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neanderthalsavant t1_j23hxjp wrote

Man, that would be a heck of a way to find out that humanity is figuratively the equivalent of ants crawling on a discarded Coke can on the edge of busy truck stop parking lot.

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thruster_fuel69 t1_j24k2hi wrote

What should said ants do once they know? Dig a deeper hole, reach for knowledge, both?

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stoner_97 t1_j24t9c4 wrote

Attack enemy nests

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thruster_fuel69 t1_j24tcmw wrote

Sir, these nests are 10x the size of our sun...

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alt4614 t1_j24m0ec wrote

It would, but if we observed phenomena of that nature we would instantly boost our own R&D greatly

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grandft t1_j22n3ef wrote

Unfortunately alien warp drives have anti laser detection technology built in as standard

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OptimalConcept143 t1_j22i9kg wrote

It will detect exactly 0 with a 0% margin of error.

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xer0s t1_j26yu44 wrote

Not only that, but if we do detect something, there’s zero chance we could ever confirm it’s an “alien warp drive”…

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the_zelectro t1_j22htr4 wrote

This is pretty cool!!

Granted, if that mothership showed up in our neck of the woods, we're probably screwed.

I'm also skeptical of warp drives. But, there's definitely a chance of detecting something that moves slower than light-speed.

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SterlingVapor t1_j22tpzg wrote

>Granted, if that mothership showed up in our neck of the woods, we're probably screwed.

Why? They're building ships larger than Earth and space is huge and full of resources, the only possible reason for them to give our planet a second glance is for us and maybe to study life in general

And maybe it's too wipe us out, but again... Why? Space is really, really big. Fighting over resources is dumb, everything's entirely recyclable with enough energy and automation. Energy is what matters.

So if the stars start going out, there's reason for worry... Other than that, it's humans projecting our own failings on aliens. Factions would form demanding we eliminate potential future threats, and so we think aliens might have this same thought...

But we ignore the fact as we are we'd never be able to build a ship like that. Even if we had the technology and resources handed to us, politics and infighting would leave us with a mismatched mess that would fall apart as we argued over if it even needs maintenance

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skinte1 t1_j240qc1 wrote

>Why? They're building ships larger than Earth and space is huge and full of resources, the only possible reason for them to give our planet a second glance is for us and maybe to study life in general

Could be our planet is so small they're not even giving it a first glance... Like forestry machinery driving over an anthill to get to the area they are going to log. Using our sun for fuel before continuing on their merry way etc...

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the_zelectro t1_j22ugxf wrote

Earth is puny. But... Our Sun might be useful.

There are unique things about our Sun. It's an energy dense mid-sequence star, in a galaxy mostly comprised of red giants. Also, it's in the center of a fairly empty region of space: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sciencealert.com/the-solar-system-floats-in-a-void-now-we-know-how-that-void-triggered-the-formation-of-stars/amp

If some aliens decided that our star is good for refueling or for settling a colony (or both) we'd be toast.

To achieve any fraction of the speed of light, you'll need a ton of energy. And, due to time-dilation, it's a one-way trip. If aliens decide to swing by us, it can only mean so many things...

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camplate t1_j2f7a8l wrote

Did you mean red dwarfs? M-type stars are 80% of stars, red giants are 0.4%

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NoGoodDM t1_j247b39 wrote

They’ll probably destroy earth to make room for a new space highway.

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ABoyWithNoBlob t1_j24lint wrote

You’ve got to build bypasses.

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x31b t1_j25bucy wrote

Strawberry ripple in the space time continuum? What happened to Eddy? I thought that’s where he was.

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Miguel-odon t1_j25shfz wrote

Maybe they have a policy of eliminating sentient life before it can become a threat.

Maybe they just like hunting undeveloped species in exotic locations.

Maybe the humanoid form is considered blasphemy against their deity?

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DamianFullyReversed t1_j2d2vsw wrote

If we do encounter an alien civilisation, I really hope they have good bioethics, or at least trivially care about us. But yeah, it’s scary a single individual can react so much differently. I sometimes rescue worms from footpaths, but the next person might step on them for fun. I’m a bit worried aliens could be like this, though I’m a bit optimistic in that I think they’ll engineer their own niceness into them.

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BigCommieMachine t1_j2337zh wrote

I mean the whole issue here is if an alien species is so advanced to develop warp drives, certainly masking it wouldn’t be an issue.

That has always been my beef is UFOs…etc. You’re telling me life forms that are so advanced that they can intergalactically travel in a space craft the size of a small aircraft, but they can’t develop a better method of surveillance or stealth than flying around noticeably in airspace.

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LittleKittyLove t1_j23rdm6 wrote

Fast forward 8 billion years. Earth heroically united to survive humanities existential crisis. Technology progressed until humans are cyborg gods. We are a many planet, post scarcity civilization.

A few million light years from earth, there is a galactic zoo planet called “Burf.” Burf was formed by humanity a couple billion years ago, as a sort of nature retreat. It was set to a nice temperature, seeded with some basic life, and left to sprout.

Burf is a wonderful planet. Life forms like to warp in, and work remote from its many beautiful vantage points. They watch waterfalls, and arctic storms. Float above the primitive ape cities, and casually follow their emerging stories.

Of course, we keep an eye on the apes to see if they will pass the great filter. After all, we don’t want to rescue a malevolent dying race and start an intergalactic war. Again.

If the primitive apes can realize that they are all stuck on the same lifeboat and come together for future generations, we will happily accept them into the galactic fold. If they succumb to violence and greed, we will let nature take its course, and perhaps help Burf recover from whatever stain they leave behind.

Sometimes our kind interacts with the apes. Frequently, it’s by accident, by getting too close. Sometimes, it is avid fans of the Ape Story, deliberately interjecting themselves to warn the apes that they’ll go extinct if they aren’t careful, or floating above their nuclear weapons, shining a bright red light on them to say “this is a bad idea.”

We’ve even had a few accidents out around Not Vegas involving intoxicants and bright neon lights. But we are not supposed to interfere, and to let the great filter do it’s work on Burf.

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the_zelectro t1_j2349sf wrote

Masking a mothership might be an issue, especially on the scale discussed here.

The equations for reaching a fraction of the speed of light are fairly simple (specifically, without considering warp-drive techniques). Building a working system is undoubtedly complex, but it's chiefly a game of attaining the required energy.

Cloaking a large stellar object so that it's invisible is a much more difficult task. There still might be ways, but spacetime should see clear warping at the given masses and velocities.

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Lord_Nivloc t1_j23i380 wrote

Well, if LIGO is detecting it, I’m not sure how they could hide. That would imply their warp drive created gravitational waves / ripples in the fabric of spacetime

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jhev1 t1_j24qcvz wrote

That's very similar to what I say, why would they have to mutilate cattle and anally probe people? If they can get here they can probably tell everything they need to from orbit. The don't need to stick something up our ass or mutilate some helpless animals.

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Ladnarr2 t1_j22v3mm wrote

Might not the technology of warp drives create a mass comparable to Jupiter? The ship doesn’t have to be the same size as Jupiter necessarily.

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upyoars OP t1_j22c5z8 wrote

> Scientists have proposed another use for the world's largest gravitational wave observatory: scanning for the ripples in space-time left in the wake of gargantuan alien spaceships.

> Now, new calculations published Dec. 5 to the preprint database arXiv(opens in new tab) suggest that the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) can look beyond conventional sources for these space-time ripples. Colossal alien spacecraft traveling at high speeds, or pushed along by warp drives, would also produce the telltale vibrations.

> The LIGO detector spots gravitational waves from the tiny distortions they make in space-time as they pass through it. Made up of two intersecting L-shaped detectors — each with two 2.48-mile-long (4 kilometers) arms and two identical laser beams inside — the experiment is designed such that if a gravitational wave passes through Earth, the laser light in one arm of the detector will get compressed while the other expands, creating a tiny change in relative path lengths of the beams arriving at the detector.

> To be detectable by LIGO, an alien mothership would need to weigh roughly the same as Jupiter, travel at one-tenth the speed of light, and be within 326,000 light-years of Earth.

> The physicists have noted that advanced alien warp drives would create gravitational wave patterns that would be distinguishable from natural sources and that, if detected, these alien waves could even provide humans with clues about how to reverse engineer the technology.

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Leandenor7 t1_j23e6dw wrote

Wouldn’t it also require LIGO to be detecting at a particular direction? This is quite a shot at the dark. Its like trying to listen for farts to recreate your neighbors anal cavity.

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_ALH_ t1_j23f4bk wrote

That would probably be many magnitudes easier and more likely to succeed. At least you know your neighbour actually exists.

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NerdyRedneck45 t1_j241nk2 wrote

It isn’t really directional in that way, it’s detecting gravitational waves from all around. You can pinpoint the location by timing differences of detectors around the world.

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ML4Bratwurst t1_j24nge8 wrote

Yes. The direction where it's coming from and where it is heading can be determined because the LIGO system actually has two stations. Each one in the other side of the earth.

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Takeoded t1_j25hqix wrote

>need to weigh roughly the same as Jupiter

Well shit, for comparison Jupiter weights about 14 million times the weight of the Death Star. (assuming Jupiter is 1.8 septillion metric tons and the Death Star is 134 quadrillion metric tons; which was the first google result for "Jupiter weight" and "Death Star weight" respectivly)

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SgathTriallair t1_j24s2ii wrote

That last part is the problem. We don't have any realistic physics that allows was drive. For instance, the one they are talking about requires negative mass which we not only have no evidence of but it sounds pretty ridiculous so we have no reason to think it might exist.

If aliens are using warp drive it'll almost certainly be different than anything we could think of today.

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PhAiLMeRrY t1_j22xzrm wrote

Well it's about time, I mean how much longer can we let the warp drive issue go unchecked.

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Haramdour t1_j230um4 wrote

I don’t know whether aliens are the best thing we need right now or the worst thing we need right now…

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JamesyEsquire t1_j23f180 wrote

Ahh yes just the small problem of it needing to have the mass of Jupiter…

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RRumpleTeazzer t1_j23os4w wrote

On a galactic scale from 0 to physical impossible, this is rather on the trivial side.

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ItsYaBoySkinnyPen15 t1_j23ymx2 wrote

This is cool but also scary. With the vast expanse of our universe, alternate forms of intelligent life probably do exist. What’s scary is if they truly have conquered the grand expanse of space, then they have surpassed the great barrier. That makes them the absolute pinnacle of evolution, and should they ever make their way here we would have no technology, none whatsoever that would compare. We would essentially be faced with a near omnipotent species that could do whatever they please with us

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5kyl3r t1_j23ojh3 wrote

i read the title as alien wasp dens. i'm glad to find that i'm wrong. warp drives are safer 😂

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BraceThis t1_j234eom wrote

Finally!

I was beginning to wonder when this would come to fruition.

Thank goodness. Leave no warp drives unchecked.

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omguserius t1_j252qhj wrote

I dunno man, if all it took for my megaships to be detected was something some prewarp primitives could kludge together in a few decades, I'd probably develop some countermeasures.

Not because I would care what the rockthrowers could see, but if they could see it, my competition could do the same but better.

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FuturologyBot t1_j22gdn0 wrote

The following submission statement was provided by /u/upyoars:

> Scientists have proposed another use for the world's largest gravitational wave observatory: scanning for the ripples in space-time left in the wake of gargantuan alien spaceships.

> Now, new calculations published Dec. 5 to the preprint database arXiv(opens in new tab) suggest that the U.S.-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) can look beyond conventional sources for these space-time ripples. Colossal alien spacecraft traveling at high speeds, or pushed along by warp drives, would also produce the telltale vibrations.

> The LIGO detector spots gravitational waves from the tiny distortions they make in space-time as they pass through it. Made up of two intersecting L-shaped detectors — each with two 2.48-mile-long (4 kilometers) arms and two identical laser beams inside — the experiment is designed such that if a gravitational wave passes through Earth, the laser light in one arm of the detector will get compressed while the other expands, creating a tiny change in relative path lengths of the beams arriving at the detector.

> To be detectable by LIGO, an alien mothership would need to weigh roughly the same as Jupiter, travel at one-tenth the speed of light, and be within 326,000 light-years of Earth.

> The physicists have noted that advanced alien warp drives would create gravitational wave patterns that would be distinguishable from natural sources and that, if detected, these alien waves could even provide humans with clues about how to reverse engineer the technology.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/zxuefe/one_of_the_worlds_largest_lasers_could_be_used_to/j22c5z8/

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ApriamAsh t1_j22mhgw wrote

Good, gotta see them Xenos Scum before they see us.

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BigFitMama t1_j24i516 wrote

It is good we have proof of aliens, but the fact stands, if they wanted to contact us publically and intervene beneficently in our human affairs, wouldn't they already have?

Or if they are, they learned that most of humanity would descend into chaos if they didn't work behind the scenes?

Or they simply look at it like an anthill and see no benefit in bothering with the ants but to study them and on occasion their young like to barnstorm earth for shits and giggles.

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JacquesXenophobe t1_j24yzjc wrote

Pointing lasers at UFOs is dangerous, you could blind the alien pilot

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Erazzphoto t1_j266j8d wrote

Quick Elon, this must be worth $100b, should totally buy it

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hheeeenmmm t1_j26mn5m wrote

Lmao if a hostile alien decides earth is a even half decent target we are completely fucked

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bigedthebad t1_j26ou8i wrote

Why would alien tech be that far advanced from our own given that the entire universe is the same age?

We have barely left the planet, much less the solar system so why would anyone have warp drives?

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upyoars OP t1_j26qab2 wrote

Because the universe is 14 billion years old while the Earth is only 4.5 billion years old, also planets evolve to their final state suitable for life at different rates.

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cm135 t1_j271oys wrote

But can you attach said lasers on, let’s say, a shark’s head?

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Beardgang650 t1_j277nxb wrote

I vote not to fuck with aliens and their warp drives

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rnagy2346 t1_j241ncn wrote

The Great Pyramid MASER accomplished this feat well over 10,000 years ago ;)

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Jane_Fen t1_j2541pp wrote

I was hoping you were joking but looking at your post history, it looks like you actually believe this shit.

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rnagy2346 t1_j2556l7 wrote

I don't believe, I know..

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Jane_Fen t1_j25nd7i wrote

You know that…the great pyramids are a magical beacon calling aliens to our planet?

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rnagy2346 t1_j25o1vo wrote

Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but I've recently come to nothing short of a revelation regarding these structures and am developing a discourse describing how and why this is. You know those airshafts are actually microwave wave guides and the math/measure proves this to be the case.

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Jane_Fen t1_j25r6b1 wrote

I only see one teeny-weeny flaw in your logic…stone doesn’t reflect microwaves, it absorbs it.

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rnagy2346 t1_j25rsh5 wrote

You're right about that, though there is evidence suggesting they were once gold-plated. Colonel Howard Vyse was hacking away at the start of the southern shaft and found iron embedded in the stone. Further analysis revealed traces of gold in this iron.

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stackered t1_j253z40 wrote

one of the more cringe title's I've seen here since the sub blew up. detect alien warp drives. lmao

0