[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Boreas
You're like the general in the '50s sci-fi flick who has his artillery fire on the saucer because - hey, ya never know - they might not wanna make friends.

Originally Posted by Noonereal
I am? In what way? Maybe you are assuming to much from one post.

Please note . It was a joke.

Originally Posted by Boreas
I grant you that it's hard to think outside the box

Originally Posted by Noonereal
Actually my thought is outside the box of the popular belief although it is share by a large number in the scientific community.

Can you offer any support for that?

Originally Posted by Boreas
of what motivates us as a species but I believe it's a mistake to assume that an alien (in every sense of the word) species would operate in accordance with the same imperatives as we do.

Originally Posted by Noonereal
and you base this on what? Why should we assume intelligent life from another world would be different than all life forms here? It's seems an odd leap you are making.

I think it's you who is making a leap here. I'm not saying that we shouldn't assume alien life forms will share our motivations, etc. I'm saying we should make no assumptions either way.

Originally Posted by Boreas
In all the universe there are simply no.... universals.

Originally Posted by Noonereal
Well we do know life is energy and in order to sustain energy (life force) all species convert other species energies for their own. Even things we do not consider life forms like stars charge material into energy to sustain itself.

That's actually not true. Ever hear of "black smokers"? They're deep undersea vents which support unique life forms. Some of those life forms have evolved to derive all of their nourishment from the chemicals contained in the material vented into the water. (They've also evolved to live at incredibly high temperatures and pressures and a complete absence of light but that's another story.) The process is called chemosynthesis and was unknown until the discovery of the vents around thirty years ago.

Originally Posted by Boreas
Also, there are ways and there are ways to use the energy of other living things. Not all are parasitic, predatory or otherwise destructive of the life form being so used.

Originally Posted by Noonereal
Did I say otherwise?

No, but I didn't say you did.

John