Race and the afterlife?

submitted by radicalcentristNational Centrism from self.debatealtright

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[–]radicalcentristNational Centrism[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

It's definitely possible any advanced lifeform could be race realists. Alternatively, they could also be the complete opposite. Without going too deep into conspiracies, I once tried to rationalize religions as stemming from a foreign world. The stories of Jesus Christ in the bible could have very well been an Alien sent to Earth. Especially when you consider their influences on humanity or powers (i.e turning water into wine? Curing illnesses and disease?) these religious prophets could have just been showing off highly advance technology that us mortal humans couldn't wrap our heads around. Or look up the story of the Cargo cults. Indigenous tribes use to worship WW2 planes believing they were Gods, even though we know it was always humans who built these aircrafts and piloted them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult

If Aliens came to Earth and showed off their futuristic tech, maybe we would start worshipping them as well?

[–]angryturtle 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Honestly, I dont think any advanced alien civilizations exist in our galaxy. If such civilizations exist they are likely incredibly rare in the universe, and the odds and distances involved means the odds of one visiting or having visited us is infinitesimally small. This is the simplest and frankly most likely solution to the fermi paradox, but people ignore this because of the same reasons they believe in religion. Because its what they want to believe.

The drake equation has been completely and thoroughly discredited, and there are many scientists who are back to claiming we could be completely unique in the entire observable universe. Obviously we're digressing, but who cares, the original question was a stupid troll post to begin with.

[–]radicalcentristNational Centrism[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Honestly, I dont think any advanced alien civilizations exist in our galaxy. If such civilizations exist they are likely incredibly rare in the universe, and the odds and distances involved means the odds of one visiting or having visited us is infinitesimally small.

IMO, using distances as an argument against Aliens is not really good. If humans went from exploring the earth on foot, to now exploring near by planets with rockets, why wouldn't an advanced Alien civilization have something 100x more capable than an Ape-like creature that only existed for 200,000 years? If I had to make an argument for why Aliens haven't contacted us, it's for the same reason why don't you dive under water and look at Sponges? Despite being complex creatures, most people still find them boring or uninteresting. Aliens could very well know humans exist, but are too busy fighting Godzilla instead.

[–]angryturtle 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You are ignoring a couple things. First off just how vast the distances are that were talking about. Secondly the fact nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. The small number of advanced civilizations that might exist in the universe combined with the likely distances involved and the time necessary to traverse those distances given the fastest speed theoretically possible as well as other factors like the amount of time an advanced civilization exists vs the amount of time our civilization has existed and will exist makes the likelyhood of us ever encountering such a civilization miniscule.

It doesnt matter whether such a theoretical civilization has the desire and capability of exploring the universe, the factors just mentioned make it almost irrelevant UNLESS the universe was teeming with advanced civilizations, and we can reasonably surmise that its not, or at the very least our galaxy isnt.

[–]radicalcentristNational Centrism[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

You are ignoring a couple things. First off just how vast the distances are that were talking about.

To an Ant or even Microbacteria, the Earth itself is like a giant galaxy that they can never explore on their own, without evolution changing certain traits about them. Similarly, applying a Human understanding of travel/distance to an advance Alien civilization is naïve. Science fiction tackles these scenarios all the time, and 99% the answer always comes down to harnessing technology that is just way too advance for people in the present to understand.

It doesnt matter whether such a theoretical civilization has the desire and capability of exploring the universe, the factors just mentioned make it almost irrelevant UNLESS the universe was teeming with advanced civilizations, and we can reasonably surmise that its not, or at the very least our galaxy isnt.

Well I never said that Aliens have to exist in OUR galaxy. But that's completely different from saying they don't exist at all in the entire universe. For whatever reason why we may or may not have been visited, that is for future Humans to explain to their generation if they make contact.

[–]TheJamesRocket 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The drake equation has been completely and thoroughly discredited

In a recent paper, a team of futurists recalculated the Drake Equation; instead of using point estimates, which typically yield an infinitesimal probability of our galaxy containing no alien civilizations, they calculated the distribution of expert probability estimates, ran a Monte Carlo simulation, and deduced that there is a one in three chance that we are alone in our galaxy, effectively dissolving the Fermi Paradox.