At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)
My "what if?" from two weeks ago garnered this interesting response from Bookworm:
I am cynical enough to believe we will never find any intelligent life (or their probes, or anything else). I fear all intelligent races end up destroying themselves before they can leave their home solar systems. Just like we might just well do.And then I saw this tweet...
The two ideas combined in my brain, and this is what came out of it...This is the alternate universe other universes warn their kids about.— God (@TheTweetOfGod) September 26, 2017
What if "intelligent life" is doomed to anniliate itself? What if the reason we haven't encountered a space faring race is because no race has ever managed to evolve that far?
I can understand your belief. It sure seems likely we are alone at this stage of development. And maybe it's for the best we go extinct without infecting other planets. As for your questions, they don't exactly inspire an answer, let alone a story. ~wry grin~ But you raise valid considerations.
ReplyDeleteIt's not my belief. Just a question.
DeleteOh, gotcha. I read too fast. Heh... Be well!
DeleteTo answer your question on my humble blog, a 'purr pad' is a synthetic 'wool' square that creates a warm, cozy space upon which a cat can lay. I found them years ago on Drs. Fosters and Smith website and bought on a whim. Jezebel loves them.
DeleteOh. I'd never heard of those before.
DeleteI don't think any intelligent alien race would go poking into other people's planets. Because if they're intelligent, they know what stupid is, and thus would know that stupid is a whoooooooole lot more common than smart, and could therefore presume than there's a much bigger chance of running into a planet of stupid people like us who would blast them out of the sky immediately.
ReplyDeleteGood point.
DeleteThat does assume all other races have screwed up as badly as we have.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I think it takes too long to travel to a place where another intelligent being might reside. I don't think any creature has a lifespan for that, and I don't think any creature can pass through a "worm hole" and survive to make that distance shorter.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is a huge consideration as well.
DeleteThey might have looked us over and realized we are not evolved enough for them so they kept travelling.
ReplyDeletePossible. And considering, likely.
DeleteAliens do exist, we're kind of vain to think we're the only ones that exist here
ReplyDeleteThat could be, I agree with Sherry about the whole takes too long to travel though!
ReplyDeleteYup.
DeleteI'm honored you used my comment as a springboard to a further question. Thank you. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Sometimes I need help coming up with something to ask ;)
DeleteHUM....although I have no proof that aliens exist I do believe they are out there. Could be they are here and we have no clue! Maybe they walk among us.
ReplyDeleteThey could be here. But that's the usual question. I wanted to turn it on its head a bit.
DeleteInteresting thought, but I don't really see a question in there. All I've got is: maybe?
ReplyDeleteBut then again, if no other life form has made it so far as to exist while another life form is present, can we assume that maybe it's just not possible? *shrugs*
Perhaps the universe only contains one sentient race at a time? That's a whole different question.
DeleteI don't have the cynicism to say that all races would just destroy themselves. I think emotions are what's dangerous, and I like to think that some forms of life out there could evolve without emotion.
ReplyDeleteOr, perhaps we are not as "intelligent" as we like to think. One would imagine such beings would know better. And maybe that goes for other possible races out there.
ReplyDeleteI mean intelligence as in a people that has the capacity to imagine going beyond their planet of origin. If I had to keep to talking about people of real intelligence, I don't think I'd include the human race.
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