are ambiguous signs suggesting that it might hold civilisation.

A project is proposed by a group of scientists to send a strong set of signals aimed at the planet to atempt to make contact. Radio waves, laser beams, the works. Others sugest that we should certainly not do that, and that we should do everything possible to minimise the chances of them noticing us. Some go on to sugest that we should also try to develop weapons capable of reaching them as a last resort. A small number even sugest that we should attempt a first strike before they notice us if we get a chance.

What should we do?

[Admiral Johnason]

Make peaceful contact and start making ships that could fly there and help with friendly contact.

[Batman]

Given we won't have weapons to reach that far (leave alone do any damage worth mentioning) for a couple thousand more years (if ever) I think we can safely count that option out. Since Earth has been happily anouncing its existence to the universe at large since the introduction of television at the very latest that one kind of doesn't work, either. So how about we make contact?

[Zor]

Keep our options open, Ingage in a Level of Space Militarization while observing the Planet closely and make an effort to build long range probes to reach said star and get a closer look.

Zor

[StarshipTitanic]

Imagine that in twenty or so years we use a new telescope to spot an earthlike planet orbiting a moderately nearby star. There are ambiguous signs suggesting that it might hold civilisation.

A project is proposed by a group of scientists to send a strong set of signals aimed at the planet to atempt to make contact. Radio waves, laser beams, the works. Others sugest that we should certainly not do that, and that we should do everything possible to minimise the chances of them noticing us. Some go on to sugest that we should also try to develop weapons capable of reaching them as a last resort. A small number even sugest that we should attempt a first strike before they notice us if we get a chance.

What should we do?

Ambiguous? The only way we're going to find out if others are out there is if we pick up their radio signals. If we suddenly picked up radio signals from a planet somewhat near us, they likely won't be as advanced as us.

As for the suggestions about sending a ship, I don't think a civilization in any state of advancement is going to care if we start flinging dead bodies into their orbit.

[Patrick Degan]

Without FTL travel or communication as likely possibilities, there really is little to worry about. Fast travel between star systems will not be feasible, hence there is little point in mounting an exploratory expedition simply for the purpose of making contact and even less point in preparing for any sort of military threat the aliens might present. The laws of physics more or less make this a moot discussion.

[Duckie]

The most ambitious thing that's physically possible that we know of right now is targeting and sending a radio transmission that says "Hay guyz we exist too how are you doing call me back soon" and waiting a few years for our dialup-esque messaging system to work.

I guess that's cool, just say hi and so forth. It's what I'd expect from aliens to earth, you know, a little voice mail type thing on the most commonly emitted radio band from the planet introducing yourself to the neighbors and exchanging fruitcakes or something.

[Winston Blake]

I guess that's cool, just say hi and so forth. It's what I'd expect from aliens to earth, you know, a little voice mail type thing on the most commonly emitted radio band from the planet introducing yourself to the neighbors and exchanging fruitcakes or something.

Here's an ominous take on the subject that i've found very interesting:

We ask that you try just one more thought experiment. Imagine yourself taking a stroll through Manhattan, somewhere north of 68th street, deep inside Central Park, late at night. It would be nice to meet someone friendly, but you know that the park is dangerous at night. That's when the monsters come out. There's always a strong undercurrent of drug dealings, muggings, and occasional homicides.

It is not easy to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys. They dress alike, and the weapons are concealed. The only difference is intent, and you can't read minds.

Stay in the dark long enough and you may hear an occasional distance shriek or blunder across a body.

How do you survive the night? The last thing you want to do is shout, "I'm here!" The next to last thing you want to do is reply to someone who shouts, "I'm a friend!"

What you would like to do is find a policeman, or get out of the park. But you don't want to make noise or move towards a light where you might be spotted, and it is difficult to find either a policeman or your way out without making yourself known. Your safest option is to hunker down and wait for daylight, then safely walk out.

There are, of course, a few obvious differences between Central Park and the universe.

There is no policeman.

There is no way out.

And the night never ends.

[Duckie]

Here's an ominous take on the subject that i've found very interesting:

Of course, people in central park don't have gigantic, obviously visible halos of their upbringing and mindset.

Earth has like streamers of culture, war broadcasts, reality TV, gameshows, and political stuff flying off of it. If detectable and comprehensable to aliens, they'd at least figure out that we're only mildly xenophobic (as is natural) and don't have the capacity to go FTL. I can't see the harm in dropping a little shoutout that life exists if they literally can't reach you by the laws of physics without spending years and bajillions of dollars and inevitably being outclassed by whatever you could put in orbit for much cheaper.

Unless they pick up Star Trek, in which case they'd probably shit a brick. (What series of books had it, Animorphs or something, where the bad guys picked up transmissions of science fiction and reconsidered invasion plans because they figured Humanity had planet-destroying ships and lightning fast FTL)

[Talanth]

I think the main problem we'd have if we ever discovered an alien civilisation is understanding them, and I don't just meen in the linguistic sence. Aliens are, well... alien. They may have a language that contains no verbs, or is comunicated by patterns of waveing tenticles. They may have a social structure which venerates the physical ability to blink a thousand times a second, or people born with green fethers as oposed to the normal purple. Or they may have no social structure at all, with individuals having very little contact.

If we ever found aliens I would advise caution, no asumptions whatsoever, and a lot of studdy. After all, they might be realy wierd and believe that there was a big, invisable person walking around among them, who wanted them to sit down on their knees once a day or he would throw electrical charges at them. Beings as strange as that might do anything!

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Imagine that in twenty or so years we use a new telescope to spot an earthlike planet orbiting a moderately nearby star. There are ambiguous signs suggesting that it might hold civilisation.

A project is proposed by a group of scientists to send a strong set of signals aimed at the planet to atempt to make contact. Radio waves, laser beams, the works. Others sugest that we should certainly not do that, and that we should do everything possible to minimise the chances of them noticing us. Some go on to sugest that we should also try to develop weapons capable of reaching them as a last resort. A small number even sugest that we should attempt a first strike before they notice us if we get a chance.

What should we do?

The answer is "nothing." Twenty years from now, we'll just about be ready to send humans to Mars for an enormous dick-waving contest and a couple more decades away from being able to establish a permanent long-term presence on Mars or anywhere beyond cislunar space. Furthermore, in twenty years, about the best we'll be able to hope for, in terms of telescopes, is something like the proposed Terrestrial Planet Finder, which would only be able to tell you that there's a planet there, what it's atmosphere is like, and provide some really, really low-resolution pictures of the planet. Training radio telescopes on it may reveal signs of civilization by demonstrating that the planet radiates radio waves than one might expect a ball of rock to be capable or radiating. We won't be able to decode their transmissions, as signal degradation at interstellar distances will be such that the only thing that will reach us are the carrier waves . . . and even then they'd have to be high-power, crude analog affairs. Not low-power modulated digital signals.

Sure we could beam signals at them, but that would assume they'd be keeping an open ear for active communication attempts. Then it would lead to a few centuries of the interstellar equivalent of "Me Tarzan, you Jane." Launching an interstellar expedition to their system will be a century or three off, at least. Launching one that will get there in a reasonable amount of time without blowing up halfway to the destination may take several centuries, perhaps a millenium. At that point, we'd have colonies closer to the alien civilization which can send a starship and/or radio signals there far cheaper than Earth can. At that point, it becomes their problem. At twenty years out, the only people who would suggest preemptive interstellar genocide will be crackpots, and none of them will be alive when it comes time for the first interstellar missions to be launched.

[Winston Blake]

Unless they pick up Star Trek, in which case they'd probably shit a brick. (What series of books had it, Animorphs or something, where the bad guys picked up transmissions of science fiction and reconsidered invasion plans because they figured Humanity had planet-destroying ships and lightning fast FTL)

Same sort of idea in this short story.

[Patrick Degan]

We won't be able to decode their transmissions, as signal degradation at interstellar distances will be such that the only thing that will reach us are the carrier waves . . . and even then they'd have to be high-power, crude analog affairs. Not low-power modulated digital signals.

Yes. I've always thought that the main problem with the whole premise behind detecting other civilisations in the galaxy by radio, and their detecting us in turn. Almost certainly undermines the logic behind SETI.

[dragon]

Without some major breakthroughs we would be limited to sending radio signals back and forth. Once we were able t unerstand them we might be able to exchange info that might give of insite into new areas. Even with ships powered by future engines such as the ICAN II or ion engines it still would many decades to centuries to reach a few near stars.

The most obivious area that be effected is the realm of medicen and biology especially as the inhabitents of the planet will have a different biology.

Of cousre this is all contigent on the ability to decode due to signal degradation. If there is a clear line of sight and they have a powerful enough signal generator than its possible but not guarenteed.

[drachefly]

Clear line of sight? :lol: You can see straight to the decoupling from here in most directions. If there's something in the way, wait a few days, tops, and it won't be in the way anymore.

What would I do? Send a signal. But don't work too hard -- if they're not looking at the stars much, they could miss anything we could do for a reasonable cost.