Life, and technology.

If aliens were to look into an ancient sky and find a planet capable of forming life they could decide to steer away from intervening in the development of life. It would be pretty likely that such a candidate planet would be found much much earlier than the first signs of life, since we know that the reasons for life on Earth are very unique (size of the moon=stabilizes orbit, distance from sun, etc etc)

So if you were an alien species who was capable of space-travel, what would your intentions be?

One might find that alien species will designate protected systems much like humans create national parks. So imagine now that alien species come across a candidate system that is early in its development and is teeming with life. They allow things to run its course, and next thing you know you start noticing big changes. One of the organisms begins to dominate the planet and destroy the ecosystem. And for outside observer with different senses, humans may not considered as much as individuals as lets say ants in an anthill or cells in body. So this wouldn't be viewed as an issue of habits or the free will of people, but the systematic responses of large populations.

We like to think that we are these little unique creatures who aren't deterministic. But its very likely that this is the delusion of subjective experience, and that in reality we are no more than a mechanism inside a causal chain. (this happens> that happens > i do this because i learned that > result) A sufficiently intelligent extraterrestrial species could determine the fate of our species by determining the way we function and react to the preexisting conditions. If they were ever to deduce that humans by nature are inevitably going to destroy this planet rather than transcend it and protect it, they would choose to limit/direct our growth.

That's your premise for a good apocalyptic scenario (aliens invade earth, war against humans). But why would a sufficiently intelligent species waste its resources trying to eradicate a species, when there are much more intelligent/moral/viable solutions. If you could someone how direct the course of human development, you would get them to control themselves by developing the technology to do so.

So, I wonder. Have humans already made contact, but we are too oblivious to see it in any meaningful way due to the innate limitations of human brain? Could they intervene not by force, but by introducing technology that would entrap humans into accepting a more humble and sustainable fate?

Submitted April 28, 2016 at 10:49PM by stellaeerrantes http://ift.tt/1NYIjYp