Boebert.SCOMP@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA (08/04/85)
From: Boebert@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA The term "advanced" implies that evolution is a ladder, when it can be cogently argued (i.e., by Stephen Jay Gould) that it is a tree. You are not more *advanced* than a duck-billed platypus, you are just *different*. Aliens will be looking for something that is attractive to them, based on their frame of reference; there is no assurance whatever that their motivations will make any sense to us.
polard@fortune.UUCP (Henry Polard) (08/09/85)
In article <3094@topaz.ARPA> Boebert.SCOMP@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA writes: >From: Boebert@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA >Aliens will be looking for something that is attractive to >them, based on their frame of reference; there is no assurance whatever >that their motivations will make any sense to us. We Aldebaranians value Coke as the essence of immortality. Say, this Coke tastes different... Oh, alright - :-) -- Henry Polard (You bring the flames - I'll bring the marshmallows.) {ihnp4,cbosgd,amd}!fortune!polard N.B: The words in this posting do not necessarily express the opinions of me, my employer, or any AI project.
franka@mmintl.UUCP (Frank Adams) (08/12/85)
In article <3094@topaz.ARPA> Boebert.SCOMP@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA writes: >From: Boebert@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA > > Aliens will be looking for something that is attractive to >them, based on their frame of reference; there is no assurance whatever >that their motivations will make any sense to us. Our primary motivation is our desire to survive -- ourselves and our families, primarily; larger groupings to a lesser extent. Love, hate, fear, and most other emotions are explainable thereby. This desire is an inevitable consequence of evolutionary development. (Flames to net.origins, please.) Thus there is every reason to expect aliens to share it. Less obvious are things like religion. There are survival-related reasons for the development of religion, but it is not clear how much they relate to details of our development. Aliens might have some such institution which would lead them to behavior patterns which seemed very bizarre to us. But survival is a quite sufficient reason to colonize other stellar systems, so it is the most likely one.