Technically, wouldn’t god or gods or goddesses have to also qualify as non human intelligent aliens? That’s a great question, sadly, we can only explore the answer in fiction these days:
(Fake News — In the film, an Earth-based crew is sent on a long journey to a near-by star system to explore a planet believed to host an advanced civilization. The film asks not just how realistic such a premise is, but more complex questions: Did aliens create the human race? If so, does that negate the existence of God? Or, did God create the aliens? Ridley Scott, it seems, is a believer.
“The more you go into it, the more you realize that it kind of makes sense,” Scott told FoxNews.com. “You stand outside at night, you look at the galaxy, and think, ‘The fact that we think we’re the only ones here is entirely ridiculous.’ It’s an arrogance to believe that we’re the only ones here.”
Yes, it is arrogant to think the entire universe is empty save for one species that has learned to appreciate the cosmos in the last hundred years. That would be almost as dumb as thinking the same universe was built exclusively as an amphitheatre hosting a pissing contest between rival deities using the same species as prizes.
Ahhh, it’s turtles all the way down. Again.
I think folks forget just how far 1 light year is and the amount of resources (and generations) you’d need to get to another habitable planet. I don’t doubt there is *life* on other planets but it’s a huge step to go from there to having the right combination of intelligence and resources to send messages let alone matter.
I strongly suspect we even know enough physics to say that using antigrav / wormholes / bouncing on D-branes / sub dimensions / sci-fi esoterica to travel is right out.
What if light is a real barrier BUT …. they/them can naturally hibrenate, or they live very slowly, or they live 10,000 years as long, you know, as long as they don’t mate, or … ?
Hank Fox has a series of posts reviewing a book about this topic, and there’s some interesting discussion over there.
And baal, I’ve read a paper that NASA produced in the early 70s for an unmanned Alpha Centauri mission. They thought it could be feasable, but it would take about a century to get there, and the transmission would be done with lasers. Granted, that was before we new about much of the structure of the outer Solar System (Pluto was still a planet, and we didn’t even know it had any moons), but it was an interesting read. I think it used nuclear bomb pulse engine for propulsion, but my memory may be off on that.
I hope they brought enough people to breed and not be subject to genetic diseases. And a source of artificial gravity. And lots of Twinkies.
At present, Voyager I is the furthest manmade object from Earth.
It’s traveling at 61,400 km/h; 38,200 mph. At this velocity, it would reach the nearest star to us (Proxima Centauri) in 73,600 years. That is, if it were aimed at that star. Which it isn’t.
It takes 14,000 years at its current velocity to travel one light year.
ghetto edit: … was before we knew about much …
Wasn’t it Arthur C. Clarke that said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”?
The corollary, of course, is (attribution unknown) “Any sufficiently advanced being is indistinguishable from god”
David Brin’s “Uplift” series.
Yes – maybe.
Although what if Humans evolve into Gods or God is a time travelling future superhuman?
Isaac Asimov wrote an idea akin to this in his excellent Last Question short story.
According to the mythology the Abraham diety made us “in his image” – not sure if that includes DNA or just a captured reflection in the mirror!
Well, until we see the long-form birth certificate, don’t we have to assume that God is an illegal alien?
@ ^ unbound : illegal to where?
He does seem to evade searches and isn’t very open or clear about his exact identity tho’ so yeah, could be! ;-)