> The cigar-shaped object ...
All they have is a light curve, right? No imaging, right?
If so, "cigar-shaped" is just speculation.
Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
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Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#62> The cigar-shaped object ... All they have is a light curve, right? No imaging, right? If so, "cigar-shaped" is just speculation.
It rotates, so its brightness changes over time. From examining this data they can draw some conclusions about its shape.
Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
I dunno I think if it were an alien spacecraft we should just keep our heads low and not draw any attention to it. Our first window of opportunity might be our last.
Good luck with that considering how much RF we're blasting out into space(you can make contact with the ISS/AmSats on a 5W handheld + yagi antenna).
In The Killing Star, it was Star Trek that sealed Earth's fate. Humans came off as dangerous know-it-alls :(
Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish that book had a better ending.
Which book is that?
Anathem, Neal Stephenson. (Seveneves also mentions plane change maneuvers but Anathem has this quote repeated verbatim several times and is closer to the topic at hand. Then again, more people seem to be disappointed with Seveneves' ending, so who knows.)
Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#65I'm kind of glad to hear that to be honest. It's already too far away from us and going too fast for any spacecraft that could currently be built to reach it. It would have been a very cruel joke if the first opportunity for interaction with extra terrestrial intelligence flew past us so unceremoniously. Of course it's certainly disappointing that it isn't an alien spacecraft, but would have been doubly so if it were…
> I'm kind of glad to hear that to be honest...
Whaaat! Come on. Surely you'd gladly take the disappointment of missed opportunity for the absolute earth shattering wonder of proof that we are not alone.
Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#66I'm kind of glad to hear that to be honest. It's already too far away from us and going too fast for any spacecraft that could currently be built to reach it. It would have been a very cruel joke if the first opportunity for interaction with extra terrestrial intelligence flew past us so unceremoniously. Of course it's certainly disappointing that it isn't an alien spacecraft, but would have been doubly so if it were…
There have been a few proposals for intercepting Oumuamua in the coming years. One approach is to launch a rocket in 2025 for an intercept in 2039:
https://www.space.com/38919-interstellar-asteroid-mission-sp...
Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the flip side, the conditions required for life to reach interstellar technology are so rare that life-bearing worlds like Earth are highly coveted. A planet where you can set up a city and not have to worry about micrometeoroids, radiation, atmospheric composition? Just sleep out under the stars without a suit repair kit handy? That’s worth killing for!
Wiping earth clear of humans and still having a habitable planet left over would require far more resources, risk, lives of your own and time then simply building a few colonies on planets like Mars.
Pfft! Smart aliens just send a couple of stealth probes, figure out our biology, and in short order program a simple virus that is dormant but highly contagious for about a year and then when incubation is over kills within 24 hours.
Ironically it’s not far off what was done to the Americas.
War is only an option when the sides are more or less evenly matched. We would not be anywhere near evenly matched with an interstellar civilisation.
Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#68The article makes a much more limited claim than what the headline suggests:
"the search for alien signals has so far found nothing in the 1.7 to 2.6GHz range"
Scanning continues.
Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
I dunno I think if it were an alien spacecraft we should just keep our heads low and not draw any attention to it. Our first window of opportunity might be our last.
I've gotta disagree with you on this. Personally I think intelligent life is probably very rare in the universe, the sheer number of factors that need to go right for it to arise, and then the sheer number of factors that need to not go wrong for it to continue to exist mean any intelligent life out there is probably going to find us way more valuable and worthy of co-operation and interaction than say destruction of…
It doesn't matter. No matter how convincing your argument is, we can't afford to risk the entire world on you being right. The stakes are too high.
And I think you are very wrong. Aliens don't need to be anything like us. Don't anthropomorphize them. They might have nothing like our morality or care for other sentient life forms. And just see us as a pest and potential future competition to snuff out.
Or if they do have morals, they could be completely alien. When the Europeans discovered the New World, one of the first things they did is try to forcibly convert the natives to their religion. They justified conquering and ruling over the natives to stop their savagery and impose their values and laws on them.
Re: Is ‘Oumuamua an alien spacecraft? First scans show no signs of technology
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
This reminds me of Liu Cixins "The the body problem"-triology. If you haven't read it yet you should have a look.
Dark Forest Deterence. I'd be interested to find out what % of HR readers HAVEN'T read this trilogy considering how much it comes up in conversation on these forums. I'm willing to bet it is a VERY high % compared to the average reading population.
I started reading it and found it fairly poor quality sci fi so I stopped somewhere in the first book. I think the bit where they slice a passing ship with newly invented nanowires smacked more of a comic book or 50s golden age sci fi than the sort of “proper” science fiction I’m used to these days. That and the way the characters seem to have such simplified motivations. It’s just not good fiction - and science fiction has to also be good fiction.
Edit: wow, downvoted within a minute for not liking the same sci fi books. That’s a new low in HN groupthink.