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Comment by tayo42 | Hacker News Reader

They would have been there the whole time, they didn't just pop into existence because it got observed. I don't think you need to worry anymore then usual

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Going from "unknown if alien civs with megastructures" to "proof of alien civs with megastructures" is new information that would change the trajectory of humanity.

How? Other than focusing our efforts at communication with alien species I don't think the day to day life of your average person would be at all different. They are basically a curiosity. Even if we did finally find some, they would likely be so far away that round trip communications would take decades or centuries.

Ever read/see any sci-fi at all? Lots of them have provided story lines of humantiy not handling this information well. From religious cults to doomsday preppers to all sorts of irrational behavior, the way humanity accepts we're not alone is not always thought to be positive.

Well, I just think they're neat

I suspect most people who'd find this information to be more than a novelty already genuinely believe in alien life anyway.

What use to them is confirmation from an entity they don't even trust?

Heh. Read the news lately?

. Religious Cults. If you look at the religiously inspired insanity in US Laws and Politics recently, coupled with what's going on in, say, Afganistan, I'd say "check".

. Doomsday preppers. Check.

. All sorts of irrational behaviors. Well, if you include enabling destructive climate change in the face of overwhelming evidence, I'd say Check.

It's almost like we read all those stories and said "Hold my Beer".

Or those stories based their plots on these real life scenarios dialed to an 11

Sure there will be a few people acting irrationally; such people already exist and act irrationally.

Most people will say “meh” unless it affects their daily lives.

Well, for one all those religious people that believed they were the centre of the universe will be doing some random scrabbling to explain the change in the status quo.

"Oh, of course there's life on other planets, God made them, too".

Tbh, churches funding an interstellar mission (to convert the heathens) would be a mostly good thing

Until someone commandeers the Mormons' generation ship to push an asteroid into the sun

If the pandemic is any indication, the people for whom alien life doesn't fit into their world view will simply insist that it's been faked.

> I don't think you need to worry anymore then usual

Or, you realize that your usual level or worry is totally inadequate and that you should have been worrying much more in the past.

Yes, because if you had been living a life full of worry you'd be much better prepared to take on the alien invasion.

This is also why I don't go to the doctor.

Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t make a problem go away. Face life with openness.

Worrying is only useful inasmuch as it compels you to act. What actions could we have taken in the past to prevent a future alien threat? Besides never sending electromagnetic signals into space?

> They would have been there the whole time, they didn't just pop into existence because it got observed.

Unless they are quantum beings.

But more seriously, at cosmic scales it is possible we observe something/some civilization in our present that actually no longer exists. There should be something like the Drake Equation to determine the likelihood of a civilization we observe actually currently existing based on the observed distance.

To your point the oldest radio broadcasts are just over 100 years old, since they travel at the speed of light they will need 100,000 years to travel the length of the Milky Way, so if a civilization as advanced as ours were on the other side of the galaxy in the future to receive them, what are the odds humans will still be around? Assuming we are around, then it would be about another 100,000 years for them to send a directed communication at the speed of light, so I think you are correct it’s not worth the effort to worry.

I don't follow. Are you saying that new information doesn't justify new reactions? Like if I get a cancer diagnosis, I shouldn't worry more, because the misbehaving cells were there the whole time?

I think going with this metaphor if you have cancer then it's like already being under attack by this civilization.

Rather, you shouldn't fear a doctor's visit because if you learn you had cancer, well, you'd have it whether you knew or not, but now you know and can act. Of course, if there was nothing to do about the cancer but wait to die, and nothing to do about the aliens but wait for their bombs to arrive, then you may prefer not visiting the doctor or looking through the telescope.

Anything more than a few dozen lightyears away could have conceivably detected us and taken action to erase the threat.

Does something exist if you can't/don't observe it?

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Don't know, but I have always wondered if the other trees laugh at it.

I love that. I feel a sense of perspective change that I like. Reminds me to remain vigilant about my sense of play. Losing it happens slow, and yes I have and have noticed.

Little bits add up. I like this one.

( scroll right on by, as this is one of those things we might say for the benefit in saying it, not so much value otherwise)

> If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

If you define sound as a wave of air (or any other medium) particles then yes.

If you define sound as something a person had heard then no.

Schrodinger's civilization :).

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