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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  1636 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What If We Really Are Alone in the Universe?

Here's my alien question, we're presuming they exist as 3D matter on another planet we can observe with the naked eye. It's unscientific to try and guess otherwise, but if a life form that could only experience 2D came across humans it's unlikely they'd be able to formulate anything close to an accurate hypothesis as to what's actually occurring. If the universe actually had more dimensions we'd never know, which is a ridiculous simulation argument but we do have examples of other life forms that lack the perceptual abilities we do.





am_Unition  ·  1636 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The 2D reality encountering a 3D reality is often used for higher-dimensional analogies, but it doesn't have much physical meaning. However, it is true that if we could figure out how to access other dimensions, we'd be able to move through the universe like never before. Almost every single attempt at a grand unifying theory of physics invokes higher dimensions, and I think it's likely that they exist, but our simulation rules (or whatever) don't let us access them without a technology that may or may not even be possible. We won't know in our lifetimes :(.

I'm agnostic on whether I think this is all a simulation or not. I'm also just agnostic, because it's kinda the same question.

Thanks for the questions, everyone! I didn't have time to read Fox News today :).

user-inactivated  ·  1636 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It feels like it could work in the other direction too. This afternoon I was washing my hands in the sink when I caught out of the corner of my eye a house centipede trapped in it, trying to climb out, to run away from the water and the noise and the giant towering above it. It scurried and scurried and got nowhere, until I let it out by letting it crawl onto a paper towel and then resting said towel on the floor.

If you were to ask me, I'd say watching try to run away was a response from fear. But then, does it feel fear the way I do? Does it feel fear at all? It's a creature that is both very simple yet still complex, familiar and foreign, and I don't understand it at all other than I knew it wanted out of the sink (but then again, does it feel want) and was probably relieved to be on the ground (but did it feel relieved). If a form of alien life is as different as me and that centipede, but humans are centipedes in that scenario, chances are they're still not gonna be able to comprehend us.

user-inactivated  ·  1636 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    But then, does it feel fear the way I do? Does it feel fear at all?

That's like when people like Hawking say other civilizations might try to destroy us. They might remove us just out not caring (think, Hitchhiker's Guide intergalactic highway) but when it comes down to compassion we're really talking about human values and our philosophy. What is a value system?

But who knows? They might be receiving our radio signals right now and see it as nothing worth investigating. Either it appears as randomness to them or we're just too stupid.