NASA-funded Program Recruited Religious Experts To Predict How Humans May React To Aliens (thehill.com) 114
Two dozen theologians participated in a program funded partially by NASA to research how humans may react to news that intelligent life exists on other planets, according to one religious scholar who says he was recruited. From a report: The Rev. Dr. Andrew Davison, of the University of Cambridge, told the Times UK in a recent interview that he was among 23 other theologians in a NASA-sponsored program at the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton University from 2016 to 2017. Davison said he and his colleagues examined how each of the world's major religions would likely respond if they were made aware of the existence of aliens. His own work focused on the connection between astrobiology and Christian theology. Will Storrar, director of the CTI, said NASA wanted to see "serious scholarship being published in books and journals" addressing the "profound wonder and mystery and implication of finding microbial life on another planet," the Times reported.
[...] NASA's Astrobiology program provided partial funding through a grant to the CTI in 2015, with the agency-funded portion of the project concluding in 2017, a NASA spokesperson confirmed to Changing America. NASA was not directly involved in the selection of researchers for the study.
[...] NASA's Astrobiology program provided partial funding through a grant to the CTI in 2015, with the agency-funded portion of the project concluding in 2017, a NASA spokesperson confirmed to Changing America. NASA was not directly involved in the selection of researchers for the study.
If the last couple years are any indication... (Score:5, Insightful)
...then the answer is clearly "not great."
If i squint i can almost see the Facebook posts about such a discovery being fake news funded by Soros or something.
Re:If the last couple years are any indication... (Score:4, Funny)
Should not affect real Christians at at all.
So it only affects imaginary and complex Christians, then?
It's more likely to affect non-religious people.
Why? Because they lack imagination?
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Quaternion Christians were fine, they're all squares.
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Dude, you've been coding too long, time for a vacation.
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A couple of antifa members dressed up in american flag gear broke some windows. Antifa and blm did far more damage to cities.
Re: If the last couple years are any indication... (Score:2, Insightful)
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I'm not sure "theologian" equals "religious leader" any more than "economist" equals "business leader". Nor is someone's status as "leader" safe in a time of upheaval. Crisis is when new leaders *emerge*.
Envisioning the future is a dicey business. Could a musicologist have predicted the impact of hip hop on popular music before it actually took root? I remember back in 1980 I was a college volunteer in a youth program in Boston; we invited up this other group Brooklyn to perform things called "rapping"
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history.
how have earth cultures fared when greeted by other earth cultures with value systems that were not understandable.
there will be power shifts.
wealth shifts.
geographic shifts.
diseases.
examples are.
the internet.
and cultures of the american continents.
none of it was pretty.
but it happened
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history.
how have earth cultures fared when greeted by other earth cultures with value systems that were not understandable.
It should be noted that the oldest history that we know is mainly from religions. Before writing there were tribal tales, and its the best we got as far as eye witness accounts of many things.
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When H.G. Wells wrote "War of the Worlds", it made sense to readers because the idea of countries with a technological advantage invading countries and taking their *stuff* was something British readers would have been intimately familiar with. The irony of identifying with the victims in the story wasn't lost on anyone, but just to be sure Wells himself makes it explicit in the very first chapter [gutenberg.org] that the Martians are doing to the Britons exactly what Britons did to the Tasmanians.
In its day War of the Wo
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In this case it's more like a psychologist advising them about how populations would react. Theologists will be able to look at historical examples of faith shattering discoveries, like the Earth not being the centre of the universe.
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Religious "leaders" are not tax free.
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Honestly, I am a Catholic and fail to see how alien life would impact my belief in any way.
I never understood how "there is more life than we thought" would cause a crisis in faith. If anything, it would strengthen it by demonstrating that intelligent life was not just a fluke of evolution.
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I never understood how "there is more life than we thought" would cause a crisis in faith.
As you are noting, the prediction of a crisis of faith is not from those with faith, but is born from those without it.
Its a form of im-better-than-you denigration, but is spawned from an inferiority complex. Those with the crisis-of-faith theory are the ones that would have trouble with aliens visiting. Its their own crisis that they project on those that they think they are superior to.
Its a projection: I'm better than them and the idea freaks me out, therefore it must really freak out those st00pidz
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Their idea of "Religious people" are knuckle dragging bible thumpers, Prosperity Gospel preachers on TV, and gun-waving jihadists.
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If anything, it would strengthen it by demonstrating that intelligent life was not just a fluke of evolution.
This just tells us you haven't read or understood the theory of evolution and the utter tripe that is written in the bible. You're bad at both these things.
How is another occurrence of life not an example of evolution in action?
In fact, catholics, along with most religions on eath (certainly all abrahamic religions) believe that their god made the earth and life exclusive. It was supposed to be just the one planet and everything was supposed to be like god wanted it, including children getting cancer, peopl
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Your faith is based on a continuing flood of lies
And sexually abused children.
What about Earth? (Score:3, Insightful)
Can we have the same program see how humans react to news that intelligent life exists on Earth?
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It does? News to me.
freaking out (Score:3, Insightful)
Read about that elsewhere already.
It does make sense.
They were just too polite to say is as it is:
"Hey, scam artist! Can you tell us how much the morons who believe your fairy tales would freak out if evidence that they're not half as special as they thought showed up tomorrow?"
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Read about that elsewhere already.
It does make sense.
They were just too polite to say is as it is:
"Hey, scam artist! Can you tell us how much the morons who believe your fairy tales would freak out if evidence that they're not half as special as they thought showed up tomorrow?"
"Hey, scam artist! Can you tell us how much the morons who believe your fairy tales would freak out if evidence that they're not half as special as they thought showed up tomorrow?"
A very nice and accurate summary. Religions are the most elaborate and most long-term scams ever perpetrated. They are probably also the first quasi-Ponzi-schemes. While their morality is generally far worse than the average scam (most scams do not start wars, kill people or target children), their success is truly astounding.
I don't know why this is some type of shock? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I would hope they're doing that. There has been a notion that religious people would act negatively or inappropriately to the confirmation of extraterrestrial life. Of course you would want to know how this would play out if you're the one that is delivering this message.
Agreed.
I think there's a second factor that many of the people predicting disaster are missing. People are fundamentally tribal and we tend to be really good at uniting against other tribes, hence the reason every despot tries to reinforce their position by stirring up trouble with an outside enemy.
If we find extraterrestrial life, particularly intelligent extraterrestrial life, there's instantly a new outsider that everyone can agree on.
It might actually make humanity internally more peaceful.
Many already think ET. is among us. (Score:2)
I do not expect many to be freaked out by such a discovery. There are many groups of people who already believe we have been visited by aliens, including religious ones and they are not rioting in general. Some even believe governments have secret agreements with alien powers and such nonsense.
I am sure nerds such as yours truly would be very interested by this kind of news but for most people it wouldn't change the price of their food.
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Depends on whether soylent green can be made from aliens or just humans. Aliens have the benefit of already being green, reducing the food colouring needed.
History already told us: (Score:4, Insightful)
...try to convert them, and if they say "yes", baptize them and make them servants, else slaughter them and take their land.
Re:History already told us: (Score:4, Insightful)
...try to convert them, and if they say "yes", baptize them and make them servants, else slaughter them and take their land.
You are more correct than you know [imgur.com].
Reactions (Score:3, Insightful)
The reactions are likely to be:
a) American fundamentalist Christians and their offshots: fake news! and/or demons!
b) Most Christians everywhere: ohh, cool!, after all the Biblical symbolism already made clear they existed, and besides...
c) Catholics: okay guys, we and the good folk at the Vatican Observatory have been preparing for this moment for decades, and here's the latest revision on our guideline for preaching to aliens; first, once conversations start...
d) Buddhists/Hindus/all other Eastern religions: well, duh, of course, what's the big deal?
e) Alien-inspired religions: WE'RE SAVED!!! (unless it's the reptilians)
f) Other monotheisms: variations of "a" and "b".
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What if the aliens are LGBTQ+ or have both a wanker and a vag? Surely, many of the religions will have a fit.
Re:Reactions (Score:4, Insightful)
Surely, many of the religions will have a fit.
That depends. Polytheisms are usually fine with whatever, with a few exceptions here and there. Monotheisms, in contrast, tend to fall into two camps here:
a) Natural purpose-oriented: if the one god made such and such bodily organs in a species, and these organs have clearly delineated primary functions, then using those organs in a way that goes against that that primary function is a huge no-no, as that being is opposing the one god's clear will etc., and the argument proceeds from there.
b) Historically-oriented: the rules the one god ordered a specific people are meant to optimize their potential for this or that end goal and adequate fo that period, region, culture etc., so the rules for the present day are evidently different.
Hence, theologians from religions/branches that go with "a" would first analyze how alien physiology works, to then determine whether those aliens are or aren't sinning when they do or don't do something with their bodily organs.
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Japan is ahead of the USA in both robotics and porn with odd creatures/devices.
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> [a belief sex] organs have clearly delineated primary functions, then using those organs in a way that goes against that primary function is a huge no-no
You mean the main purpose of my wanker is NOT jacking off?
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The reactions are likely to be:
a) American fundamentalist Christians and their offshots: fake news! and/or demons!
b) Most Christians everywhere: ohh, cool!, after all the Biblical symbolism already made clear they existed, and besides...
c) Catholics: okay guys, we and the good folk at the Vatican Observatory have been preparing for this moment for decades, and here's the latest revision on our guideline for preaching to aliens; first, once conversations start...
d) Buddhists/Hindus/all other Eastern religions: well, duh, of course, what's the big deal?
e) Alien-inspired religions: WE'RE SAVED!!! (unless it's the reptilians)
f) Other monotheisms: variations of "a" and "b".
You forgot about the Mormon denominations. In the 1830s Joseph Smith Jr already had included "worlds without number" (Moses 1:3, 33 for example) part of the canon. The Book of Abraham places the abode of God near the star Kolob, stating that one day on God's planet is as 1,000 earth years. Most Mormons wouldn't blink on hearing news of intelligent life on other planets, but may be curious as to their appearance. We are taught we are created in God's image, but look at the variations race to race and individ
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You forgot about the Mormon denominations.
Not really. Mormons are covered by "b".
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e.2) Cthulhuism:
Oh cool, yea that's... wait, is that a tentacle?! Oh No, no no no, run for your lives, oh holy fuckballs noooo!
Let me save you some money NASA (Score:3, Interesting)
Orangites reply: (Score:1, Flamebait)
"Fake aliens from fake news, believe me! CNN put their staff in gray costumes and make glowy sounds. But my people are onto them and will kick them in the nuts, and if they don't have any, we'll glue some on, then kick. The MyPillow factory now makes MyNuts. The Dems just want more votes, and want to make Orionids citizens to stuff the ballot boxes. Well, they can stuff this! They left the wormhole portal unguarded and Orionids are just flowing across the border like the spilling of the Milky Way milk. You
Re:Orangites reply: [correction] (Score:1)
Correction: "I'll build a beautiful Dyson Wall and make the Andromedeans pay for it!"
("Andromedeans" may be "Andromedans", but our trolling, I mean spelling staff is out for New Years.)
It's a bit of a conceit (Score:2, Insightful)
It's seems a bit of a conceit to assume that intelligent life would take the same size and scale that we humans take.
Why do we assume that aliens would necessarily be in the same order of magnitude as our size? Could it be more likely that an intelligence that is much, much larger or much more microscopic than ourselves could exist?
Could it also be that intelligent life exists in a different time span than we do? I wonder if there are life forms equivalent to our California redwoods that are intelligent but
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I would think that the smartest thing that an intelligent life form would do upon discovering humans would be to make sure that they themselves are undiscoverable.
I think the conceit is for you to assume that a species capable of space travel would be afraid of us discovering them. Unless you are assuming they have some Prime Directive type of rule.
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Maybe life is so common in the Universe that discovering and contacting new species is not even worth doing, especially for lower life forms like ourselves. "They're barely intelligent, leave them be for another millenium or so".
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Upper and lower bounds are provided by physics/chemistry. Consciousness happens after a certain neural mass, where a central hub is needed to manually prioritize stimuli/response and not just mechanically react. You might shrink back down after evolving one and maintain the minimum N nerves, but not to microscopic spans ("too small to see").
Stimuli handling is reserved for the mobile. Not much point to decision-making when your anatomy isn't capable of immediate decision effects. This includes pain. Plants
Declare them either (Score:2)
Re: It's all about faith (Score:2)
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I think the bible was written by the aliens to fool the majority of people here into not manning up and facing reality. And thus far, their strategy seems to be going swimmingly.
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I think various alien species each made up their own religion and they're simply playing a very long game of Sim Planet just to see which religion will win in the end. Once the game is over, they flood the planet to reset the game field.
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I had a close friend who also happens to be a "preacher" tell me that the very definition of faith is that "you're right and everyone else is wrong".
That's a very sad view. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (translations vary slightly, but this is the most clear). We cannot empirically prove the existence or non-existence of God. We need to test our beliefs (aka. faith) according to our current scientific understanding. Our religious understanding may change with time, as could our scientific understanding.
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I had a close friend who also happens to be a "preacher" tell me that the very definition of faith is that "you're right and everyone else is wrong".. You could sit an alien next to a religious person and they would/could still deny it's existence.
Most religous people I know (and I am religious and associate with religious people) are not as binary in their beliefs as your friend is. It's a shame you lump all religious people with your former close friend.
Aeronautics and Space (Score:2)
Not so much.
theologians (Score:1)
The reverse vampires are missing in this headline (Score:2)
otherwise, great entertainment.
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Reverse vampires? I'm still getting used to glittery sun-repellant vampires!
Sensible idea (Score:3)
Most humans are not intelligent (if you are, be glad you won the genetic lottery) and because they crave affirmation not challenge may not react with proper cold rationality.
The excitable beastmob are not nor were they ever emotionally stable, analytical thinkers. Their behaviors indicate few "think" at all (see COVID and politics for irrefutable proof most humans are idiot trash) so should aliens be encountered it's the duty of ethical government to manage that information.
The masses are unfit to manage ordinary information let alone something so disruptive and require manipulation for their own good.
Re: Sensible idea (Score:2)
Intelligence isnâ(TM)t a binary âoeyou either have it or you donâ(TM)tâ thing, itâ(TM)s a variable level of capability, ranging from Potato to Einstein, with plenty of different orthogonal variations along the way, so you canâ(TM)t even sort organisms by intelligence along a single dimension.
Of course that doesnâ(TM)t prevent people from trying; the only consistent outcome is that they always place themselves into the âoeintelligentâ category :)
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We all know one person or two that have a level below potato. So low, in fact, that it would be an insult to the potato to compare them to it.
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Guess where you get sorted.
Huh? (Score:3)
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Knowing our luck we'd get invaded by the alien's version of missionaries and they'd "help" us by preaching some new super wacky religious nonsense.
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Re: Huh? (Score:1)
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Re: Huh? (Score:1)
But did they consult Matthew McConaughey? (Score:5, Insightful)
As a professional theologian, I always think it's funny how Matthew McConaughey's character in the movie Contact has no qualms whatsoever having a one-night-stand with Jodie Foster. Sure, she's beautiful enough that some guy tried to assassinate Reagan on her behalf, but you would think a so-called theologian would at least be concerned about preserving his public image. The simple truth of the matter, however, is that McConaughey's character exists only to balance out the stereotype fanatical religious terrorists. The incorporation of a so-called theologian allows the filmmakers to say, "See! We're not saying all religious people are bad! Only the ones who don't sleep with Jodie Foster!"
The frequent breakneck reactions here on Slashdot further illustrate the fact that in public consciousness various kinds of fanaticism--even significantly distinct kinds, which can fit into starkly different psychological categories--are uncritically thrown into the umbrella of "religious people." If you're an Anti-vaxxer or Covid-denier, people assume, you must be religious. It's true that there are religious forms of each, and people will use the Bible and other religious authorities as justification for their anti-scientific views. However, you will also find plenty of Anti-vaxxers and Covid-deniers who are just as antagonistic to Christianity or religion in general. The reason is simple: religion was never really the cause of this kind of fanaticism, but rather the excuse. A fanatical person latches on to some idea and makes it a way of life. If that person happens to be religious, then they find ample ways of using religion as a justification for what they already believe. If that person is not religious, then they cling to other sources of would-be authority, especially pseudo-science and conspiracy theories.
Religion is far from innocent of promoting fanaticism, but it is never as simple a matter as is so often presented. Being religious as such is no sure guarantee of fanaticism, any more than being a scientist guarantees atheism. On the other hand, scientific learning does not completely inoculate a person from fanaticism, and a dedicated fanatic can easily bend sound scientific principles into an unsound system of violent thought and behavior.
Back to the point at hand, it's good that NASA is proactively discussing such topics, particularly because the overwhelming negative religious attitude toward intelligent extraterrestrial life that is always assumed on movies and TV has little basis in what people actually believe. I would wager that most people who identify as Christians would not be all that troubled to learn about life on other planets, though it is true that most Christians would eventually seek to evangelize extraterrestrials. In the same way, many Christians do accept human evolution, but fit it into a view of history as purposeful and leading up toward an ultimate goal--something that is not justifiable on the basis of science as such. Many Christians would welcome the idea of intelligent people on other planets, but would assume that in some way God's loving plan for humanity's salvation extends also to intelligent non-humans as well.
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but you would think a so-called theologian would at least be concerned about preserving his public image
Why would having a one-night stand with Jodie Foster endanger your public image?
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Probably half the human population thinks the other half is already "alien" with all the "fake news" and other BS.
This will just make more conspiracies about which half of the "human aliens" are working against the human race.
No Intelligent Life (Score:1)
There is no intelligent life on this planet. What makes you think you could recognize intelligent life on another planet? Seems pretty arrogant to me.
Re: No Intelligent Life (Score:2)
Since thereâ(TM)s no intelligent life on Earth, shall I assume you are an offworlder logged in to Earth via intergalactic VPN? Or just a monkey pressing keys randomly who happened to produce a grammatical series of characters?
Re: No Intelligent Life (Score:4, Funny)
I don't know about him, but I am certainly not a monkey pressing keys randmolita agkrnw[ dsatkwanafd
How to serve ... (Score:2)
How to serve aliens?
Not a Big Deal (Score:2)
The most likely scenario is that we'll find signals from another star system that confirm intelligence. Depending on the distance, it would probably be at least decades if not centuries before contact would be made with any sort of communication. Most religious people would just ignore it as unrelated to their beliefs. Theologians would incorporate the new information into their beliefs or say it's irrelevant as something God never told us was important.
Thanks to Star Wars, MCU, and other fiction, the on
What would "religious experts" know? (Score:1)
Maybe along with the "religious experts" we can get some "military intelligence", "business ethics", and "honest politicians" to help with such an important discovery.
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Unlike the other examples you gave that are actually oxymorons [merriam-webster.com], you can actually be an expert in religion. It's rather pointless, but you can still be an expert in it, just like you can be an expert in art history, gender studies, sociology, etc.
Kinda scared what JWST will see out there (Score:2)
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The unfortunate thing about the simulation argument is that it cant be disproven no matter what.. which makes it a lot less than something that is scientific.
On the other hand, its possible to observe things that support said non-science.
Might be able to make an argument that what is and isnt science changes radically if you accept the simulation argument.
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Concerning aliens, we'll likely know within a year or two of SKA (the Square Kilometre Array) going fully on-line. It has sufficient resolution to do basic analysis of the atmospheres of Earth-sized planets within at least a 100 lightyear radius, possibly further. That makes it a superb device for planetary science, which will certainly get some of its time. The SETI Institute will doubtless piggyback onto it and ferret through all the other data coming in for any interesting anomalies.
Between JWST and SKA,
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"Objects in mirror are closer than they appear."
Just make up some new shit (Score:3)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Microbial and intelligent? (Score:3)
Two dozen theologians participated in a program funded partially by NASA to research how humans may react to news that intelligent life exists on other planets, according to one religious scholar who says he was recruited.
Will Storrar, director of the CTI, said NASA wanted to see "serious scholarship being published in books and journals" addressing the "profound wonder and mystery and implication of finding microbial life on another planet."
I would expect that the "intelligent life" bit is reporter hyperbole. I think that NASA is, however, somewhat optimistic about the possibility of finding extraterrestrial microbial life in the not-too-distant future.
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SKA should be fully online by 2024 and will be used in planetary science. That is more than sufficient to detect microbial life at the Cyanobacteria level of sophistication within a hundred or so light-year radius, as that will show an atmosphere held in dynamic equilibrium which can only be a product of living organisms. It would also pick out a military radar of the sort used on Earth within a few thousand light-years.
JWST will, with any luck, be returning good data in six months. So by 2024, will have re
We already know. We already "found" aliens. (Score:3)
Bill Clinton announced the discovery of life on Mars as though it were fact, and it took a long while before this was later rejected. Nobody freaked out. Few people even seemed to care all that much.
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It wasn't rejected (since that implies falsification). All that was ascertained was that there were other possible explanations. That's why NASA is drilling holes in lake beds on Mars, to determine which of those explanations is the most likely.
They must be an advanced species (Score:2)
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Do not run. We are your friends.
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We have to strike now, sir! Annihilate! Kill! Kill!
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It would have been a better idea to hire (Score:2)
psychologists and philosophers. Like, people who actually study the subject matter of how people think and react. Sure, there are people in religious communities who have some of these skills but it's not their primary qualification.
Excellent (Score:2)
Another example of cretins hiring idiots to tell them about morons. This is definitely money well spent.
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Look how much they pissed away on SETI.
Anyone remember 'District 9'? (Score:2)
Social animals (Score:2)
Humans by nature are social animals; They constantly need someone/something to love/hate;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]