From: Alintelbot@aol.com
Date: Sun Jul 25 1999 - 23:53:24 MDT
John K. Clark writes:
>If they ignore that [nanotech] scenario then they're not very interesting,
besides, >we don't need all of them.
Not interesting!? Maybe not to you...but if I became aware of an extrasolar
presence I'd be damned interested in them. How did they manage it? How long
have they been around? What do they know? This has to be the most absurd
statement I've yet to read on this list.
>If even one civilization took to the Nanotechnology path anytime in the last
>5 billion years ago or so it would be obvious to anyone who had eyes that
the >night sky had been engineered.
Assuming that they _wanted_ to engineer the cosmos. Again, this
pronouncement is ridiculous. And what's with the capital "N" on
"nanotechnology"? It's a technology--a tool--not a damned religion. Must we
all bow our heads in awe to the Great God of Nanotech, Without Which
Interstellar Travel is Impossible? (That bit about non-nano aliens not being
interesting anyway was a blatant cop-out, completely removed from informed
speculation.)
An alien civilization is not some abstracted phenomenon out to prove its
existence to the galaxy (or, more accurately, to John K. Clark). There are
any number of worthwhile things it could spend its time doing. Assuming that
the nanotech diaspora scenario is the _only_ scenario is a dangerous
make-believe designed to cut intelligent discourse in the bud, serving to
police "non-Extropian" memes.
As a possibility, I have no trouble with it whatsoever. Maybe it's even
likely--but I'm not going to go beyond my data and proclaim that it's "nano
or nothing."
>We see nothing of the sort, thus I conclude that quite probably their are no
ET's, >or if there are they're too dull to bother with.
Oh, man, you're _so_ erudite! How can I learn to be this cool and dismissive?
>Nanotechnology may or may not be near on a human time scale, but from a
>cosmological perspective it will happen instantaneously, this very instant.
Nanotechnology isn't a "done deal," but I tend to agree with this last
statement. We're more than likely on the verge. But it's premature speaking
in absolutes, when a variety of scenarios demand attention. If we're going
to discover some alien intelligence in the future, it's _not_ going to be
through the blinkered reasoning of these last several posts.
--Mac Tonnies
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