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+--- Thread: Article Finding ETs offers benefits, not existential risk (philosophy of extraterrestrials) (/thread-13961.html)
Finding ETs offers benefits, not existential risk (philosophy of extraterrestrials) - C C - Apr 13, 2023
Philosophy of extraterrestrials: an unfairly neglected subject
https://kfbaker.blogspot.com/2017/08/philosophy-of-extraterrestrials.html
EXCERPTS: Philosophers have devoted very little attention to the subject of extraterrestrial life. Cirkovic, Kukla, and Lamb are the only recent philosophical monographs on the subject that I'm aware of. The lack of philosophical engagement with the extraterrestrial question is puzzling for several reasons...
[...] (1) As is demonstrated by Dick and Crowe, there is a long history of philosophical discussion of extraterrestrials...
[...] (2) The scientific study of extraterrestrial life, which is part of the field of astrobiology, is a highly interdisciplinary field currently undergoing rapid progress, however its conceptual foundations have yet to be fully developed...
[...] (3) The problem of extraterrestrials is connected with a variety of topics in philosophy of biology, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, ethics, and so on...
[...] Why did philosophers lose interest in extraterrestrials? I don't have the historical competence to answer this definitively, but it's worth noting a few points. By the early 1900s, the scientific justification for belief in extensive extraterrestrial life had collapsed. Closer studies of the other planets of the solar system revealed them to be barren, desolate worlds...
[...] Whatever the reasons for the absence of philosophical study of extraterrestrials, I hope, in light of the great scientific progress on the problem and the wide range of philosophical issues it connects with, that more philosophers turn their attention to it in the near future... (MORE - missing details)
Discovering Extraterrestrials Offers Benefits, Not An Existential Risk
https://thedebrief.org/discovering-extraterrestrials-offers-benefits-not-an-existential-risk/
EXCERPTS: (Avi Loeb): In 2010, Stephen Hawking warned that aliens might pose an existential risk to humanity, and that we should therefore be careful about broadcasting our existence to interstellar space.
Six years later, I hosted Hawking for a Passover Seder at my home. However, this was a year before the anomalous interstellar object `Oumuamua was discovered in 2017, the same year I became interested in the possible passage of extraterrestrial technological objects near Earth.
After thinking about this topic over the past six years since the discovery of `Oumuamua’s anomalies, I now respectfully disagree with Hawking on this matter.
[...] advanced extraterrestrials would not be threatened by our current scientific knowledge. Our species would look as insignificant as an ant colony in the crack of a pavement appearing to the eyes of a fast biker. Since extraterrestrial technologies will likely be far more advanced, we can benefit greatly from encountering them...
[...] Second, my take on `survival of the fittest’ in interstellar space favors a wise, peace-seeking, space-exploring species, because aggressive or militaristic versions are likely to get bruised by conflicts and therefore have a shorter lifespan.
[...] Altogether, I hold the optimistic view that encountering extraterrestrial probes would promote our scientific knowledge and, through that, advance our status in the class of intelligent civilizations. The Webb telescope shows us that the sky is full of stars and galaxies in every direction, with plenty of potential hubs for neighbors.
[...] Perhaps I am naïve, but I believe that life is often a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we do not search for new knowledge, we will never find it.... (MORE - missing details)
RE: Finding ETs offers benefits, not existential risk (philosophy of extraterrestrials) - Kornee - Apr 14, 2023
Someone should tap theoriser Avi on the shoulder and point him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXT6LxBFE7U
It's long, and seemingly wanders everywhere. Takeaway from Ted Roe as scary personal experiencer (not the earlier mentioned Hawaii one), and long time researcher, could hardly be more different from egg-head Avi.
Except the bit about 'them' being likely 'millions of years more advanced'. It logically follows 'they' could take us out in a blink and there's nothing we could do about it.
Which really makes Ted's concerns utterly moot. The common premise of Avi and Ted being 'they' are merely 'super-advanced aliens'.