I can't believe it's been over a decade already! :-( This post of mine from 27th March 2008...

Good Morning Earthlings, I am an undercover E.T. working for my superiors on Sirius A - you know, those 2 stars somewhere in your galaxy.

I've been here long enough to make a detailed report on whether or not we make first contact...........

..........and to be honest, my report will state NO.NO.NO

When asked as to why not? My report will state the following: -

Earthlings cannot work together for a common gaol
They enjoy attacking each other
They hate cultures different from their own
They are power mad
They are greedy
They are untrustworthy
They are too warlike

We should consider sending out a galaxy wide quarantine notice to avoid Earth at all costs!

I can't believe it's been over a decade already! :-( This post of mine from 27th March 2008...

Good Morning Earthlings, I am an undercover E.T. working for my superiors on Sirius A - you know, those 2 stars somewhere in your galaxy.

I've been here long enough to make a detailed report on whether or not we make first contact...........

..........and to be honest, my report will state NO.NO.NO

When asked as to why not? My report will state the following: -

Earthlings cannot work together for a common gaol
They enjoy attacking each other
They hate cultures different from their own
They are power mad
They are greedy
They are untrustworthy
They are too warlike

We should consider sending out a galaxy wide quarantine notice to avoid Earth at all costs!

My thoughts exactly. +1

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Regarding the cost of earthly space programs versus aliens', I've never really understood the economy of the Star Trek world. I don't remember much talk about money in any episodes. I know they purport to be doing everything for the good of humanity, and that's great if it ever comes to pass that way, but I don't know how they got to that point. Somewhere in the Star Trek and Star Wars backstories I'm sure there's an explanation. Maybe someone can summarize it for me.

Getting back to if a SETI discovery ever yields paydirt, I would imagine if it's a positive thing, the benefits would be so great that governments would share. On the other hand, I'm sure there's plenty of people in every government who would like to keep everything as secret as possible, but leaks are inevitable, and since I don't think there's any really inexplicable things going on in the world right now, good or bad, I have to say my feeling is either nothing is being suppressed, or it hasn't gotten out yet.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Except for the other thing also said or mentioned?

Regarding the cost of earthly space programs versus aliens', I've never really understood the economy of the Star Trek world. I don't remember much talk about money in any episodes. I know they purport to be doing everything for the good of humanity, and that's great if it ever comes to pass that way, but I don't know how they got to that point. Somewhere in the Star Trek and Star Wars backstories I'm sure there's an explanation. Maybe someone can summarize it for me.

Replicators. :-)

I know about the replicator, but where did they get that technology? Was it home-grown?

And yes... I know there are some high level reports of UFO's doing weird things out there, but I was referring more about other things that might be going on in the world related to discoveries of ETI technology either being shared with us or reverse engineered. There's no really unusual phenomena that is unexplained, unless it's ESP, and maybe that is a skill the ET's could teach us.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

But you forgot about DS9 & Quark's Bar. Bars of Latinum & credits. :-)

But you forgot about DS9 & Quark's Bar. Bars of Latinum & credits. :-)

And of course the Dabo Girls ...

...well, in the interest of science, they are worth exploring. :-)

Once I had a HP handheld calculator that used Reverse Polish Notation.
Tullio

I remember those.
Entering operands and operators is different to what we are used to.
Normaly you enter for example 3 + 4.
Instead you enter + 3 4.
That notation works very well with computers so there are several computer languages based on that.
For instance Forth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_(programming_language)

It's actually 3(enter) 4 +. You hit the enter key after the 1st number. I used the HP 41 CV for 20 years during my civil engineering career. It used rpn (reverse polish notation). I switched to a Texas Instruments calculator for a while and due to the fact that it used standard notation I made several mistakes.

Yes. You are right.
I'm getting old and forgot that it's a reverse notation:)

I just don't understand how the replicator and transporter technology came to be, plus warp ships. Did they have help from aliens? And if they did, how long did it take for the society to integrate it all, and become this super nice human species we see on Star Trek?

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Well for warp ships, the answer lies with the film Star Trek: First Contact. Man build his 1st warp ship which led to contact with the Vulcans.

Well for warp ships, the answer lies with the film Star Trek: First Contact. Man build his 1st warp ship which led to contact with the Vulcans.

Oh yes... ,but at the time, earth was recovering from another world war, right? Was there still any government? I'm sorry - I don't want to get too bogged down into Star Trek lore, but I'm just trying to get it straight in my head how things advanced into such a peaceful and technologically advanced vision of the future we see on Star Trek.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Can't remember what the exact timeline was but a lot can happen in a couple of hundred years. Just look to the past 200 here. :-)

Good point! But have any of the shows explored that transitional period?

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I believe that Enterprise was supposed to do that, but only saw a couple of episodes of S1. Work prevented me getting home to watch the rest as well as the other seasons. It's also the one series I do not have on DVD or media box. Intend to change that at some point.

You mentioned war. The results of both WWI & II advanced us further than the previous 150 years did. Looking at history & the questions you asked, maybe it is our lot to advance through adversity until the day arrives that we become a peaceful planet. Utopia perhaps but as it stands, we have nothing at this time to offer any E.T. The future?
Unknown...
...for now.

I believe that Enterprise was supposed to do that, but only saw a couple of episodes of S1. Work prevented me getting home to watch the rest as well as the other seasons. It's also the one series I do not have on DVD or media box. Intend to change that at some point.

You may be right about Enterprise. I didn't see any of those series.

You mentioned war. The results of both WWI & II advanced us further than the previous 150 years did. Looking at history & the questions you asked, maybe it is our lot to advance through adversity until the day arrives that we become a peaceful planet. Utopia perhaps but as it stands, we have nothing at this time to offer any E.T. The future?
Unknown...
...for now.

Good point also about the WW's. Unfortunately, desperate times do seem to spur innovation. That's also what makes me wonder about a future society with replicators and an easy lifestyle. What's the motivation to get off the couch? ;~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

And Jake brings home the Dabo girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkHWBHdnBHY
But aren't we very off out of topic?

And of course the Dabo Girls ...

And Mudd's women :-)

Mudd himself, a trader. Obviously money wasn't completely out of the picture if you weren't a Starfleet officer.

IIRC there was an episode of TNG where Picard was back on earth tending vines in a vineyard and the StarTrek economy got some mention.

Everything interstellar, as in manned space travel, depends on finding a way around the speed of light. No FTL = no Star Trek or any other means of interstellar space travel on a daily basis. Also, if there is no way to go FTL, there will be no contact in a meaningful way with E.T.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.