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Fair enough:yes: We can use science to make some assumptions, since like you said, they will not be magical, but limited by the same laws of science we are. For example, they are likely carbon-based; maybe silicon. But I have to maintain my argument that, beyond what the laws of physics can...

Fair enough:yes: We can use science to make some assumptions, since like you said, they will not be magical, but limited by the same laws of science we are. For example, they are likely carbon-based; maybe silicon. But I have to maintain my argument that, beyond what the laws of physics can...

Agreed. But there is one thing we must do...and this is the big thing: Throw away everything we know. We think we have some idea of what an alien species would be like--look at our science fiction. We don't. We're not even close. Our bodies are based on carbon. Theirs might be based on...

No doubt...but with enough time I think we could be less bellicose as a species and have more thought about what to do when the time comes. What it is that I'm worried about is not something I can really put into words...

:huh: That's...not how I would have put that:rofl:

Until at least 2100, we won't have the technology to find them, so no luck unless they come to us. And until at least 2300, I don't think we would be ready, emotionally or psychologically. This would really screw up a lot of peoples' world view. I don't think there would necessarily have to...

Cozy enough to melt lead. Literally. ---------- Post added at 09:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 AM ---------- I wouldn't expect that until at least 2100. I wouldn't want that until at least 2300.

Seven below is the kind of weather I haven't experienced since I was about 6 and living in Maine. I don't remember what it felt like, but my brother lives in Wisconsin, and -20 F is typical of winters there. So I asked him, and he said "It's the kind of cold that makes your face hurt."

But how can you build something, and not know how it works?

I understand your point here. But...we still had to ask Watson to do those things. And it did them using software we programmed it with. Watson did not just say "Hey, I think I'll become a doctor!" I think my stove analogy applies here. The programmers didn't realize the full ramifications...

No you wouldn't. Trust me. You wouldn't.

Saturn is a bit chilly to be Hell;) But in all seriousness, could you imagine floating over those cloud decks and seeing the rings overhead? That would be almost as mind-destroying as the sights Ellie Arroway saw in Contact:love:

See this thread. This was an O-F project that landed two crews on Mercury's south pole, and built one base and a couple of smaller ones. We had a pretty good time:)

I've said this before and I will repeat it: I would go back in time and kill Ghandi for a chance to see Saturn up close with my own eyes.

What I'd like to see: At least one of the landings from "Voyage to the Planets" (just not the Venus one, please:shifty:) First Mars crew A manned Mercury mission (real life Iron Hill Project:)) What I'd expect to see: First crew on Mars, IF we can get through with all this political BS...

Well...sort of. Hard to deny that actually. That's essentially what you are doing when you write a chess program. But if you got beaten by your own software, it would be very hard to tell if the program was actually thinking, or just used your style of play in a way you hadn't thought of. A...

I agree--this is the central question of this whole discussion, and frankly a very difficult one. It has distinctly philosophical overtones. I would start with saying what intelligence is not. It is not a store of knowledge, or a filing cabinet would be intelligent. It is not the ability to...

Space flight is easier than people give it credit for. The trick is that when people think "in orbit" they immediately think "in space". This is because on any world with even a wisp of an atmosphere, you have to get into space before you can go fast enough to achieve orbit, or you will burn...

Frighteningly so:lol: It depends on how you separate "intelligent" from "self-aware". When most people speak of "true" AI they are talking about self-awareness, which does not by itself require a great store of knowledge. An ant is part of a hive mind. It can be debated whether they are even...

Well, yes...but the child can get bored with the lesson and walk away. No computer can do that. Computers are automatons. They can only do what they are told. The day a computer can do something without being programmed would be a dark day for humanity. Fortunately, as I said, telling something...