Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Anyone Out There?



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.
😉

What if intelligent life in the universe is the exception, not the rule? (Although, lately one would wonder if intelligent life exists at all...)

19 comments:

  1. Oh, boy, that sure is an apt comment about intelligence. ~sigh~ I'm reminded of a rather depressing theory that any alien races would be unlikely to coincide with our (questionable) advancements. As for me, in childhood I liked to imagine so-called angel sightings were produced by benevolent extraterrestrials. :)

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    1. Yes, I am aware of that particular theory. And that's a good point. Why couldn't angels actually be an alien species?

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  2. Maybe it would be a better place to live? Maybe its all this "intelligence" that has gotten us to where we are right now?

    betty

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  3. Considering the lack of intelligent life on this planet, I assume it's totally nonexistent.

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  4. Oooh...but with a recognition of no intelligent life elsewhere, then the whole intelligent design argument falls apart. Very interesting.

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  5. Well like your post said, I wonder from time to time if intelligent exist so it if does in space then it would be a change!

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    1. There's a meme someplace with that exact sentiment.

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  6. Maybe intelligence isn't a good thing then.

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  7. Uh oh, here comes the SF reader...Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. No space aliens. It's just us. It was a thought provoking series.

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    1. This question kind of evolved out of that, of course.

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  8. I suppose, given similar conditions at the dawn of time, other planets have spawned life in some form. And if evolution has come into play, then they too could have developed "intelligent" life. Hopefully, this "intelligent" life is more compassionate than much of ours!

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    1. Ah, but the question is, what if that hasn't happened? I mean, statistically and all, it's more likely that it has, but what if...?

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  9. I laughed at your added comment about intelligent life not existing at all.

    It may be that there is other life in the universe, but that it is so simple. Perhaps the "aliens" are really human time travellers from the future.

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  10. I guess there would be so much of chaos!

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I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.