Except if they'd mastered the technological challenge of interstellar travel they'd probably be a damn sight slicker about it than us, who haven't made it out of our own cradle yet....and they really wouldn't have to monitor what's spun about on that satellite network out there for very long to recognise a belligerent species. Walk right up and say hi? I bloody wouldn't.

I find it unlikely that a non-belligerent species could survive long enough to master space travel.

It's true, I saw it on South Park.

If the probe don't fit, you must acquit!

How disappointing. Nineteen posts and not a single 'Uranus' joke.

"Dude! You've got a 90' satellite dish sticking out of your ass and you're farting fire!"

I agree with Clobfobble. I really wonder if lifeforms could reach an intelligence level much higher than humans are now. It takes millions of years for this type of intelligence to evolve and frankly, I have my doubts on how much longer humans will last (I am talking about hundreds of thousands of years, not decades).

Also, if a species did reach a much higher intelligence level than us, I am pretty sure that their technology would be superior to ours in the way that a ICBM compares to a stone axe. A million year head start is a damn big one. Even if humans did master space travel in the next couple thousand years, we would have technology that would make our current weapons look like toys from the bronze age.

So my theory is that if intelligent life does exist, they either killed themselves off (or blew themselves back to the stone age) or are not much smarter than us but have technology far superior to us.

Or maybe I am just being *shutters* homocentric.

We're too stupid to talk to. What would they get out of coming too close?

Oh hai. It's another idiot that can't even communicate with their mind yet.

I bet it would be like trying to talk to a cockroach. Really, what good does that do? What if they tried that already?

Not to mention, an astronaut would have to be briefed on prior activities so they don't freak out if something happens or they see something while in space.

You know this is just like the cellar. An expert admits to an experience, and the best that can be done is say he is crazy. You'll have to do better.

Wait, what? That's not what I was saying. I was just countering Dana's theory that a kinder, gentler alien race would avoid us because we were belligerent--I think natural selection means you have to be belligerent to survive at all as an intelligent species. If aliens did exist, I think they'd be as belligerent as we are.

Ah, my bad. I wrote my response and later saw your's and thought it was close to mine so I added the agree part.

here's one!

is that the cat that was tearing up your trash a few years ago?

Why do we assume that intelligence is the normal progression for evolving species? Human intelligence so vastly exceeds the problem-solving requirements of survival that it seems more accidental than probable.

Remember, evolution doesn't select for flourishing, just for survival. In almost every category, from language to reason to art, human intellectual capacity far, far exceeds anything that could be justified on the basis of survival.

Why assume that other life-forms had the same happy accident in their evolutionary progression?

I don't think slime-slugs are going to be off exploring other planets.

So you're an alien AND a probee, eh? Are all aliens probees?