Thread: "Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." -Calvin What did he mean?

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." -Calvin

What was Calvin meaning?
Why would "none of it has tried to contact us" be "the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe"?
i dont get it, at all. wouldnt it be the opposite? if nothing tried to contact us, nothing did exist?

anyone can clarify?
its in this guy'sView Profile: Flick Montana - The Science Forumsignature

It's a joke about the human race. If there were life out there intelligent enough to observe us, it would see a race better avoided.

For instance, I don't go visit the old man down the street who shouts at his trees in the morning.

I guess it's a humourous commentary on the nature of humanity. If aliens had any sense they would do well to steer clear of us. That kind of thing.

edit: mr. montana beat me to it.

Do you communicate with termites? So, why then, would a highly sentient species communicate with barbarous homosapiens? That's the point he was putting across I believe.

It probably relates to man's predilection for theistic beliefs, as in intelligence is still in the waiting.

The signals from Earth are fine, intelligent aliens the universe over were all set to converge upon Earth and welcome us to their kindergarten version of MENSA when all of a sudden they discovered the signals they had were from the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries Television Network. Mission was scrubbed.

Originally Posted by shlunka

Do you communicate with termites? So, why then, would a highly sentient species communicate with barbarous homosapiens? That's the point he was putting across I believe.

I always found something wrong with the termite analogy. Some scientists like Michio Kaku, for example, use it a lot and they seem to mean it seriously (don't know if you do, though) but there's a qualitative difference between ants and us. It's not just a quantitative thing.

Javier.

Originally Posted by Flick Montana

It's a joke about the human race. If there were life out there intelligent enough to observe us, it would see a race better avoided.

For instance, I don't go visit the old man down the street who shouts at his trees in the morning.

why would man be "Shouting at his trees in the morning." man doesn't seem mad. at least i dont think so, dont you?

http://www.twogag.com/comics/2013-03...68_Contact.jpg

But how would we know if other intelligent species think the same way we do?

we don't, but our best example so far is ourselves.

We won't know until it happens, if it happens at all.

Originally Posted by ryanawe123

Originally Posted by Flick Montana

It's a joke about the human race. If there were life out there intelligent enough to observe us, it would see a race better avoided.

For instance, I don't go visit the old man down the street who shouts at his trees in the morning.

why would man be "Shouting at his trees in the morning." man doesn't seem mad. at least i dont think so, dont you?

It's just a joke from a comic strip. Self-depreciating humor isn't always strictly true.

Whos calvin?

A character in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson. They're based on the famous philosophers of the same names.

That comic strip helped shape my childhood.

Is this the original comic strip?

http://www.twogag.com/comics/2013-03...68_Contact.jpg

Originally Posted by ryanawe123

Is this the original comic strip?

http://www.twogag.com/comics/2013-03...68_Contact.jpg

Here:

ohh........ i get it now its a joke

Originally Posted by Flick Montana

A character in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson. They're based on the famous philosophers of the same names.

That comic strip helped shape my childhood.

Possibly the greatest comic strip ever created.

Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip on GoComics.com

Originally Posted by Strange

Originally Posted by Flick Montana

A character in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson. They're based on the famous philosophers of the same names.

That comic strip helped shape my childhood.

Possibly the greatest comic strip ever created.

Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip on GoComics.com

Undoubtedly.