Aliens are real?

[IT Minion]

Maybe they have, you dont know.

And maybe Thor is real, you don't know. The evidence is just as compelling.

 

[pete01]

And maybe Thor is real, you don't know. The evidence is just as compelling.

Exactly.

 

[IT Minion]

Exactly.

But since the evidence for Thor is so utterly pathetic, only an idiot would believe in him.

 

[pete01]

But since the evidence for Thor is so utterly pathetic, only an idiot would believe in him.

Well I think you are the one that said "maybe Thor is real"....if the cap fits and all that

 

[IT Minion]

Well I think you are the one that said "maybe Thor is real"....if the cap fits and all that

I acknowledge the possibility that Thor is a real god, I obviously can't disprove it, I also acknowledge it's such a stupidly unlikely thing that only an idiot would believe in it.

Are you one of those people who doesn't understand the difference between an outcome with only two possibilities and an outcome with 50/50 probability?

 

[denso13]

Maybe they have, you dont know.

Nothing can be disproven, which is a silly reason to think therefore anything is possible.

 

[pete01]

Nothing can be disproven, which is a silly reason to think therefore anything is possible.

But it still leaves it open as a possibility.

We can all believe different things cant we?

 

[Odds]

Let's imagine, for a moment, aliens are real and have already begun their journey to Earth. (They'll be here next month in time for the Summer Solstice.) How will we communicate with them?

An interesting article @ Aeon.com by Nikhil Mahant,* explores the difficulties in doing so...

The space of possible languages is vast, and full of exotic languages that are much weirder and stranger than any we have yet imagined. We should explore what those might be – and for more than intellectual curiosity alone. If we one day encounter aliens through first contact or a signal sent across the galaxy, their language might be nothing like ours.

He goes on to categorise them in four ways: Signs; structure, semantics and pragmatics. And wonders how we'd make contact with a species who danced like bees or spoke in a mathematical language: the ways are many fold and get weirder when you realise we still have no idea what dolphins are really trying to tell us - "so long and thanks for all the fish"?


* a philosopher specialising in language. He is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the Department of Philosophy at Uppsala University in Sweden.

 

[IT Minion]

But it still leaves it open as a possibility.

We can all believe different things cant we?

Sure, but you should pay attention to your beliefs and know how much to rely on them. Some you should be confident in, like Gravity, taxes and death. Some you should not rely on at all, such as a loving God, UFOs and a healthy meat feast Pizza.

 

[pete01]

Sure, but you should pay attention to your beliefs and know how much to rely on them. Some you should be confident in, like Gravity, taxes and death. Some you should not rely on at all, such as a loving God, UFOs and a healthy meat feast Pizza.

I'm not religious but if someone wants to believe and it makes them happy why try and ruin it, let them be.

 

[Highway Man]

Sure, but you should pay attention to your beliefs and know how much to rely on them. Some you should be confident in, like Gravity, taxes and death. Some you should not rely on at all, such as a loving God, UFOs and a healthy meat feast Pizza.

A regular little agony aunt and life coach arn't you.

 

[pete01]

A regular little agony aunt and life coach arn't you.

I hate agony aunts....

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

And we're back to magic.

What like the magic, 75 years ago, when we first had pictures displayed on a CRT? Who knows what might be discovered in the future. Never judge the future, via your present.

 

[denso13]

We can all believe different things cant we?

Yes, but if they are stupid you should expect to get called out for them.

 

[denso13]

I'm not religious but if someone wants to believe and it makes them happy why try and ruin it, let them be.

So you are ok with some murdering infidels because their bible says so? Madness...