Clarification: I’m not talking about sex. I’m talking about biological exposition.
We are human, we have done almost this exact thing for thousands of years and leave ecosystem devastation in our wake.
People with rockets would absolutely go down to that planet without a second thought.
Yep i would expect them to send the blankets down from orbit first.
Sometimes I think about how so many of us look up at the stars and wonder “if there really are aliens out there, why aren’t they colonizing the galaxy as fast as possible, as any intelligent species would naturally do?” like it’s the thing just anyone looking at the stars might think. we might be the horrifying biomechanical paperclip maximizer that the other aliens in the galaxy have to band together to defeat or face extermination.
intergalactic tour guide: now if you look to your left, you’ll see the natural habitats of the Xpheno217 species. This is the only location in the whole universe they can live. And to your right, a brand new residential community fit with Walmart and their very own Chick-fil-A.
I’m sorry. I can’t let you do that.
What does that life taste like? Someone will figure out how to prepare a dish that is truly out of this world.
On the other hand, the two biologies could be so different from each other that they don’t interact at all.
This is an interesting idea. If neither biologies used the same fuel molecules then they wouldn’t compete for resources, but perhaps they would compete for space? But then if both biologies were that different from each other would they be able to even live in the same environment?
The sci-fi book Children of Ruin (sequel to Children of Time) covers this somewhat. There humans encounter a planet with a breathable atmosphere but with a toxic environment that slowly kills them.
I’ve read that one, it was quite good.
That won’t stop humanity. I’ve seen enough movies to know that a man-eating crazy alien monster infestation isn’t enough to keep people off some rock they found.
And they’ll bring that shit home too.
And they’ll bring that shit home too.
Of course, why would you leave your new significant other in outerspace?
More importantly the most advanced labs are on earth. Would you leave something so dangerous to a second rate lab?
Isn’t it also possible that their biology would be different enough that there would be basically no interaction ? 🤷🏻♀
I don’t think we have any micro-organisms that would be particularly dangerous to silicon-based life, for example, if we did I’d expect it would be a problem already for our computers and everything made of glass ?
Life is already unpredictable. We can take some safety measures, but we cant pretend that not doing this particular thing is going to keep our history under control. We dont have anything under control.
No no, you are talking about sex, hehe
But how else am I supposed to get green *Orion trader women on my arm?
If the biology is different enough, things like viruses wouldn’t easily cross between the planets. But bacteria could still probably exploit us (and them), and nothing would stop things with claws, teeth, and spikes from hurting us even if they couldn’t ultimately digest us.
Ah, drat! My one weakness! Claws! Oh, and teeth. So two weaknesses.
Oh, and spikes.
Oh, and fire.
Pointed rocks.
Long falls off of cliffs.
Ok, I have many weaknesses!
You’ll just have to come in again.
I heard on the radio that bacteria is what killed the Martians
we could never set a foot on it
I’m not talking about sex
It’s ok Quentin.
It would go exactly like in many (bad) movies, Yolo! (seriously.)
We won’t even be able to reach it until we can figure out FTL travel or technology that can support multi-generational passenger ships to get there.
FTL travel implies a mastery over spacetime itself. After that, a practical time machine is a matter of engineering details.
We can be sure that we never get there because we are not flooded with tourists from the future. QED.
As a kid, I once heard the theory that aliens are actually time travelers fucking with people.
For that matter they have not sent travelers to us.
i wouldnt call it mastery, implies you can control spacetime as well, just finding ways around the speed of light limitations.
at least beings shows that control are close to being godlike energy beings.
That depends on the type of FTL we use. Some just require infinite energy or exotic particles to work. No mastery of spacetime needed.
I love the hubris of this argument. It’s the identical construction of guys who say a woman must be a lesbian if they reject thier advances.
There’s an entire very large genre of scifi about this very topic
Shouldn’t and couldn’t are too different questions.
