So what makes Stephen Hawking an expert all of a sudden

Food

no, see, the aliens will be really really big we will climb inside it and build cities without realizing it's alive. and then at the end we realize that we were just a disease the whole time. i just wrote a twilight zone episode.

Synthetic Orange

And then we were the aliens.

DodgeBlan

I want the aliens to be from a race that doesn't have to deal with scarcity any more.

So they could be like the ultimate drunken douchebag party tourists.

Macera

It's entirely possible that aliens would have an entirely different way of thinking

Like we think in lines, but they would think in spirals or something

DontShootToasters

Or maybe we think in words, and they think in bowties!

Centipede Damascus

aliens are actually all catgirls

Dichotomy

Avatar is actually a documentary sent back in time

Macera

really hoping Guillermo del Toro gets to do At the Mountains of Madness

wash the taste of Avatar out of moviegoer's mouths

Hobnail

Dichotomy wrote: »

Avatar is actually a documentary sent back in time

World tree on Pandora is the source of midichlorians, Luke Skywalker has a blue catperson ancestor, bam fan fiction

Dichotomy

Macera wrote: »

really hoping Guillermo del Toro gets to do At the Mountains of Madness

scariest movie

Grey Ghost

Macera wrote: »

It's entirely possible that aliens would have an entirely different way of thinking

Like we think in lines, but they would think in spirals or something

What does this even mean

You people are just making things up now

DodgeBlan

What if aliens like... breathed water... or something

Blake T

Macera wrote: »

It's entirely possible that aliens would have an entirely different way of thinking

Like we think in lines, but they would think in spirals or something

White people walk like this.

Macera

Dichotomy wrote: »

Macera wrote: »

really hoping Guillermo del Toro gets to do At the Mountains of Madness

scariest movie

The giant albino penguins would dampen the tension somewhat

DodgeBlan

I still don't think chinese people are conscious in the same way as europeans.

Dichotomy

look buddy, have you ever been cornered by a giant albino penguin

Centipede Damascus

someone on Facebook asked the question "Why don't Penguins fly?"

I answered "Because there are no fish in the sky."

Houk

Centipede Damascus wrote: »

someone on Facebook asked the question "Why don't Penguins fly?"

I answered "Because there are no fish in the sky."

what about flying fish?

huh?

what about them?!

Centipede Damascus

they don't actually fly, Houk!

sounds like you don't know much about zoology!

Blake T

Centipede Damascus wrote: »

they don't actually fly, Houk!

sounds like you don't know much about zoology!

Well who wants to speak dead languages anyway?

Dichotomy

zoology sounds like such a fake word

Dead Legend

alien life?

not interested unless they're orks on the waaagh path

L|ama

Pony wrote: »

you know what's really weird?

people who get really amped up about extra terrestrials

like people who run SETI@home and shit

those people, man

what is their deal

well, finding other life in the universe would probably be one of if not the most important event in human history

other than that i dunno lol

Aneurhythmia

Chia Mountain wrote: »

I refuse to believe most aliens of this caliber are asshole white, privliaged western upper class people who fucked everyone over to get to the top of the food chain.

Wait, which country landed on the moon?

Grey Ghost

Aneurhythmia wrote: »

Chia Mountain wrote: »

I refuse to believe most aliens of this caliber are asshole white, privliaged western upper class people who fucked everyone over to get to the top of the food chain.

Wait, which country landed on the moon?

The best country on God's green earth, that's who

Aneurhythmia

Backwardsname wrote: »

We have somewhat demonstrated a trend towards a greater capacity for reciprocal altruism over time, as a species. I mean look at how powerful nation-states used to interact as recently as the early 20th century. Now we'd much rather trade with each other and sometimes bicker about climate treaties than get into world wars.

blah

blah

blah

Aliens won't arrive in warships -- they'll show up in cargo ships.

We are at war.

With other countries.

Right now.

L|ama

Hobnail wrote: »

DodgeBlan wrote: »

Chia Mountain wrote: »

He's not an anthropologist, or a sociologist, but something tells me he can understand the whole neoliberal postmodern guilt thing just like the rest of them. His argument seems very white-centric.

Because why, why the fuck would aliens capable of intergalactic travel not be able to synthesize their own petrol, or water, or toilets? I think he was influenced by Avatar, because an alien society who fucked up their own planet and are out on the prowl looking for a new one might do what he proposed in his new thesis, but unlikely. I refuse to believe most aliens of this caliber are asshole white, privliaged western upper class people who fucked everyone over to get to the top of the food chain.

Hey bro

I uh, don't know if you've ever noticed this. But white people didn't invent taking advantage of less advanced societies. It is kind of endemic to our species. White people just did it the best with their colonialism and guns and big boats.

No way man. Know what the Maori did when white folks showed up and traded with guns? Built schools outta muskets.

and committed genocide against flagpoles

redhead

Dichotomy wrote: »

zoology sounds like such a fake word

only cuz you pronounce it wrong

Peccavi

L|ama wrote: »

Pony wrote: »

you know what's really weird?

people who get really amped up about extra terrestrials

like people who run SETI@home and shit

those people, man

what is their deal

well, finding other life in the universe would probably be one of if not the most important event in human history

other than that i dunno lol

I ran Seti@home for a couple days, but then I was like "This is stupid and using up all my CPU."

Stardust@home is at least interactive, though I just logged back in for the first time in years and they deleted all of my events! I totally had found a piece of dust, too! (Really, though, it was cool seeing the picture and being like "Holy Shit! This is exactly what they're looking for!" And now the visual evidence is gone )

Darmak

L|ama wrote: »

Hobnail wrote: »

DodgeBlan wrote: »

Chia Mountain wrote: »

He's not an anthropologist, or a sociologist, but something tells me he can understand the whole neoliberal postmodern guilt thing just like the rest of them. His argument seems very white-centric.

Because why, why the fuck would aliens capable of intergalactic travel not be able to synthesize their own petrol, or water, or toilets? I think he was influenced by Avatar, because an alien society who fucked up their own planet and are out on the prowl looking for a new one might do what he proposed in his new thesis, but unlikely. I refuse to believe most aliens of this caliber are asshole white, privliaged western upper class people who fucked everyone over to get to the top of the food chain.

Hey bro

I uh, don't know if you've ever noticed this. But white people didn't invent taking advantage of less advanced societies. It is kind of endemic to our species. White people just did it the best with their colonialism and guns and big boats.

No way man. Know what the Maori did when white folks showed up and traded with guns? Built schools outta muskets.

and committed genocide against flagpoles

Hey guys, I'm white, I guess that means I'm evil now?

MolotovCockatoo

Has there ever in history been an example of a technologically superior society not eventually completely assimilating, annihilating, or at least outlasting a lesser one? I'm genuinely curious, I can't think of any examples really...

EDIT: except for Atlantis, obviously. Fuckers with their magic orichalcum-powered battle-droids and shit.

Kovak

Aneurhythmia wrote: »

Backwardsname wrote: »

We have somewhat demonstrated a trend towards a greater capacity for reciprocal altruism over time, as a species. I mean look at how powerful nation-states used to interact as recently as the early 20th century. Now we'd much rather trade with each other and sometimes bicker about climate treaties than get into world wars.

blah

blah

blah

Aliens won't arrive in warships -- they'll show up in cargo ships.

We are at war.

With other countries.

Right now.

yeah but those are just brown people

Dichotomy

killin' brown people doesn't count as real killin'

like how if you get it in the butt you're still a virgin

Druhim

Macera wrote: »

Dichotomy wrote: »

Macera wrote: »

really hoping Guillermo del Toro gets to do At the Mountains of Madness

scariest movie

The giant albino penguins would dampen the tension somewhat

I like my tension moist

L|ama

Oh, I don't run seti@home or anything, it just made me think of how it's kind of hard to explain interest in something like that to someone who doesn't share it. Like Feynman at Los Alamos - Bohr would specifically ask to talk to him, because most other physicists wouldn't want to disagree with him. Feynman simply got too excited about physics when talking about it to even think about hiding what he thought, and I think it's a similar sort of thing for most people who are really really interested in something.

L|ama

Darmak wrote: »

L|ama wrote: »

Hobnail wrote: »

DodgeBlan wrote: »

Chia Mountain wrote: »

He's not an anthropologist, or a sociologist, but something tells me he can understand the whole neoliberal postmodern guilt thing just like the rest of them. His argument seems very white-centric.

Because why, why the fuck would aliens capable of intergalactic travel not be able to synthesize their own petrol, or water, or toilets? I think he was influenced by Avatar, because an alien society who fucked up their own planet and are out on the prowl looking for a new one might do what he proposed in his new thesis, but unlikely. I refuse to believe most aliens of this caliber are asshole white, privliaged western upper class people who fucked everyone over to get to the top of the food chain.

Hey bro

I uh, don't know if you've ever noticed this. But white people didn't invent taking advantage of less advanced societies. It is kind of endemic to our species. White people just did it the best with their colonialism and guns and big boats.

No way man. Know what the Maori did when white folks showed up and traded with guns? Built schools outta muskets.

and committed genocide against flagpoles

Hey guys, I'm white, I guess that means I'm evil now?

way to say something that nobody in the quote tree before you even came close to implying except maybe the first guy

redhead wrote: »

Dichotomy wrote: »

zoology sounds like such a fake word

only cuz you pronounce it wrong

yeah, everyone knows it rhymes with eulogy.

DodgeBlan

MolotovCockatoo wrote: »

Has there ever in history been an example of a technologically superior society not eventually completely assimilating, annihilating, or at least outlasting a lesser one? I'm genuinely curious, I can't think of any examples really...

EDIT: except for Atlantis, obviously. Fuckers with their magic orichalcum-powered battle-droids and shit.

There are lots of examples of less technologically conquering the more advanced. Mongols for example.

Blake T

DodgeBlan wrote: »

MolotovCockatoo wrote: »

Has there ever in history been an example of a technologically superior society not eventually completely assimilating, annihilating, or at least outlasting a lesser one? I'm genuinely curious, I can't think of any examples really...

EDIT: except for Atlantis, obviously. Fuckers with their magic orichalcum-powered battle-droids and shit.

There are lots of examples of less technologically conquering the more advanced. Mongols for example.

<America joke>

L|ama

composite bows are pretty fancy

the other problem is that there's no objective measure of 'technically superior' and many people would probably think winning a war or something would be proof of technological superiority.

Houk

zoology - the study of zoos