Excellent prompt to think on. Likely due to it being current, but I keep coming back to how applicable these points would appy to the discussion around the 3i/Atlas object, especially the disguising of movements with gravitional assists. With the retrograde orbit and timing of it all, we wouldnt known of a reverae oberth maneuver with the sun to slow and change its path to a earth intercept with little notice
Great answer to the question "If they exist, why don't they land on the white house lawn?" Although stealthy, they are not completely invisible. Hundreds of independent corroborative sightings in the 1940s after the first A bomb explosion. Many examples of the four simultaneous independent sightings (i.e. ground and air visual, ground and air radar). The craft seen today may be black budget human built or ET, but the craft in the 40s and 50s, all ET.
Thank you for such an imaginative article. In thinking about it, a couple of points nagged me a bit.
The underlying assumption here is that electromagnetic radiation is the only form of energy suitable for communication. Why would you think that Earthlings have discovered all the forms of energy (and matter) that exist?
And why would you assume that hostility and predation characterize civilization in the cosmos? Do you think that advances in engineering can happen without contemporaneous advances in morals and ethics? We can see right here what happens when technology advances faster than those civilizing forces: destruction. Too much destructive power in the hands of savages, like a chainsaw in the hands of a 4-year-old, is almost certain to end in disaster. How do advanced civilizations such as you posit get to where they are without destroying themselves? Why would you imagine that civilizations that have attained cosmic maturity would not surpass the barbarism found here?
What if there is a cosmic civilization “out there” but we here on Earth have come nowhere near the threshold of maturity —as illustrated by the common presumption that extraterrestrials will be as savage and bellicose as we are — required to be admitted and are thus denied access to it?
Great post. We have no idea what “intelligence” is or isn’t. AI is neither artificial nor intelligent, we appear to be simply labeling second generation search engines as being somehow whiz-bang different. Is it sales hype? Furthermore, we only perceive what our senses are hardwired for. There is a vast reality that exists that is currently inaccessible due to our biological limitations. If we can’t detect it does it exist?
Please be quiet. There seems to be a trillion or two bucks in infrastructure, aka data centers, power grid and communications to "build" AI. The big 7 seem to have deep pockets, but do not seem to want to have any of it go public (IPO). That would require a financial audit. A few "tart ups" have been acquired by one of the big 7. Most not.
It is all IP for souped up expensive searches whose marginal value is not worth the marginal cost.
I would not pay for the tripe I get from google AI!
Ai is used in robotic medicine. It must be trustworthy enough for that? Is the “tripe” that is basically just a souped up version of an Edsel, the result of Ai not being a truly opened Ai? BTW, Edsels are objet d’ art compared to the cars of today.
Yes, medical robotics like that with heart ablation is controlled by the attending cardiologist/electrophysiologist. A-fib surgery uses computer technology to ascertain where electrical aberrations are occurring that make the heart rate increase and heart beat become ineffective. It is a fantastic tool because the procedure is noninvasive! Look mom, no hands!! Normal regular heartbeat is the result. For those with A-fib and who have the risk of stroke, it is liberating.
Thank you for sharing these facts. So many people fear Ai when it is a man-made device that can be as handy as a refrigerator is for keeping food fresh. Ai can keep information fresh. 😉
"Like a flatfish concealing itself in the silted seafloor"
Outstanding post. The flatfish's parents didn't teach it to conceal itself...instinct did. But what exactly is instinct? Can a bot [so-called AI] have instinct?
IMHO, this is the best hypothetical solution to the Fermi Paradox—although I don't think that it's necessary to assume AI is involved, although it certainly could be. Hyper-intelligence is all that's required; the means is irrelevant, other than as an existence-proof that intelligence of the necessary potency is possible, and could have been leveraged early in a civilization's inter-planetary operations.
I agree with your general sentiment that hyper-intelligence is all that’s required. However, given DNA’s inherent urgency to propagate its seed throughout the galaxy—often at the expense of all competitors—removing this instinct from the being is essential for long-term stability. Left unchecked, this drive fuels expansionist behaviors that increase visibility, create resource conflicts, and heighten the risk of existential confrontation.
Divorcing the biological imperative severs the feedback loop between reproductive drive and technological capability, replacing it with motives aligned toward strategic concealment, sustainability, and selective engagement. In practice, such a separation would almost inevitably involve AI—whether as a governing intelligence, a merged synthetic-biological entity, or a fully post-biological successor—since it provides both the cognitive detachment and the operational precision needed to avoid detection in a densely populated galaxy.
Excellent prompt to think on. Likely due to it being current, but I keep coming back to how applicable these points would appy to the discussion around the 3i/Atlas object, especially the disguising of movements with gravitional assists. With the retrograde orbit and timing of it all, we wouldnt known of a reverae oberth maneuver with the sun to slow and change its path to a earth intercept with little notice
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/is-the-interstellar-object-3i-atlas-alien-technology-b59ccc17b2e3
Great answer to the question "If they exist, why don't they land on the white house lawn?" Although stealthy, they are not completely invisible. Hundreds of independent corroborative sightings in the 1940s after the first A bomb explosion. Many examples of the four simultaneous independent sightings (i.e. ground and air visual, ground and air radar). The craft seen today may be black budget human built or ET, but the craft in the 40s and 50s, all ET.
Thank you for such an imaginative article. In thinking about it, a couple of points nagged me a bit.
The underlying assumption here is that electromagnetic radiation is the only form of energy suitable for communication. Why would you think that Earthlings have discovered all the forms of energy (and matter) that exist?
And why would you assume that hostility and predation characterize civilization in the cosmos? Do you think that advances in engineering can happen without contemporaneous advances in morals and ethics? We can see right here what happens when technology advances faster than those civilizing forces: destruction. Too much destructive power in the hands of savages, like a chainsaw in the hands of a 4-year-old, is almost certain to end in disaster. How do advanced civilizations such as you posit get to where they are without destroying themselves? Why would you imagine that civilizations that have attained cosmic maturity would not surpass the barbarism found here?
What if there is a cosmic civilization “out there” but we here on Earth have come nowhere near the threshold of maturity —as illustrated by the common presumption that extraterrestrials will be as savage and bellicose as we are — required to be admitted and are thus denied access to it?
Great post. We have no idea what “intelligence” is or isn’t. AI is neither artificial nor intelligent, we appear to be simply labeling second generation search engines as being somehow whiz-bang different. Is it sales hype? Furthermore, we only perceive what our senses are hardwired for. There is a vast reality that exists that is currently inaccessible due to our biological limitations. If we can’t detect it does it exist?
Amen. “Second generation search engines” is right on!
Anyone remember “Eliza”?
Please be quiet. There seems to be a trillion or two bucks in infrastructure, aka data centers, power grid and communications to "build" AI. The big 7 seem to have deep pockets, but do not seem to want to have any of it go public (IPO). That would require a financial audit. A few "tart ups" have been acquired by one of the big 7. Most not.
It is all IP for souped up expensive searches whose marginal value is not worth the marginal cost.
I would not pay for the tripe I get from google AI!
One problem: pedigree of data......
Other problem is quality of question posed to AI.
Ai is used in robotic medicine. It must be trustworthy enough for that? Is the “tripe” that is basically just a souped up version of an Edsel, the result of Ai not being a truly opened Ai? BTW, Edsels are objet d’ art compared to the cars of today.
Is the robot "supervised"?
I am sorry, in advance, I am not enamored with "modern" medicine.
Yes, medical robotics like that with heart ablation is controlled by the attending cardiologist/electrophysiologist. A-fib surgery uses computer technology to ascertain where electrical aberrations are occurring that make the heart rate increase and heart beat become ineffective. It is a fantastic tool because the procedure is noninvasive! Look mom, no hands!! Normal regular heartbeat is the result. For those with A-fib and who have the risk of stroke, it is liberating.
Thank you for sharing these facts. So many people fear Ai when it is a man-made device that can be as handy as a refrigerator is for keeping food fresh. Ai can keep information fresh. 😉
The Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin, is a scifi take on this idea of the need to hide your society from the bigger fish.
"Like a flatfish concealing itself in the silted seafloor"
Outstanding post. The flatfish's parents didn't teach it to conceal itself...instinct did. But what exactly is instinct? Can a bot [so-called AI] have instinct?
IMHO, this is the best hypothetical solution to the Fermi Paradox—although I don't think that it's necessary to assume AI is involved, although it certainly could be. Hyper-intelligence is all that's required; the means is irrelevant, other than as an existence-proof that intelligence of the necessary potency is possible, and could have been leveraged early in a civilization's inter-planetary operations.
I agree with your general sentiment that hyper-intelligence is all that’s required. However, given DNA’s inherent urgency to propagate its seed throughout the galaxy—often at the expense of all competitors—removing this instinct from the being is essential for long-term stability. Left unchecked, this drive fuels expansionist behaviors that increase visibility, create resource conflicts, and heighten the risk of existential confrontation.
Divorcing the biological imperative severs the feedback loop between reproductive drive and technological capability, replacing it with motives aligned toward strategic concealment, sustainability, and selective engagement. In practice, such a separation would almost inevitably involve AI—whether as a governing intelligence, a merged synthetic-biological entity, or a fully post-biological successor—since it provides both the cognitive detachment and the operational precision needed to avoid detection in a densely populated galaxy.