Human size in the galaxy

[[ptx]]

Well... taking populations of various species on earth as a base, i guess the most basic approximation could go as:

*The more advanced species, the more populous it is
*The larger (actual physical size), the less populous

[Tibe]

Time to reinstall Spore again....

[Kafein]

I think if we encounter any aliens it is probably because they have somehow managed to develop faster than light travel, which means we are fucked regardless of how many of us there are compared to them. God knows how far away our technology is from being able to develop anything like that, provided it is even possible. But who knows, maybe the aliens don't even understand the concept of violence.

In any case, there is too many variables to make any insightful statements about it. It is very easy to project aliens always as some slightly different version of humans, keeps it manageable to our brains I guess. Evolution is a funky thing though. Who knows, maybe some other race consists of giant hyper intelligent godzillas who reproduce once every 200 years who manage to keep a population of 20 going.

I highly doubt each of those hypotheses. Why ? Violence in nature is only the manipulation of basic physics to harm other things, in order to eat or to avert some perceived danger. A life form even sligthly similar to us (aka based on carbon/silicon chains) would necessarily learn violence in the process of developping tools, and much more probably way faster than that, as a prey. Maybe not use violence as much as we do, but certainly know it. Also, to develop our brains and agility we already needed millions of years. And that is with reproductive cycles that were relatively short. Species with super slow reproductive cycles evolve much much slower. Although now that I think of it, maybe that is the future of humans (I'm not an evolution expert and I have no idea). Other intelligent species could be very weird, no doubt (think of an animal with an amazing ability then add it to an intelligent species), but evolution and intelligence are quite resricting actually.

Now, if you think of "intelligent beings" outside of the scope of biologic things, you can let your imagination go wild, even though I don't know any lifeless structure complicated enough to do things our brains can do, except maybe the entire universe (are we in a calculator ?).

[Teeth]

Also, to develop our brains and agility we already needed millions of years. And that is with reproductive cycles that were relatively short. Species with super slow reproductive cycles evolve much much slower.

Who's to say they didn't get a billion years headstart?

Other intelligent species could be very weird, no doubt (think of an animal with an amazing ability then add it to an intelligent species), but evolution and intelligence are quite resricting actually.

If you look at the enormous variety that evolution produced Earth wide, which is with quite comparable circumstances, I think you can barely predict anything about the traits of highly intelligent beings that evolved elsewhere. Perhaps intelligence will always evolve in a similar way, but we only have 1 clear example so I am reluctant to draw conclusions.

[Kafein]

Who's to say they didn't get a billion years headstart?

I don't think such an animal would evolve towards intelligence. What for ? Super giant dynosaurs don't need no super brain to have their way.

If you look at the enormous variety that evolution produced Earth wide, which is with quite comparable circumstances, I think you can barely predict anything about the traits of highly intelligent beings that evolved elsewhere. Perhaps intelligence will always evolve in a similar way, but we only have 1 clear example so I am reluctant to draw conclusions.

There are bajillions of species on Earth, but for reasons we have credible theories about, only a handful of species all extremely similar to us acheived similar intelligence (neanderthal & co). We only have one successful example, but we have countless unsuccessful ones. For a life form to become intelligent, it needs to have free "arms" and opposable thumbs. Hence why we are bipedals that evolved from ~quadripedal primates. It needs to be big enough to support the brains, and weak enough to need it...

[Vibe]

SHOL'VA KREE!

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Silence, inferior beings.

Shak'ti'qua

Your manners in the presence of a God are unspeakable. Slaves is what you are. Slaves of the mighty Goa'Uld. Ya wan, ya daru.

You need not know what lies beyond the rancid hole you are to spend your whole life in, mining Naquadah, slaving for your God. The alphas of your race will serve as vessels for the Goa'Uld and consider that an honor.

*whip*

[Sniger]

knowing a great deal about cosmos im pretty confident that we are completely alone in this universe

[Bjord]

knowing a great deal about cosmos im pretty confident that we are completely alone in this universe

Your reasoning and rhetoric astound me. I'm inclined to agree.

[Casimir]

In our galaxy yes, in the whole universe improbable.  The chances of us contacting another life form is however almost non existent.

[Kafein]

Not necessarily true, recent studies of brain activity show that dolphins may well be at least as sentient as chimps; they feel emotions in a similar way to humans, learn to use tools, enjoy sex, have fun for no reason beyond fun (not for hunter training like in cats)- and yet we're still more than happy to kill or eat them, because dolphins don't speak any human languages? Cos they don't have humanoid faces so we can't see them emote? Basically until a sentient species becomes aggressive, or some sort of threat we'll shit all over it- if we encountered a peaceful species we'd enslave/eat them, if they were aggressive and more advanced they'd likely do the same to us. Thanks Obama!

Also cats are intelligent, we domesticated them, but they also adapted to get desired reactions from us- cat's do not meow to each other in nature, not in the same way they meow to humans, so cats have in essence got a separate language dedicated to getting what they want from humans. In houses where a cat lives with only one owner they won't meow if they want something, they purr at the exact pitch of a crying human baby to provoke maternal/paternal responses xP we think we domesticated cats, they domesticated us. Humans... we just got played.

Interesting, but what tools do dolphins use ? I know many animals are very intelligent like elephants and some parrots etc. I'm pretty sure all this about cats is true too but I doubt cats are teached by their parents to knowingly trick humans, instead of just doing it because they get something in return. Using that isn't problem solving, it is adaptation.

My point is there is far more intelligence going on in the animal world than we appreciate, what's to stop us finding an alien species and thinking the same, that they're just dumb animals? Or them thinking the same about us?

We would automatically consider aliens intelligent if they developped fission or combustion or even just fire. All the other animals on earth don't have much to show. Some do crafty things like ants breeding other animals to get food, bears that teach their cubs hom to open car doors, some of the biggest apes inventing seasoning... That still leaves some doubts, especially considering the fact that we don't witness any actual research.

knowing a great deal about cosmos im pretty confident that we are completely alone in this universe

Our type of star isn't that rare, and we can't really prove that there aren't many planets in the right zone as the creation of a stellar system is an extremely chaotic process and planet detection is still in its infancy.

[the real god emperor]

You can't reach the fucking lightspeed.  -Albert Einstein

If there is other species in the Universe, i think they re less modernized than us because if they had more technology they'd reach us already. Because we nearly did that i think. Also if you watch those weed-smoking scientists in Nat Geo , they have some "semi-proofs" about alien existance.

About human population, nothing wrong with* us, we only need to spr[e]ad out! I mean, density for a kilometer2 in Mongolia is 1.76/km2 and in China it is 139.6/km2 , think about the forever loneliness in Mongolia .

[Teeth]

Mongolia

Fuckin -50 celsius man

You can't reach the fucking lightspeed.  -Albert Einstein

because if they had more technology they'd reach us already.

If you can't reach lightspeed (or greatly exceed in the case of galaxies), distances between galaxies and even the nearest solar systems are simply too big too ever encounter any aliens. We can have 200 years more of scientific progress, without every being able to reach any other planets than our beloved 8.

In our galaxy yes, in the whole universe improbable.

Why so sure about our galaxy? There are at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy, I'd say that leaves a good probability of an habitable planet.

[Casimir]

True dat, but still chances of us finding them are sweet fuck all, and if they find us well...

[Kafein]

Fuckin -50 celsius man
If you can't reach lightspeed (or greatly exceed in the case of galaxies), distances between galaxies and even the nearest solar systems are simply too big too ever encounter any aliens. We can have 200 years more of scientific progress, without every being able to reach any other planets than our beloved 8.
Why so sure about our galaxy? There are at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy, I'd say that leaves a good probability of an habitable planet.

Afaik it is theoriticaly possible to transmit information at infinite speed, we have done it already when testing the properties of intricated particles very very far away from each other, but I'm not sure it is exploitable as a practical way to communicate like electromagnetic waves. The problem of lightspeed travel itself isn't that great if we develop spaceships big enough to actually be colonies themselves. Imagine a ship millions of people strong sailing towards a distant habitable planet that will be reached several generations later. Might be excellent material for a novel.

I also wonder if we in our current state found a civilization in a state of development equivalent to western middle ages, would we interfere ? Would advanced aliens that find us interfere with us ?

[Teeth]

The problem of lightspeed travel itself isn't that great if we develop spaceships big enough to actually be colonies themselves.

I'd say this would come with enough problems itself to never be realistic, and we would still have to multiply our current speeds by a redonkeylous amount for even that to become feasible. I don't think there are many practical uses either to having a human colony at a few decades travel distance.

I also wonder if we in our current state found a civilization in a state of development equivalent to western middle ages, would we interfere ?

If they got oil