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wicked3659[Error: unknown template qotd]
Oooh a question I actually am interested in answering, now there's a first.
First of all yes, I believe this whole heartedly. Do I think that we would recognise it? Probably not. We are quite unique in the fact that we had the perfect conditions, at exactly the right time allowing life to form. So to think any other intelligent life will resemble ourselves in any way, is both illogical and slightly far fetched.
Is it to be feared or actively sought out?
I don't think we should ever stop reaching, learning and trying to better ourselves in terms of knowledge of life and the universe. I do think we should be more wary of where we tread as we go about it though.
Human beings will fear the unknown no matter what it is, it's how we survive as a species but hopefully - in our growing intelligence and understanding of the universe and our neverending search for other life forms *channels startrek* - there will come a time in our existence when we do encounter/discover sentient life and we're mature enough as a species to deal with it, reach out to it.
Unfortunately our basic nature is to dominate and control, so at this stage in our evolution if we encountered sentient life somewhere in the universe, I would say that is something to be fearful of, not for our sakes but for theirs. The most likely form of life we're to encounter is in the form of bacteria or microbes and we simply do not realise or we choose to ignore the impact we have when we carry out research on our own planet, so just imagine what we'd to to an alien eco system.
In short it is massively arrogant of us as a species to think we're alone in a universe this big. In the words of Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. "Life finds a way."
Oooh a question I actually am interested in answering, now there's a first.
First of all yes, I believe this whole heartedly. Do I think that we would recognise it? Probably not. We are quite unique in the fact that we had the perfect conditions, at exactly the right time allowing life to form. So to think any other intelligent life will resemble ourselves in any way, is both illogical and slightly far fetched.
Is it to be feared or actively sought out?
I don't think we should ever stop reaching, learning and trying to better ourselves in terms of knowledge of life and the universe. I do think we should be more wary of where we tread as we go about it though.
Human beings will fear the unknown no matter what it is, it's how we survive as a species but hopefully - in our growing intelligence and understanding of the universe and our neverending search for other life forms *channels startrek* - there will come a time in our existence when we do encounter/discover sentient life and we're mature enough as a species to deal with it, reach out to it.
Unfortunately our basic nature is to dominate and control, so at this stage in our evolution if we encountered sentient life somewhere in the universe, I would say that is something to be fearful of, not for our sakes but for theirs. The most likely form of life we're to encounter is in the form of bacteria or microbes and we simply do not realise or we choose to ignore the impact we have when we carry out research on our own planet, so just imagine what we'd to to an alien eco system.
In short it is massively arrogant of us as a species to think we're alone in a universe this big. In the words of Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. "Life finds a way."
