Should we look for aliens?
Yes, because...
Side Score: 26
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No, because...
Side Score: 4
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It's an interesting question and has its drawbacks and risks as in the life forms could be extremely hostile , also if an alien civilisation was technologically far more advanced that us surely they would have paid us a visit already ? Maybe the civilisations are so many light years away that it's impossible to navigate there as time and energy would not allow us to do so . I do think we should still send signals etc ,etc in the hope of at least communicating; I remember Douglas Adams saying the one common language aliens and us would have would be math Side: Yes, because...
You hinted at the Fermi Paradox with: "also if an alien civilization was technologically far more advanced that us surely they would have paid us a visit already ?" You may already know about it, but if not, this is a good link explaining it: https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/ I agree that establishing communication would be nice. Side: Yes, because...
Thanks for that Mack , yes I've heard of the paradox and it has it opponents ....... The Fermi paradox has been criticized as being based on an inappropriate use of propositional logic. According to a 1985 paper by Robert Freitas, when recast as a statement in modal logic, the paradox no longer exists, and carries no probative value. Side: Yes, because...
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Certainly, we should look for them, I believe that humanity has evolved to this extent as it has today, only because of knowledge, i.e, what we observe and try to make sense of.., to see whether an even more advanced being that already exists might just be our very next step in our process of understanding the world better and who knows? we might also find answers to questions that we've not found yet.. there's this dialogue of prof. Norman(Morgan Freeman) from the movie Lucy, which I find quite interesting, "That way, when they die, they hand down essential information and knowledge to the next cell. Which hands it down to the next cell and so on. Thus knowledge and learning are handed down through time." all what a being does in a lifetime is hand over information to newer cells.. it also makes me think, is it all that we're here for?, for if, there had to be a reason for existence of humanity, it comes down to discovering and passing on knowledge... Side: Yes, because...
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What other purpose could we have? I'm not very sure... all explanations of purposes of humanity are perspectives in my opinion.., I personally would like to stick with that I have already mentioned, if I were asked to actually give a purpose, (not necessary that there should be) but you will find some equally satisfying answers, one such explanation is that of " we exist to continue to exist", think about it, we want to survive, not that anybody asked us to, to try to exist is inherent to us..., which might not look neat as an explanation, and not help us in explanation of things in a bigger picture, but it sure does answer the question, as we inherently lean towards existing and trying to continue to exist... Side: Yes, because...
Something I wanted to mention is the question of whether or not they would actually share their advanced technology and knowledge with us, in the hypothetical situation that we encountered friendly, advanced aliens today. If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't want to share powerful technology with a young civilization like ours, as it might be misused, and it would take away the human race's chance to make discoveries for ourselves. I was talking with beastforever about the acquisition of knowledge being a purpose of life for some people. If all the knowledge we could ever want was given to our race in an instant, we wouldn't have a purpose anymore, in terms of looking for knowledge anyways. If I were an advanced alien race then I wouldn't want to take away the purpose/meaning of another race. (I know this doesn't answer the question at hand directly, but I thought it was an interesting idea) Side: Yes, because...
I don't think our species' existence is very worthwhile if we don't try to push the boundaries in our exploration. If we just sit here on our little planet, too afraid to reach out because what we find might not be very nice, then we'll have had a pretty pathetic existence. That's why I think we should continue to look for intelligent aliens. It might be sensible to wait a while though, until we can sort our shit (war, hunger, poverty, etc). Side: Yes, because...
I understand the risk (and high likelihood) that if aliens exist and learn about us that it could be catastrophic for our planet. But in academic debate we would call that argument "not unique". Meaning any alien race advanced enough to become aware we are trying to contact them and possessing a means to do something about it already then has the capability to find us and do terrible things to us. It's not like staying silent would hide us. The risk is virtually the same. Meanwhile, identifying that intelligent aliens exist would accomplish several important things: 1) Enlighten us about other places we might live (if our own becomes uninhabitable) 2) Impact our often naive views on human superiority and importance. 3) Give an important reason to not give up on world peace and unity. 4) Continue our development in science and knowledge. Side: Yes, because...
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I'm not particularly opinionated on this matter, but the No side needs some love. SETI costs $2.5 million a year. In the grand scheme of things, and considering how much countries like the USA spend on other things, that really isn't very much. Even if radio waves travel at the speed of light, our nearest star (excluding the Sun) is just over 4 light years away. For a contact to be successful, there are a lot of things that would need to happen: 1. The region of the universe where the radio waves are going must contain at least one star with a planetary system. 2. At least one planet in that star's planetary system must be capable of sustaining life. 3. The life-sustaining planet must have life on it. 4. That life must be reasonably evolved (not bacteria). 5. That life must be of human-level or above intelligence. For example, dinosaurs are complex life forms, and the likelihood of finding something else so complex close by is very low, but they would not be of sufficient intelligence to be able to respond. 6. That life must have the technology to detect the transmissions from Earth. Don't forget that before the 20th century, we would not have been able to detect the transmissions. So we are assuming the life is in the equivalent of our 20th century or later. 7. The transmissions must come through properly. 8. That life has to recognise the transmissions as being extra-terrestrial. 9. That life must have the technology and willingness to respond to us. 10. Back on Earth, assuming the SETI project has not been abandoned or humans have gone extinct, we have to still have the ability to respond to the signal. 11. Then what? We would not be able to visit the aliens, learning things from them would be very difficult given the length of time transmissions take, and there is the chance the life would be hostile. As can be seen the probability of getting a response in a nearby system is so absurdly low it begs the question of why we don't put the money to better use. Spend it on better telescopes, better instruments, more scientists. Or stop looking out to the stars and focus on improving life for people on Earth -- the life that we know really exists. Side: No, because...
I agree with your reasoning that it is not likely to yield results, and that the money would be better somewhere else. How would you feel if, (hypothetically) in the future we have solved all real problems on Earth? We wouldn't need the money for much else. Would it then be worth it to investigate aliens? Or do you think that the risk of them being hostile if we find them is too great? Side: Yes, because...
If we were able to solve all real problems on Earth (though I would argue that money would still need to be spent in order to maintain the solutions to these problems), I'd say it'd be worth it to investigate aliens. However, I think alien investigation would probably be more likely to yield results if we were to send out probes in our own Solar System to explore potential hotbeds for life, like the moon Ganymede which contains ice, or if we were to investigate comets like the Rosetta probe did. If we are to discover alien life is possible, we are much more likely to be successful if we start small. If we discover bacteria on another moon or planet, that's the point where we've established life exists elsewhere, and we could go back to beaming radio messages. Side: Yes, because...
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We should not look for aliens. Looking for aliens is basically a waste of money and time. Chances are that there are actually no aliens, and even if there really is, the chances of really seeing one or finding one will be nearly none. The US government is spending millions and millions of dollars each year supporting these types of explorations when they can transfer these money into helping those in need and perhaps creating a better healthcare plan for their people. By investing money, time and human power into searching for aliens is creating a market failure where the government is spending money into a non-existing market with such high risk that they might lose all of their investments. You might argue that searching for aliens might help us learn more about space. Yet, have you considered of the opportunity cost and potential risk of looking for one? You will waste most of your lifetime trying to find something that is almost non-existing and trying to "learn" for life when you can probably earn lots of money from another job and use it for a better retirement life. In the case of really finding one, we are likely still not going to understand the universe much more since the only thing that we'd probably learn is that there are lives in outer space. This information is not worth the look. Maybe we should just let the aliens come looking for us. Side: No, because...
I think that the chances of alien life existing are quite high, with there being at least more than 10 to the power of 21 stars in this universe, and possibly even an infinite number. (Lots of stars=lots of planets=lots of chances for life) I agree though that the chances of any being within a reasonable distance form Earth is probably quite low, which could mean we are wasting our time for now. It's a perfectly valid reason to say that the money could be used for better things, and that space exploration is low on the list, and that it is high risk. I guess it depends on different people's values about what is worth investigating? I personally value scientific exploration & discovery over a lot of things (Including my retirement), but I realize that others don't. In the case of actually finding aliens, if it is non-intelligent life, I still think biologists could learn a great deal, especially about the origin of life, and if it is intelligent life, it seems very possible they will be a lot more advanced than us, with much more knowledge (though whether they would share that knowledge is another question, which I have addressed elsewhere in this debate). It does seem wise to let the aliens come looking for us, as they are probably more advanced now, and will have an easier time of it. I've asked others how they would feel if we waited to invest more in the search for aliens until a (hypothetical) time when we have solved many of earth's problems. I wonder what you think? Also, I noticed that this is your first time speaking on this website, so I welcome you. :) Side: Yes, because...
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