Spacefaring Life

[nerd1]

I have a fairly simple hypothesis: if we manage to get into space, then since it would take a similaur expansionist mindset for other sentient races to get into space, we would be able to understand and discern their motivations, even if we think those motivations are stupid or immoral. This does not necessarily mean we could figure out how to communicate with them, though.
Comments?

[whatifidogetcaught?]

So, you are saying that we can understand WHY that went into space, but just can't understand THEM.

I for one would believe that hypothesis could be justified, though I am fairly sure that we would figure out some method of communication. For instance, the Native Americans and Spaniards had never seen each other before, but managed to learn each other's languages.

[nerd1]

So, you are saying that we can understand WHY that went into space, but just can't understand THEM.

I for one would believe that hypothesis could be justified, though I am fairly sure that we would figure out some method of communication. For instance, the Native Americans and Spaniards had never seen each other before, but managed to learn each other's languages.

my problem with this anology is that we're all humans, and therefore think similaurly . Having every spacefaring race be able to vocalize a common language always irks we when I read SciFi. I believe that due to the diversity of races we'll likely find if we can develop FTL, we'll likely find races that look, talk, and/or act like us, but having every race be comprehensible in annoying.

[whatifidogetcaught?]

So, you are saying that we can understand WHY that went into space, but just can't understand THEM.

I for one would believe that hypothesis could be justified, though I am fairly sure that we would figure out some method of communication. For instance, the Native Americans and Spaniards had never seen each other before, but managed to learn each other's languages.

my problem with this anology is that we're all humans, and therefore think similaurly . Having every spacefaring race be able to vocalize a common language always irks we when I read SciFi. I believe that due to the diversity of races we'll likely find if we can develop FTL, we'll likely find races that look, talk, and/or act like us, but having every race be comprehensible in annoying.

Ok, I see your point. On some basic level however, we could learn to understand each other's languages. There will be those willing to learn and those willing to teach. The basics, such as pointing at an object and saying its name is one of the many ways to learn to communicate.

[northcity4]

IF we found life in space, let's assume for a moment they are a whole different 'physics' living. When the natives and white men met, they were both human=how they were able to communicate. Humans and animals can communicate since both have a similar physics. When I refer to physics I am referring ways of thinking, genetics, etc. But, what if these living things were so 'illogical?' Could we still find a way to communicate?

[nerd1]

IF we found life in space, let's assume for a moment they are a whole different 'physics' living. When the natives and white men met, they were both human=how they were able to communicate. Humans and animals can communicate since both have a similar physics. When I refer to physics I am referring ways of thinking, genetics, etc. But, what if these living things were so 'illogical?' Could we still find a way to communicate?

physics is pretty universal, I believe what you mean is that their biology would be so different that they would be incomprehensible. As for not being logical, all living beings are logical to some extent, if a species was illogical then it would not survive very long. I have no idea if we could communicate with them, but understanding their motivations is likely.

[Zso_Zso]

It is far more likely that we we will start "communicating" with alien intelligence long before we actually "meet" them, simply due to the distance versus speed-of-light constraints. I guess you do know, that the closest star to us (other then our sun) -- Alpha Centauri is about 4.5 light years away, meaning it would take 9 years for light or electromagnetic signals (communication) to do a round-trip, while we currently don't have any technology that would allow us to even reach 1% of that speed with a space-ship, so making a trip is far beyond a human life-time.

If / when we detect any sign of alien life in the form of electromagnetic signals, I'm sure we will make all possible efforts to start communicating via such remote technologies. Also note, that we already use electromagnetic technology for long-range communication even though we are not capable of "hearing" or understanding it directly with our bodily senses, thus we can certainly develop technologies to translate whatever way the aliens communicate, be it color / light patterns, smells or whatever else apart from sound frequencies we use.

[nerd1]

It is far more likely that we we will start "communicating" with alien intelligence long before we actually "meet" them, simply due to the distance versus speed-of-light constraints. I guess you do know, that the closest star to us (other then our sun) -- Alpha Centauri is about 4.5 light years away, meaning it would take 9 years for light or electromagnetic signals (communication) to do a round-trip, while we currently don't have any technology that would allow us to even reach 1% of that speed with a space-ship, so making a trip is far beyond a human life-time.

If / when we detect any sign of alien life in the form of electromagnetic signals, I'm sure we will make all possible efforts to start communicating via such remote technologies. Also note, that we already use electromagnetic technology for long-range communication even though we are not capable of "hearing" or understanding it directly with our bodily senses, thus we can certainly develop technologies to translate whatever way the aliens communicate, be it color / light patterns, smells or whatever else apart from sound frequencies we use.

interestingly, while we have yet to actually build it, we already have at least one design to get to FTL speeds that's actually feasible,
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive it still requires some theoretical stuff that I don't really understand, but hopefully that means we can get to FTL within the next 80 years.
As for how the aliens transmit information, I doubt it would be hard to create machines to gather signals sent out by those aliens, my problem is that I don't think it will be likely that most aliens have languages we could translate into something humans could comprehend.

[cometbah]

It is possible that a species can become spacefaring without the intention of becoming spacefaring.

[nerd1]

It is possible that a species can become spacefaring without the intention of becoming spacefaring.

I was actually thinking about making  new thread on this... anyways, if a species becomes spacefaring unintentionally then I figure they would still either have needed a simiaur expansionist mindset, and if they weren't sentient, well, animals are easier to understand anyways.

[Drake_XIV]

You guys are easily assuming that any other intelligent life would be interested in communicating with us at first.

[OldTrees]

Humans are better defined by ends than by means. This makes humans tend to interpret the means of others as if they were the other's ends. nerd1 has taken the means of space travel and interpreted it as the end of expansionism.

Space travel could easily be the result of:
Fear of extinction.
Fear of prime numbers. (stops at 4 planets having no desire for a scary 5th planet)
Desire for exotic materials.
Running out of supplies.
Boredom/Exploration.
...

Shared means does not imply the ability to understand each other's ends.