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Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

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Re: Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

#61

Post by totalZero »

breck wrote: post #49
uniqueid wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I probably should have phrased my comment in a less confrontational way. I think there are more likely explanations for this story; my guess is a confluence of a nervous breakdown with a life-long desire to meet aliens. I reckon most people who work at space agencies are also fans of science fiction.

Sorry to harp on you there, you never know if you're talking to GPT-3 on these things. The most plausible explanation is that the person who “recorded his conversations” also took “creative liberty” with his conversations. IMO, the story is too airtight to be a result of senility. It seems like, in order of probability, 1) the work of a really good sci-fi author 2) a really good elaborate prank 3) really sharp 87 yea…

6) He's selling a book and he wants people to buy it.

Re: Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

#62

Post by ceejayoz »

generalizations wrote: post #51
ceejayoz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being notable for something doesn’t make you credible in everything. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nobel_disease

And yet, who could be more credible? As long as all we've got is someone's word, he seems nearly as good as it gets.

He is as good as it gets. That’s just not very good without corroborating evidence.

Re: Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

#63

Post by uniqueid »

totalZero wrote: post #61
breck wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry to harp on you there, you never know if you're talking to GPT-3 on these things. The most plausible explanation is that the person who “recorded his conversations” also took “creative liberty” with his conversations. IMO, the story is too airtight to be a result of senility. It seems like, in order of probability, 1) the work of a really good sci-fi author 2) a really good elaborate prank 3) really sharp 87 yea…

6) He's selling a book and he wants people to buy it.

I missed the paragraph that mentions his new book. Yes, that's the most likely answer.

Re: Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

#64

Post by gabrielblack »

generalizations wrote: post #56
ceejayoz wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The inventor of PCR is about as “within his field” on HIV as this guy is on aliens.

The field still seems fairly undifferentiated, so 'space agency' seems to cover space travel, astronomy, satellites, and anything else outside the atmosphere. Who else is more credible, someone from SETI?

Anyone with actual proofs, I think. We have to filter the source according to the type of information: a political tabloid isn't a good source of information for science, even if someone post it on HN. An accredited scientific journal is a good source. Furthermore, it's necessary looking for "red flags" in our source (critical reading): if the source has few verifiable facts or no verifiable fact at all, maybe it's a case of "alternative fact" (aka bullshit). The search for alien life is taken seriously by the scientific community and a researcher has all the motivations to be part of the history proving the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence. If you ask me, I am "probabilist", I think that they could be out there. I'm waiting for evidences. This article is not.

Re: Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

#66

Post by dwaltrip »

breck wrote: post #37
ceejayoz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being notable for something doesn’t make you credible in everything. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Nobel_disease

If aliens existed and we knew about it, who would know? The head of Israel's and USA's space defense programs.

> If aliens existed and we knew about it...

That is an absolutely enormous "if".

Re: Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

#68

Post by giardini »

Time required for "humanity needed to "evolve and reach a stage where we will... understand what space and spaceships are,"" could only be measured in eons, so this would be the same as saying "You'll get no help." Consequently this appears to be BS: why contact any earthlings millions of years before you'll reveal yourself to most earthlings.

On the other hand, the Israelis claim to be "God's chosen people" so why shouldn't they also be the "aliens' chosen people"?

Re: Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

#69

Post by generalizations »

thinkingemote wrote: post #58

"humanity isn't ready" is classic conspiracy theory. It means "we the (secret) governments are in control of the situation". Especially with the moon base. It's a classic comforting and chaos limiting conspiracy theory giveaway. To consider it possible implies you think it's possible for our governments to collaborate and keep things secret for our own benefit. I believe that if there were aliens that mankind will do…

It's also a solution to the Fermi Paradox: we can't see other species out there, because they're hiding and have chosen not to show themselves.

Re: Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready

#70

Post by mikewarot »

giardini wrote: post #67
mikewarot wrote: post #46

If I were from the Star Trek future, and had contact with us right now, I would definitely not hand over the galactic car keys.

But it would be only charitable to open the galactic medicine cabinet.

>But it would be only charitable to open the galactic medicine cabinet.

Not really, consider what happened when we got Antibiotics, we ended up feeding them to livestock for a few % body weight.

If we got future level medicine, we'd breed future proof plagues.

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