ETs found on the Moon!

[661-pete]

Well not quite.

But someone thinks we should be having a damn good look for them....

We should scour the moon for ancient traces of aliens, say scientists | Science | The Guardian

What are the chances then?

[John]

I saw that article but why the Moon ?. It's one of the last places I think traces of life would be found, unless it's something we carried there on our probes

I guess they mean something along the lines of Arthur C Clarke's "Sentinel" !.

[Mr Q]

I saw that article but why the Moon ?. It's one of the last places I think traces of life would be found, unless it's something we carried there on our probes

I guess they mean something along the lines of Arthur C Clarke's "Sentinal" !.

On the contrary...after all the junk we left on the Moon from all the missions there, someone in the distant future (from other than the Earth) will find it and maybe wonder why it's there. Guess it's just part of exploring - even in places we/they may not really think it has any scientific value. Curiosity is part of exploring and if we have the means of doing so, we should scour the Moon's surface for any possible artifacts left by other visitors.

Of course, financially, it probably won't happen:(

[Grunthos]

My initial reaction was it looked like it was a slow day at the Guardian (or they had too many glasses of "lemonade" in the run up to xmas).

The story originated from Paul Davies at ASU. He's not a nutter and it's usually worth listening to what he says or writes.

Still, scouring the moon is a bit of a long shot IMHO (mmm, a bit like SETI I suppose ).

[ronin]

Why would any species stop at the moon when it is right next to a planet with an atmosphere and a source of minerals and metals?

Any species with half a brain would simply place a ship in orbit and hop up and down or if feasible would land on earth direct.

Look at it this way, we have sent probes to Mars, not to Phobos and then look at Mars from a distance.

[Tim]

Well the dark areas of the moon are amongst the coldest places in the solar system, so I guess they'd only have to waste their time examining half of it......:rolleyes:

[Tinker1947]

Earth has been around for quite a time, we could be second generation humans, the first one, doing what were doing now landing on the moon and destroying the planet at the same time, so maybe in 500 million years there will be a 3rd generation of humans....

[Ags]

I read somewhere that the surface of the moon is covered with bits blasted off the Earth. Some of these fragments may contain intact traces of fossils from the very early Earth, better preserved that comparable rocks on Earth.

[glowjet]

Traces of Wensleydale cheese perhaps

[661-pete]

I guess they mean something along the lines of Arthur C Clarke's "Sentinel" !.

There you have it, I think. The 'Sentinel'/'2001' idea is by no means unique, just about every SF author has hit on the concept that hyper-intelligent aliens, gliding into the Solar System after a long interstellar voyage, might deduce that the third planet harbours some sort of primitive 'intelligence' but deem it too hazardous to effect a landing on the planet itself. What better than to briefly colonise the nearest available (and uninhabitable) neighbouring planet, and observe these primitive life-forms from a distance without disturbing them?

Of course, these putative ETs might have done more than merely 'observe'. Cue Erich von Daniken...

As I said, the SF genre is littered with stories covering this concept: another celebrated Arthur C oeuvre, Childhood's End, touches on a similar idea, though not directly.

My favourite, but probably because I'm a fan of the author, is Larry Niven's Wrong Way Street. If only....

[faulksy]

i have seen elvis on there selling hot dogs. sorry couldnt resist

[Adz]

Don't make me bring out the Piccard double facepalm...

[bullettooth]

weird subject 'et's' people often scoff at the idea of ufo's and et's but i think its weird that out of the billions of galaxies in the universe there is only ONE planet in ONE galaxy that can support life. just a thought.