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SterlingVapor t1_j22tpzg wrote

Reply to comment by the_zelectro in One of the world's largest lasers could be used to detect alien warp drives by upyoars

>Granted, if that mothership showed up in our neck of the woods, we're probably screwed.

Why? They're building ships larger than Earth and space is huge and full of resources, the only possible reason for them to give our planet a second glance is for us and maybe to study life in general

And maybe it's too wipe us out, but again... Why? Space is really, really big. Fighting over resources is dumb, everything's entirely recyclable with enough energy and automation. Energy is what matters.

So if the stars start going out, there's reason for worry... Other than that, it's humans projecting our own failings on aliens. Factions would form demanding we eliminate potential future threats, and so we think aliens might have this same thought...

But we ignore the fact as we are we'd never be able to build a ship like that. Even if we had the technology and resources handed to us, politics and infighting would leave us with a mismatched mess that would fall apart as we argued over if it even needs maintenance

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skinte1 t1_j240qc1 wrote

>Why? They're building ships larger than Earth and space is huge and full of resources, the only possible reason for them to give our planet a second glance is for us and maybe to study life in general

Could be our planet is so small they're not even giving it a first glance... Like forestry machinery driving over an anthill to get to the area they are going to log. Using our sun for fuel before continuing on their merry way etc...

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the_zelectro t1_j22ugxf wrote

Earth is puny. But... Our Sun might be useful.

There are unique things about our Sun. It's an energy dense mid-sequence star, in a galaxy mostly comprised of red giants. Also, it's in the center of a fairly empty region of space: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sciencealert.com/the-solar-system-floats-in-a-void-now-we-know-how-that-void-triggered-the-formation-of-stars/amp

If some aliens decided that our star is good for refueling or for settling a colony (or both) we'd be toast.

To achieve any fraction of the speed of light, you'll need a ton of energy. And, due to time-dilation, it's a one-way trip. If aliens decide to swing by us, it can only mean so many things...

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camplate t1_j2f7a8l wrote

Did you mean red dwarfs? M-type stars are 80% of stars, red giants are 0.4%

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NoGoodDM t1_j247b39 wrote

They’ll probably destroy earth to make room for a new space highway.

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ABoyWithNoBlob t1_j24lint wrote

You’ve got to build bypasses.

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x31b t1_j25bucy wrote

Strawberry ripple in the space time continuum? What happened to Eddy? I thought that’s where he was.

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Miguel-odon t1_j25shfz wrote

Maybe they have a policy of eliminating sentient life before it can become a threat.

Maybe they just like hunting undeveloped species in exotic locations.

Maybe the humanoid form is considered blasphemy against their deity?

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DamianFullyReversed t1_j2d2vsw wrote

If we do encounter an alien civilisation, I really hope they have good bioethics, or at least trivially care about us. But yeah, it’s scary a single individual can react so much differently. I sometimes rescue worms from footpaths, but the next person might step on them for fun. I’m a bit worried aliens could be like this, though I’m a bit optimistic in that I think they’ll engineer their own niceness into them.

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