Magikol
Bluelighter
It is said that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
I think this is a pretty reasonable thought. If you took an iPhone and showed it to an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, they would most likely assume it is a magical talisman of some sort.
I read another interesting quote recently that takes this idea a step further;
"Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from nature"
Say you took that same iPhone, and showed it to a frog. The frog would have absolutely no idea what it was looking at, and probably wouldn't care all that much. If you placed the iPhone in a pond with frogs, they would probably see it as a rock. They'd hop around, oblivious to what was placed before them.
If you took an ant, and placed it in the middle of New York City, it would have no idea that it was in a metropolis buzzing with industry. It would just search for food, thinking that everything around it was just part of nature, or not thinking about it at all.
What if we are in the middle of an alien metropolis, but that species is so advanced that we can't even conceive of it, similar to the frog and ant? What if planets, stars, galaxies, trees, sand, all aspects of "nature", are all creations of some sort of hyper-technological civilization, but they are so far beyond our comprehension we'd never know?
We spend a lot of time and energy looking for signs of alien life, but what if it's been right in front of us the whole time?
Just a thought.
I think this is a pretty reasonable thought. If you took an iPhone and showed it to an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, they would most likely assume it is a magical talisman of some sort.
I read another interesting quote recently that takes this idea a step further;
"Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from nature"
Say you took that same iPhone, and showed it to a frog. The frog would have absolutely no idea what it was looking at, and probably wouldn't care all that much. If you placed the iPhone in a pond with frogs, they would probably see it as a rock. They'd hop around, oblivious to what was placed before them.
If you took an ant, and placed it in the middle of New York City, it would have no idea that it was in a metropolis buzzing with industry. It would just search for food, thinking that everything around it was just part of nature, or not thinking about it at all.
What if we are in the middle of an alien metropolis, but that species is so advanced that we can't even conceive of it, similar to the frog and ant? What if planets, stars, galaxies, trees, sand, all aspects of "nature", are all creations of some sort of hyper-technological civilization, but they are so far beyond our comprehension we'd never know?
We spend a lot of time and energy looking for signs of alien life, but what if it's been right in front of us the whole time?
Just a thought.