Alien contact... when...

[Ezechiel]

Lets pretend for a moment that Stanton Friedman is right, that flying saucers are real and originate from local star systems. From this point on, if we apply human logic to alien civilizations surrounding us... we can continue with the following assumptions...

Lets pretend that we are the alien race and we've established a well-hidden scientific base on earths moon in order decode the structure of earths languages and study the evolution of its cultures and civilizations. The building of a communication bridge takes time and will be crucial when humans acquire the skills for interstellar travel.

For star-faring type 1 self-sufficient civilizations, the accumulation of information about life-bearing planets in nearby star systems is primordial for long term survival. Knowing about who your neighbours are, what evolutionary path has primed on these planets is priority one. What makes the eco-systems work and a comprehensive list of biological constructs that could present a potential future threat to us aliens (from mutated viruses to irrational humans... etc.) is the kind of information that matters.

Type 1 civilizations are self-sufficient, have such a control over matter that they have no need for invasion or exterminating foreign races... they simply build the environments they need. What concerns them is other entities that could break their toys and potentially infect them with lethal viruses.

In that context... if the logic holds. Humans will trigger contact when they can finally break the quarantine and move around local star systems.

You also have to understand that, as an alien, I'd rather see you stay on your planet than see you start tripping on my toys. Managing new inter-stellar borders adds extra-complexity in an already complex galaxy.

 

[boomerang]

We don't understand the nature of "empty space"--which in fact cannot exist--much better than we understand gravity. So it's possible that the true nature of size and scale are not what our human senses tell us they are.

As for what a much advanced civilization would want or need--I still think we have no idea.

 

[Ezechiel]

For example, as we become more and more advanced ( not merely larger in size ), we tend to use less and less energy and become more efficient. Instead of requiring 100 watts of power to light the average room, we now do it with about 13 watts. The first big computers had row upon row of power hungry vacuum tubes and took up several floors. Now we have single microchips that are thousands of times more powerful and can run on batteries the size of a pack of matches.

Well yes some systems will evolve with time and will be optimized to require less energy if economics or environments are favored by such a requirement.
Sometimes enhanced capacities lead to relative sloppyness.
Take the case of information storage ... as soon as large disks and RAM became common a general lack of concern for optimized code and conservation stategies kicked in as the hardware became smaller lol.
The same will happen with fusion power when it becomes available.
Give a Tokamak style plant to the Japanese and they'll scale it down to the size of a heart (Iron Man)

Fusion power is a major leap in energy self-sufficiency that will bring us spectacular capabilities way beyond what nuclear fission could offer (without the radiation risks). Once all that energy becomes available I would expect a tremendous waste of the almost free energy, but at the same time a quantum leap in the tools available to fix this planet and travel beyond our natural borders.

Fusion power drives type 1 civilizations. This is a scale we haven't experienced yet... a paradigm shift whose implications haven't been measured.

---------- Post added at 11:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 AM ----------

We don't understand the nature of "empty space"--which in fact cannot exist--much better than we understand gravity. So it's possible that the true nature of size and scale are not what our human senses tell us they are.

As for what a much advanced civilization would want or need--I still think we have no idea.

On a macro scale I'd like to think they'd want the same basic things we do: safety, the ability to perpetuate and unlock the mysteries of this universe.
Knowledge is power. Power is control. Control is security. IMHO, you are not a sentient being if you don't understand this.

Assuming that we are surrounded by higher level entities, the fact that we are tolerated as a species on this rock is very telling and could be an indication of the external structure of sentient activity