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[Escaped Lunatic]

Logically, it's an awfully big universe to serve as a backdrop for one small planet orbiting a middle-sized star.  The number of extrasolar planets detected keeps growing as the technology improves and new methods are worked out.  The basic molecules to form a possible "primordial soup" have been detected in interstellar gas clouds.

Thus, there's no solid scientific reason to think that life is unique to Earth.  Considering that most people wouldn't apply the adjective "wasteful" to God, there's no religious reason to think God would have created all the rest of the universe just to keep human technicians forever employed building bigger, better telescopes.

This brings us to the next issue.  If we take it as a given that there is other life out there that possesses both intelligence and technology, where are they?

Currently, SETI at Home and others are looking for radio signals.  We know that radio is an effective form of distance communication, so it's within reason that this would be used by at least some technically savvy civilizations.  So far, no one's caught E phoning home.  There are at least 2 possible reasons for this.  1.  There's no one capable of using radio in our immediate neighborhood (space is BIG).  2.  Some advancement we haven't yet made will render radio obsolete, thus meaning radio signals from most civilizations will only be on the air for a limited period of time.

But them there's the problem of those who've seen something in the sky, on the ground, or even occasionally administering a thorough probing.  If we believe all of these stories, that would mean that the world has already pretty much been turned into an interstellar tourist attraction and the aliens are only here to mess with our heads (Daddy, turn off the cloaking device.  I want to watch those humans freak out!).

The extreme opposite point of view is that 100% of these claims can be chalked up to misidentified aircraft, other natural phenomenon, and human lunacy.  A counterpoint to this is that governments are trying to hide all sorts of intriguing possibilities by means of discrediting all the witnesses.  I could imagine a successful coverup of some spare chunks of crashed UFOs, but can't picture any government managing to hide direct contact with aliens or anything else really huge for very long.

In the middle ground is the possibility that at least one alien group is quietly studying us.  If they wanted to initiate direct contact, there are plenty of places to land where there would be no doubts left and no way to keep it secret.  If they are here, they are keeping it quiet - mostly.  This would mean that there is a possibility that some of the reports are real and are due to equipment malfunctions, violations of whatever protocols they have about keeping things quiet, and other accidents.  After all, it's a good idea to avoid panicking the primitives who have nukes.  Think that advanced technology would render all those primitive weapons obsolete?  Let a cave man get close enough to you with a club and rethink the argument.   Even is they can personally avoid getting nuked, they might not want to be responsible for the collateral damage this could lead to.

My best guess is that if we have been discovered, we're under careful observation until they decide what to do with us.  So, if they are here watching us, what do they want?

If it was a simple exterminate and colonize mission, I'd assume that any civilization capable of star travel and that had studied life on multiple worlds would have the technology to engineer a plague or other disaster to remove the pesky local lifeforms who stood in the way of building some new condos.  Then again, if there's a Galactic Police, there could be rules against wiping out planets like ours, so setting up something to make it seem like a real accident to other aliens investigating the crime scene might take time.

If they were here to provide us with all the benefits of their advanced science and technology, they'd have landed openly, unless they're still studying us in our "native" state to see if and when we'd qualify.  Maybe we need to meet some minimum level of social or technical achievement before they'll shout "Hello" (and get dirty looks from all the expats in China who are so sick of that).  It the minimum achievement is just landing a person on the next planet, we should all complain to the US Congress for screwing up plans for a Mars mission since the 1970's.

If they are checking us out as a potential food source for the future... I can't really think of an easy way to quickly discount that possibility.

Or, they're all just like me.  Here to check out the amazingly hot Chinese girls.

[Ben-Dan]

Currently, SETI at Home and others are looking for radio signals.  We know that radio is an effective form of distance communication, so it's within reason that this would be used by at least some technically savvy civilizations.  So far, no one's caught E phoning home.  There are at least 2 possible reasons for this.  1.  There's no one capable of using radio in our immediate neighborhood (space is BIG).  2.  Some advancement we haven't yet made will render radio obsolete, thus meaning radio signals from most civilizations will only be on the air for a limited period of time.

Interesting post. I did think of a couple more reasons for not receiving radio transmissions. One is simply the amount of time it would take to receive them, even with radio signals traveling at the speed of light. It took about 9 hours to get signals from Voyager 1 to Earth, and the signal was extremely faint.

Here to check out the amazingly hot Chinese girls.

I find most of them average looking, and as regards appearances indistinguishable from the ones I knew in the West.

[Granny Mae]

  If they wanted to initiate direct contact, there are plenty of places to land where there would be no doubts left and no way to keep it secret.  If they are here, they are keeping it quiet - mostly.  This would mean that there is a possibility that some of the reports are real and are due to equipment malfunctions, violations of whatever protocols they have about keeping things quiet, and other accidents. 

Thanks EL, that was very interesting. I have concluded that "they" are keeping things quiet and that anything we see or hear is purely accidental. I have had, what I consider to be, two "encounters" which I am unable to explain;the last known one being July eighth 1989.

[Escaped Lunatic]

Currently, SETI at Home and others are looking for radio signals.  We know that radio is an effective form of distance communication, so it's within reason that this would be used by at least some technically savvy civilizations.  So far, no one's caught E phoning home.  There are at least 2 possible reasons for this.  1.  There's no one capable of using radio in our immediate neighborhood (space is BIG).  2.  Some advancement we haven't yet made will render radio obsolete, thus meaning radio signals from most civilizations will only be on the air for a limited period of time.

Interesting post. I did think of a couple more reasons for not receiving radio transmissions. One is simply the amount of time it would take to receive them, even with radio signals traveling at the speed of light. It took about 9 hours to get signals from Voyager 1 to Earth, and the signal was extremely faint.

Radio signals (like all EM radiation) take a year to go one light year.  This means that Earth has been detectable for about a hundred years, and has been pumping up the volume more and more as time goes by.  The question is, how close are potential civilizations, and how long would they stay on the air before moving to something we wouldn't be looking for?

Several months ago i saw a tv programe and it said that aliens already live among us.
UFO sent some biological robots who look like people,but they are robots themselves. They live in different countries and have a mission on the earth.
who knows maybe u saw one and think he is one of us

Here to check out the amazingly hot Chinese girls.

I find most of them average looking, and as regards appearances indistinguishable from the ones I knew in the West.

I think we now have irrefutable proof that Ben Dan is one of those biological robots.

[Ben-Dan]

Radio signals (like all EM radiation) take a year to go one light year.  This means that Earth has been detectable for about a hundred years, and has been pumping up the volume more and more as time goes by.  The question is, how close are potential civilizations, and how long would they stay on the air before moving to something we wouldn't be looking for?

Right, they travel at the speed of light. But the signal becomes more faint, and the nearest possible habitable planet in another solar system has been estimated to be more than 100 light years away. So, who knows, the next one that is actually habitable and inhabited by intelligent life could be 1,000 or more light years away.

Quote from: Ben-Dan on Today at 02:45:51 AM
Quote
Here to check out the amazingly hot Chinese girls.

I find most of them average looking, and as regards appearances indistinguishable from the ones I knew in the West.

I think we now have irrefutable proof that Ben Dan is one of those biological robots. th_ah

I get your humor, but, when I think of a robot I think "unconscious" or an "automaton." I see why Western guys go around saying the Chinese girls are super hot. But it's not the girls themselves, but rather the context in which the girls are perceived. A man living in New York wanted to meet a Chinese girl. He looked online to meet one from China. Having lived in NY myself I wondered why he didn't just go outside, because there are oodles of Chinese girls in NY. So it's curious, isn't it, that Western men back home often don't find the local Chinese girls there hot, even though they are, as I said, virtually indistinguishable from the ones here? The difference is in the context, and that context is availability and receptivity. The Western counterparts – young Chinese women – wouldn't give most of us expats a second glance.

So what is "hot" is not the girls themselves – if one were terribly honest with oneself one might actually prefer young white women if one could have them – but the "patriarchy which makes them available to people who they wouldn't normally be available to in a more equal society."

I've had Asian girlfriends in Asia and in America, and for me they are the same. I also find Asian girls quite attractive and cute, but so are all reasonably fit, reasonably good-looking young women. I think if Western men could magically choose whatever girl they wanted, regardless of "race" or social class, miraculously the preference for less-privileged Asian girls living in the developing world would disappear and they might find themselves picking white girls…

But, nobody really wants to face not being able to have what they really want, so better to convince oneself of something else. I convince myself that Chinese food is my favorite food, but if I had access and money to eat at any restaurant, hot pot might become a lot less frequent.

 

[Escaped Lunatic]

Unlike some of the guys looking to marry some sweet little thing half their age, my very hot Chinese fiancee is the oldest of my very dear Chinese female friends and is nearly my own age.

For me, Chinese girls have been hot since the time I was old enough to notice girls.  A Chinese accent only adds to the already extreme beauty that was already there.  One time at English corner I was asked which country had the prettiest girls.  I told them China.  A few claimed that I'd have said Japan if I was in Japan or Thailand if I was in Thailand.  I won the argument by pointing out that I could have gone to either of those countries to teach English, but didn't even bother to look for jobs anywhere else - since Chinese girls were the prettiest.

Thus, I'll stick to my theory that aliens could be here to study hot Chinese girls.  They are sometimes sighted in other countries, since there are also hot girls elsewhere in different colors, shapes, and sizes.  However, since Chinese girls are the hottest of all and China has more of them than anywhere else, I think there should be more UFO sightings here.

[Ben-Dan]

Unlike some of the guys looking to marry some sweet little thing half their age, my very hot Chinese fiancee is the oldest of my very dear Chinese female friends and is nearly my own age.

For me, Chinese girls have been hot since the time I was old enough to notice girls.  A Chinese accent only adds to the already extreme beauty that was already there.  One time at English corner I was asked which country had the prettiest girls.  I told them China.  A few claimed that I'd have said Japan if I was in Japan or Thailand if I was in Thailand.  I won the argument by pointing out that I could have gone to either of those countries to teach English, but didn't even bother to look for jobs anywhere else - since Chinese girls were the prettiest.

Thus, I'll stick to my theory that aliens could be here to study hot Chinese girls.  They are sometimes sighted in other countries, since there are also hot girls elsewhere in different colors, shapes, and sizes.  However, since Chinese girls are the hottest of all and China has more of them than anywhere else, I think there should be more UFO sightings here.

I think we've gone well off topic barely paying lip service to Aliens and UFOs, but maybe no one will notice.

In your case it sounds like you are a genuine connoisseur of the female Chinese physiognomy (or at least believe you are). Age difference isn't such a big issue here, but it is somewhat admirable to see someone marry or date someone close to their own age. I'm not THAT old, but it's almost impossible for me to meet anyone near my age that is single in my 3rd tier city. I haven't met even one.

I will boldly say that in my case, while I definitely have an eye for Asian girls, I also think it's because I live here and all the other things related to that. I'm quite sure if I lived in South America or the Middle East my preferences would change accordingly.

Honestly, did you come to China BECAUSE of the "hot girls," or is that just some hyperbole?

What is it that makes the Chinese girls so hot, I wonder? For me, their figures are a bit like a lollipop = round head and thin body without much in the way of curves. Vietnamese women struck me as the most attractive, and some other men who'd worked in China offered the same unsolicited opinion. I also thought the Chinese girls in the south – considered by many in the center to be ugly – were quite beautiful, and even the fruit sellers might stop me in my tracks. My guess is the mix between Chinese and SE Asian.

I have a friend who has a distinct preference for Korean girls, so I guess it's quite possible, all other things equal, to still hanker after Chinese girls. Many are conspicuously slight in the derriere for my particular tastes, so I'm probably in the wrong country, at least from that perspective. But I didn't come here for the hot girls so it probably doesn't matter.

I recall seeing a movie made in Iraq or thereabouts, and the women in it (probably actresses, so not a true representation) were consistently so beautiful that if I wanted to go where the beautiful women were I might need to enlist.

Enjoy your ladies. [Note that I am very, very slowly learning to appreciate less is more of the derriere, but will revert the second I see a more conventionally proportioned one in my own eyes]

[Escaped Lunatic]

Obligatory on-topic sentence:  Beware of the other theory - they could be studying us as a food source.  They've already fattened up the Americans and Europeans and are just getting started with the Asians.

This is going to be very long and a topic unto itself.  Click here for the pertinent exchanges above as well as my answer.

[Mr Nobody]

One reason why SETI has failed has been addressed by the Drs Benford. I attended a conference on such things last year. I always liked the idea of SETI and have even given talks on it at universities to students, but I always felt it was pointless. The Drs Benford have made perhaps the first significant improvement in this direction and I hope they get the funding for their project.

In order to understand this topic, perhaps people should first study the science such as Cosmology, Physics, Biology, and appropriate addenda to them such as Fermi's paradox, Drake's equation, Benford beacons, and so on.

[Isidnar]

I think ET is behind the rapid growth in China.

Here are a couple of pictures from the Dalian Development Zone:





I'm not sure what's up with the winged bull. A galactic hitchhiker?

[Granny Mae]

I don't think it's a galactic hitch hiker, I think I recognize one of our Politicians sitting on that bull. He's probably found a way to explain all that brown mess flying out behind him.   Thanks for the great photos!