by CuriousChimp » Thu Feb 27, 2020 5:38 am
Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2020 2:30 pm
CuriousChimp wrote: ↑Wed Feb 26, 2020 12:47 pm
It would be cool to send some probes just to see.
Sure... if our civilization was stable enough to engage in projects that wouldn't return results for fifty or a hundred thousand years!
There's no need to be selfish. We don't need
our civilisation to be stable nor even our
species to exist; all we need to do is to initiate the project and let the Universe take from it what it will. If there is a sentient species with a technological City Culture around anywhere when the swarms of probes send back their Word, fine. If not, also fine, at least we would have
tried.
If we are the only intelligences that ever exist in the entire cosmos, a distinct possibility, we should at least leave something behind that marks our existence even if our degenerate, half-related post-technological child species never have the powers to appreciate it. We should do these things for
us if not for posterity and should a posterity inherit the benefits, the information from our works, that would be gravy on the sandwich. Should some future alien culture gain from our efforts, find our memories, decode our pictures, listen to our songs long after Man has become extinct, well that, too would be magical.
Science does not need to have an immediate result, we don't need instant gratification from it, it should suffice for us to know that
eventually our work will or even may pay off. Science isn't politics. It is a far grander, more human vision than that.
And we should be doing great things simply because we
can and because they are
beautiful.
We won't, of course, but we should.
[quote="Chris Peterson" post_id=299918 time=1582727406 user_id=117706]
[quote=CuriousChimp post_id=299913 time=1582721259 user_id=145043]
It would be cool to send some probes just to see. [/quote]
Sure... if our civilization was stable enough to engage in projects that wouldn't return results for fifty or a hundred thousand years! [/quote]
There's no need to be selfish. We don't need [i]our[/i] civilisation to be stable nor even our[i] species[/i] to exist; all we need to do is to initiate the project and let the Universe take from it what it will. If there is a sentient species with a technological City Culture around anywhere when the swarms of probes send back their Word, fine. If not, also fine, at least we would have[i] tried[/i].
If we are the only intelligences that ever exist in the entire cosmos, a distinct possibility, we should at least leave something behind that marks our existence even if our degenerate, half-related post-technological child species never have the powers to appreciate it. We should do these things for [i][b]us[/b][/i] if not for posterity and should a posterity inherit the benefits, the information from our works, that would be gravy on the sandwich. Should some future alien culture gain from our efforts, find our memories, decode our pictures, listen to our songs long after Man has become extinct, well that, too would be magical.
Science does not need to have an immediate result, we don't need instant gratification from it, it should suffice for us to know that [i]eventually[/i] our work will or even may pay off. Science isn't politics. It is a far grander, more human vision than that.
And we should be doing great things simply because we[i] can [/i]and because they are [i]beautiful[/i].
We won't, of course, but we should.