Have we already been visited by aliens? • Hacker News Board

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#31

Post by bierjunge » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

mrbonner wrote: post #17

I just started to watch the 1993 series Star Trek new generation. The show has some interesting ideas regarding advanced civilizations vs the primitive ones. One of which is called the prime directive prohibiting any star fleet from intervening with the evolution of primitive people. In one of the episodes “who watches the watcher” the USS enterprise travels to planet Minkita 2 for a rescue mission and encounters a p…

S03E04 for everybody who want's to watch it.

Star Trek and especially TNG is one of the best SciFi series made. The technological point of view is very interesting, but the philosophical issues are even more intriguing and up to date.

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#32

Post by throwanem » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

StavrosK wrote: post #21

mrbonner wrote: post #17

I just started to watch the 1993 series Star Trek new generation. The show has some interesting ideas regarding advanced civilizations vs the primitive ones. One of which is called the prime directive prohibiting any star fleet from intervening with the evolution of primitive people. In one of the episodes “who watches the watcher” the USS enterprise travels to planet Minkita 2 for a rescue mission and encounters a p…

You should try DS9 when you're done with TNG. It's very different, but still great. I think they're some of the best shows ever made, especially because they didn't tiptoe around ethical dilemmas, they made them a main part of each episode's plot.

After DS9 (or maybe before it), also take a look at Babylon 5, the show that arguably inspired DS9 and certainly did a lot of things that no Trek show to date has been bold enough to try. It's a bit camp by today's standards, and the first season struggles a bit in places - but the same can be fairly said of TNG, and the depth of B5's narrative and characterization remains in many ways unequaled since its original run in the mid-90s.

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#33

Post by DennisAleynikov » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

flatiron wrote: post #28

sjcoles wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can figure out how to generate that much delta V you've solved solar system level space travel.

You can at least put something in its way and if it nopes around it to avoid a collision that’s pretty freaking interesting.

closest thing I read was one of these flying right between two fighter jets narrowly missing both, but also seemingly not course correcting or changing behaviour apparently.

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#34

Post by eloff » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

flatiron wrote: post #28

sjcoles wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can figure out how to generate that much delta V you've solved solar system level space travel.

You can at least put something in its way and if it nopes around it to avoid a collision that’s pretty freaking interesting.

Again, if we had the technology to do that it would be amazing.

We can't generate even within a couple orders of magnitude of the acceleration needed to do that.

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#35

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

> Loeb, though, explicitly rejects the Sagan standard—“It is not obvious to me why extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” he observes—and flips its logic on its head: “Extraordinary conservatism keeps us extraordinarily ignorant.” So long as there’s a chance that 1I/2017 U1 is an alien probe, we’d be fools not to pursue the idea. “If we acknowledge that ‘Oumuamua is plausibly of extraterrestrial-technology origin,” he writes, “whole new vistas of exploration for evidence and discovery open before us.”

Uh... this isn't at all clear to me. I don't think very many people are saying it is impossible that Oumuamua was an alien construct and actively discouraging science based on the idea it could be, its just that it is a pretty big fallacy to say "we don't understand it, therefore it was aliens". Recall that the scientific community has gotten its hopes up about aliens several times in the past with scientist proffering alien explanations for "canals" on mars, pulsars, GRBs, and FRBs to name a few.

If we assume that Oumuamua is an alien construct, what "new vistas of exploration for evidence and discovery" open up that we are not already pursuing?

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#36

Post by StavrosK » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:41 PM UTC

mrbonner wrote: post #29

StavrosK wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should try DS9 when you're done with TNG. It's very different, but still great. I think they're some of the best shows ever made, especially because they didn't tiptoe around ethical dilemmas, they made them a main part of each episode's plot.

Ann, the episode about Commander Data being asked to be dissected for the study of his body? Jean Luc brilliantly relates this idea of cloning the entire android to serve human as a tread toward slavery. They are way ahead of us in time.

The one with the court to determine whether Data is sentient/human or property? Yeah, that's one of my favorite episodes, and where I realized how amazing the show was.

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#37

Post by floren » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:41 PM UTC

mrbonner wrote: post #29

StavrosK wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should try DS9 when you're done with TNG. It's very different, but still great. I think they're some of the best shows ever made, especially because they didn't tiptoe around ethical dilemmas, they made them a main part of each episode's plot.

Ann, the episode about Commander Data being asked to be dissected for the study of his body? Jean Luc brilliantly relates this idea of cloning the entire android to serve human as a tread toward slavery. They are way ahead of us in time.

"The Measure of a Man", s2e9

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#38

Post by StavrosK » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:42 PM UTC

throwanem wrote: post #32

StavrosK wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should try DS9 when you're done with TNG. It's very different, but still great. I think they're some of the best shows ever made, especially because they didn't tiptoe around ethical dilemmas, they made them a main part of each episode's plot.

After DS9 (or maybe before it), also take a look at Babylon 5, the show that arguably inspired DS9 and certainly did a lot of things that no Trek show to date has been bold enough to try. It's a bit camp by today's standards, and the first season struggles a bit in places - but the same can be fairly said of TNG, and the depth of B5's narrative and characterization remains in many ways unequaled since its original ru…

I remember watching Babylon 5 when I was young, but I was probably too young to grasp all the meanings. I will rewatch it, thanks!

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#39

Post by wait_a_minute » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:42 PM UTC

mrbonner wrote: post #17

I just started to watch the 1993 series Star Trek new generation. The show has some interesting ideas regarding advanced civilizations vs the primitive ones. One of which is called the prime directive prohibiting any star fleet from intervening with the evolution of primitive people. In one of the episodes “who watches the watcher” the USS enterprise travels to planet Minkita 2 for a rescue mission and encounters a p…

That's one of the biggest problems I have with Star Trek. If we were literally gods by comparison to some fledgling species, the only ethical approach would be to elevate them and cure their diseases and advance their knowledge as quickly as humanly possible.

Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?

#40

Post by bigmattystyles » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 4:43 PM UTC

mrbonner wrote: post #17

I just started to watch the 1993 series Star Trek new generation. The show has some interesting ideas regarding advanced civilizations vs the primitive ones. One of which is called the prime directive prohibiting any star fleet from intervening with the evolution of primitive people. In one of the episodes “who watches the watcher” the USS enterprise travels to planet Minkita 2 for a rescue mission and encounters a p…

Reading TNG described as a 30 year old series (which it is), but being seen as novel by op has made me feel real old. (I’m just about 40) It’s like when I’m with interns and bring up back to the future....