3 types of Extraterrestrial Civilizations

[Laivasse]

*snip banks*

The other thing that I was getting at was: presuming that a 'sufficiently advanced' civilisation might also be morally advanced, or might have back-engineered itself to be more moral (and less mortal), what need would it feel to go out and colonise everything? What desire would it have to colonise and catalogue everything that is? In the same way that the Culture is willing and able to relax a little, and take exploration slowly for its own enjoyment, I can't see such a civilisation feeling with such burning ardour the old human desire for ultimate empery.

I still haven't gotten around to reading Banks' novels, but these sentiments remind me of a theme which pops up in Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep. In Vinge's fictional version of the Milky Way, the laws of physics change depending on the depth and density of the area of the galaxy that a particular race inhabits. The further out you travel, the more becomes possible in terms of faster than light travel, strong AI, and so forth.

Anyway, that's just a plot device. In the novel, civilisations near the galactic rim routinely make the transition from Kaku's type 2 or 3 classification to something greater; they 'Transcend' and become 'Powers'. Like the idea you suggest, these Powers tend not to have the same mortal or moral compulsions as we do. On the galactic scale, their area of influence is very limited (not least because they can only really exist beyond the outer limits), and in terms of lifespan they rarely last longer than 10 earth years, dying of boredom or suicide. The antagonist of the book is an entity known as the Blight, an exceedingly rare example of an intelligence that rivals 'Powers' yet which is also obsessed with relentless expansion and colonisation, Von Neumann-style.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Ah, Kaku is badass. His book Physics of the impossible is awesome, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Futurists and technological singularitarians like Ray Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge have a better grasp of the forces at play in the technological arena

I agree with the latter point, but I don't think Kurzweil's predictions are grounded in reality. Human equivalent AI by 2030? Immortality by 2040? Hell, he predicted we would have speech recognition computers by 2009, but unless a speech recognition revolution spreads in the next few weeks, that ain't gonna happen.


Also, both The fire upon the deep and The Culture novels are unimaginably cool.

If you like them, I would recommend you pay a visit to this site. Its a group project sci-fi along the same lines as Vernor Vinge/Ian M. Banks. You can spend months on it, and still not find everything. And its a working project.

 

[Ennui]

I've read Hyperspace by Kaku and it was relatively interesting (although nowhere near A Brief History of Time in quality). Still he never really explains anything more in depth than say, wikipedia.

 

[Laivasse]

I would recommend you pay a visit to this site. Its a group project sci-fi along the same lines as Vernor Vinge/Ian M. Banks. You can spend months on it, and still not find everything. And its a working project.

Thanks for that, looks like a cool site.

 

[Tyguy]

Yes of course...
So according to your logic only our civilization can be in it's relative infancy in the present time... Right...

im trying to think of a better way to explain it but since your obviously on the slow side it might be a futile attempt.

I never said it was impossible to discover a civilization in it's infancy, only that it was highly unlikely to do so before discovering one on the advanced side. Let's try this one more time, and when you reply, let's see if you can keep the roll eyes emoticon to a minimum.

The universe is 15 billion years old. The earth is around 4 billion years old. The chances of finding aliens who are a younger species than us is staggeringly small. Since it's assumed that some young civilizations will not make it, that only serves to prove that the ones that ARE still around have been for a while. It's simple logic and this has been mentioned by both Michio Kaku and Carl Sagan a number of times. There's nothing else to say to you except you're wrong. Oh, and

Most people including myself don't bother to check these things, and take the information as is...

 

[DEATHMASTER]

He's clearly insane. Thinking we have the ability to actually do anything but destroy ourselves! The nerve...

 

[Pesmerga]

As long as we destroy ourselves in a meaningful and productive way, I'm chill.

 

[Ennui]

As long as we destroy ourselves in a meaningful and productive way, I'm chill.

You must not be very chill then, because there is nothing meaningful nor truly productive about the way we're wreaking havoc and laying waste to our planet and future.

 

[jverne]

man...i'd like to play freelancer right now...or better yet freelancer 2.

 

[MJ12]

You must not be very chill then, because there is nothing meaningful nor truly productive about the way we're wreaking havoc and laying waste to our planet and future.

^Psh! Pot smoking hippie kid.

 

[Pesmerga]

You must not be very chill then, because there is nothing meaningful nor truly productive about the way we're wreaking havoc and laying waste to our planet and future.

There's a lot of productive things going on to solve these things, though. People learn nothing when things are OK.

 

[Remus]

There's nothing else to say to you except you're wrong. Oh, and

back at you.

 

[Dog--]

Couldn't we just call them High-, Mid- and Low-level Involved?

Don't scoop your mids.

lol sound people will understand... I hope.







Kind of gay we aren't even type 1. They should have type 0 include single cell organisms too.

 

[Tyguy]

Kind of gay we aren't even type 1. They should have type 0 include single cell organisms too.

i don't think single cell organisms can be categorized into civilizations.

 

[Pesmerga]

Single celled organisms are still infinitely more complex than our busiest city.

 

[Steven]

Extraterrestrial civilizations have evolved passed empathy and complex communication and only let each other live if they are of value, but they are all really strong. They will come here, and just take our resources and just not give a **** because were so weak.

 

[Tyguy]

Single celled organisms are still infinitely more complex than our busiest city.

imagine a city of single cell organisms though...that's like infinity plus 1

 

[jverne]

actually...the most stupid reason an (advanced) alien civilization would attack us for, is "to get our resources". there are so much more resources out there in space than on our puny planet.
seriously they'll probably attack us first because they are bored than because of resources.

 

[Steven]

What if they want water?

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Don't be daft. Aliens are allergic to water.

 

[PvtRyan]

"By the year 2000 you will be going to work in flying cars and your secretary will be a robot."

Futurologists are full of shit.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Single celled organisms are still infinitely more complex than our busiest city.

Doesn't our busiest city consist in part of many single celled organisms and multicellular organisms?

 

[Lizardizzle]

I've seen this before...

Lol, the human race fails.....









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