It is contended by some, that government security services, throughout the world, would 'black out' news of a genuine SETI discovery. The reasons given for their wanting to do this are:

1.) That such a discovery might contain information on technology that could be made into dangerous new weapons of war. The nation receiving this information could obtain a tremendous military advantage.

2.) That news of such a discovery could provoke unrest in certain portions of society, such as the conservatively religious.

3.) That humanity is, in general, ill prepared to cope with the news of such a discovery, and its implications, and would be better off not knowing of such a discovery. Further, that benevolent extraterrestrials would refrain from contacting us for the above reasons.

In 1967, the world was full of the news of the discovery of the first PULSAR. There were speculations that its superbly regular pulsing could be some kind of extraterrestrial beacon. There was no apparent effort to suppress this news.

If the supposed censoring were to have been applied only if the source had turned out to be intelligent, instead of natural, it would have been too late. The facts would have already been too widely known.

Even if militarily exploitable technology could be derived from a SETI signal, it would require lengthy study to do this. The simple fact of the existence of such a signal, the point of origin of the message, details about the nature of the life forms sending it, and of their planet could be safely released.

National security agencies would not take it upon themselves to shield certain conservative religious sects from the potentially disturbing news of intelligent life on other worlds. There has been no analogous effort to protect such groups from other scientific information, which they find upsetting, such as the gradual evolution of life over billions of years.

Humanity is not well situated to know the motives, plans, reasoning, or judgements of a wholly alien species. If such extraterrestrials have acquired experience in contacting other intelligent species in space, they could be in a far better position to judge when, or if we could be productively contacted.

I used the analogy of a baby about to be born, yet very unhappy at being thrust into the cold, bright, larger world. This, because it is comfortably used to its current accommodations. I submit that we could be in a similar situation, with respect to our being born, as a species, into the larger universe of intelligent life.

Humanity is not well situated to know the motives, plans, reasoning, or judgements of a wholly alien species. If such extraterrestrials have acquired experience in contacting other intelligent species in space, they could be in a far better position to judge when, or if we could be productively contacted.

That touches on the way I feel about contact. So many people say our primitive war-like behavior would be enough to cause intelligent ET's to avoid us, but I think we're projecting our own idiosyncratic sensibilities onto “alien” life. Just because they might possess superior technology to us, and know how to travel fast on the cosmic superhighway, doesn't mean they look at things the same way we do.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Do we not know where to look both left and right when it comes to making a difference?

Still both bacteria and viruses on Earth, for also ourselves, like also still the stars of the sky, for next also the Force of gravity,
which could be all around.

Still perhaps not even a difference for that of the elementary particles either, when they sometimes could say hello to each other, even at a distance.

But next that life could still be looked at, or reflected upon, from the point of evolution, despite the weather sometimes making for a bit of change.

Does not a car perhaps have a "carburettor", and where did that one come from?

Should tell that it becomes more visible right now, for both that of an idea, and also things happening around as well, and perhaps not any Omen either.

Except for perhaps still a smile only with ourselves, except for not taking anything else for granted either, because such a thing as technology is not the
same as any bacteria either, except for perhaps such a thing as "Mutual selection among species", in order to maintain the conditions for life,
for next also a similar possibility, when the environment sometimes changes, because of events perhaps happening.

Except that it also became the thought here, that this could be having a deeper meaning, for also that of an impact, if not any opinion.

Only the fact that not all people are that polite, makes me think that the floor could always be a large one, for also that of a high ceiling,
in that events could always be possible, for also that of possibilities at least being probable.

Therefore you could perhaps see some weird, or strange looking people at times, except for still not waiting for anything to happen either.

But next perhaps not "prove" a smile for also that of a face, except for still not any "Little Green Men", for that of only bacteria on Earth,
except for still a bit of Intelligence, and maybe also Conscience, around.

Huh ??

first of all they if they exist would know nothing about us and would just be noting for all time they they existed and were interested in establishing this fact among the Cosmos

Huh ??

You too?

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But many people including myself still think that the day a genuine ET signal is received and verified, the National Security Agencies will impose a blackout and clampdown on the news. The first country to reverse engineer alien technology will rule the world.

Already happened.

On the tenth NYTimes article I am allowed to read any month, I read of a Convention held in Pasadena, near JPL and the Planetary Society home, whose title was "Ancient Aliens". It was attended by at least 2000 people who believe that aliens have already visited Earth , built the Pyramids and the Maya temples. Among the invited guests was the author Erich von Daniken (I hope I spell him right) who wrote books spreading this thesis. No SETI search was mentioned by the enthusiast attendance.
Tullio

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LOL:)
I have seen plenty of Ancient Aliens TV shows on History Channel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Aliens
They usually starts the show with some history facts but then they start speculate haywild.
"If this true then what if?"
Erich von Däniken was the person who started this pseudo "science".
Quite entertaining though:)

However there is one episode about SETI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqC3VbDDEHQ

Humanity is not well situated to know the motives, plans, reasoning, or judgements of a wholly alien species. If such extraterrestrials have acquired experience in contacting other intelligent species in space, they could be in a far better position to judge when, or if we could be productively contacted.

That touches on the way I feel about contact. So many people say our primitive war-like behavior would be enough to cause intelligent ET's to avoid us, but I think we're projecting our own idiosyncratic sensibilities onto “alien” life. Just because they might possess superior technology to us, and know how to travel fast on the cosmic superhighway, doesn't mean they look at things the same way we do.

It's tempting to suppose that a species of intelligent life that has managed to live long enough to master the art of interstellar communications may have finally absorbed the lesson that war is unproductive and unnecessary. They may look upon us as a promising species that has yet to learn this lesson.They may understand that this is a stage through which we must pass, just as they presumably did.

Our current state of development wouldn't necessarily rule out at least some form of contact with them. If we acquired knowledge of another intelligent species in space, it might tend to unite our world. A non-warring species could serve as a good example for us, demonstrating that peaceful coexistence is possible, on a planet- wide, or even wider scale.

No, they could very well look at us as a huge source of protein.
So, should we contact (answer any signals, or send signals) from/to potential hunters of protein?

Added: "Soylent Green is people!"

A species evolved in a biological context wholly separate from life on Earth would very likely find human beings indigestible. We take it for granted that protein sources on this planet can be eaten, but this is because all life here has evolved together for a very long time, from a common ancestor.

In any case, if extraterrestrials were advanced enough to travel to Earth, across interstellar space, they would very probably have already mastered the apparently much simpler task of synthesizing food in whatever form or quantity they could desire.

But excluding the date issues, all religions of all types have a common theme that their one god created everything, and basically just for us on earth. To discover that there is intelligent life in another star system will go against the whole tenet of their beliefs. e.g. God was supposed to have set the stars in the sky to give light at night just for mankind. I base my comments upon the Bible, I have no know;edge of the Koran or other religious books. 90% of the world believe and follow a religion, once fundamental belief in that falters, religious leaders will lose control which invites civil unrest.

I'm not denying that certain religious sects, with particular, and very literal, interpretations of their scriptures could be disturbed by the discovery of intelligent life in space. I am not familiar, though, with any modern religious groups that, by doctrine, specifically rule out such life. Perhaps you'd care to name some, together with confirmatory links.

In any case, it does not appear at all likely that a government policy of concealing a SETI discovery from the public at large would exist, based on the motive of protecting certain religious groups, or preventing unrest among their members.

Laws bearing on moral issues, such as access to abortion, have been enacted, with which some conservative religious groups very strongly disagree. This has caused them great unrest. The prospect of their disagreement, and unrest did not prevent governments from enacting such laws. Consideration of personal religious beliefs was not the determining factor for government action.

So if we are being observed, why no contact yet? They would know about the SETI initiatives in that the scientific community at least wants contact. A logical conclusion is that they deem us not ready for contact yet, maybe because of our political leaders and armed conflicts going on, and religious fanatics killing in the name of their particular god.

I would like to think we are being visited and observed, but I'm not convinced it has happened yet, and if and when they do come, I still think we're giving them too much credit to assume their philosophy of life is similar to ours. If we someday are able to travel to another inhabited world, how would we know how they look at things? We wouldn't know, and more than likely the other form of life would be so different from us, our value systems would not be the same, either.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Biological laws are the same for the entire universe, both chemical and physical.

I'm not so sure about that.

The development of life on other planets will depend on the conditions on the planet.

I agree with that.

The instinct of self-preservation will be for all living beings in the universe, this is necessary for the development of life. The instinct of procreation will be for all living organisms in the universe, this is necessary for life.

That makes sense; I can go along with that.

Extraterrestrial civilizations will have the same ethical problems as on Earth, with only a few differences.

If the life form is very different from us, I don't see how we can predict it's ethics.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

The NASA Tess spacecraft has started looking for exoplanets.
Tullio

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www.nasa.gov
www.jpl.nasa.gov
Tullio

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Hmm...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_13#Suggested_photographic_evidence_of_life

Leonid Ksanfomaliti[:ru] of Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (a contributor to the Venera mission) and Stan Karaszewski of Karas, suggested signs of life in the Venera images in an article published in Solar System Research.[5] According to Ksanfomaliti, certain objects resembled a "disk", a "black flap" and a "scorpion" which "emerge, fluctuate and disappear", referring to their changing location on different photographs and traces on the ground.[6][7][8][9]
Engineers familiar with the probe have identified the moving "disk" as actually being the two lens caps ejected from the lander. Rather than a single object that had moved between two different places, they are simply two inanimate similar-looking objects in different places. The other "objects" are ascribed to image processing artifacts and do not appear in the original photography

https://www.livescience.com/18083-life-venus-russian-claim.html

Afaik the fine structure constant 1/137 is a dimensionless quantity. It is e squared divided by h/2pi times c. There is a famous photo of Enrico Fermi having written it wrong on a blackboard , maybe as a joke.
Tullio

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Also known as Sommerfeld's constant, commonly denoted α (the Greek letter alpha), is a dimensionless physical constant characterizing the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between elementary charged particles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant#Is_the_fine-structure_constant_actually_constant?

Biological laws are the same for the entire universe, both chemical and physical.

I'm not so sure about that.

The development of life on other planets will depend on the conditions on the planet.

I agree with that.

The instinct of self-preservation will be for all living beings in the universe, this is necessary for the development of life. The instinct of procreation will be for all living organisms in the universe, this is necessary for life.

That makes sense; I can go along with that.

Have you seen your contradiction?

While I think you're right that development of life on other planets will depend on the conditions of the planet, and the instincts of self-preservation and procreation are probably universal, too, I think there are possibly many differences in alien life that don't adhere to our known biological laws.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place