The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has the best explanation for UFO sightings: spoiled rich kids messing with primitive civilizations for fun. "Rather childish, really", in the immortal words of Ford Prefect.
I always thought if aliens were monitoring us it means they are most likely on our internet and maybe even posting too. So you could run into an alien shitposting online and not know it. Would be wild if they make contact and walk out of their ship speaking perfect internet slang.
@@Gaia_Gaistar As ridiculous as that premise is, if aliens were really eavesdropping on us in an effort to try to learn about our language, culture, etc., the internet would probably be one of the best ways to do that... So they'd probably at least be aware of internet slang and "brainrot." There's enough information on the internet to deduce "brainrot" is not the primary method of human communication tho.
Isaac Arthur: Aliens have contacted us, now What? Me after playing Mass Effect: I'm willing to enter open negotiations and diplomatic discussions. Me after playing Xenonauts: Lock and load, scamble the jets and start scavenging alien tech.
But what does hello mean? And did they even say hello? Google translate won't help here, I guess... Do you know the Monty Python sketch about the dirty Hungarian phrasebook? We don't want to be in that situation, do we? :-D
There was that funny bit in early Babylon 5 when a human tried to take an alien to court because the alien's great-grandfather abducted his great-grandfather (pre official first contact) and just took him away on a spaceship.
Reminds me of a 40k story where a necron remarked on the "anthropogenic vanity" in assuming the nervous system stems from the head. As he continued to fight and kill the astartes that destroyed its head and thought the fight was finished. We really got to be careful to not assume familiar biology when engaging with alien constructs or organisms.
If the argument is that sentient alien life capable of meeting us is incredibly rare, then doesn't that mean that we might be the first "aliens" they have met and that it is "First Contact" for them too?
I want an SFIA inspired story of aliens contacting us and the subsequent meetings, discussions, and negotiations. This video and its points of discussion are far more enlightening and entertaining than most first contact sci-fi put together. Most enlightening episode, Isaac.
Nah it would be way too dependent on starting assumptions... Only a tiny fraction of the viewership would be satisfied, and the rest incredibly frustrated.
I think first contact in a scenario where we are the only civilization in a big radius and the first contact is millions of years from now, with some intergalactic colonists millions of light-years away detecting a grabby alien civilization.
Has anyone considered that our first contact scenario could just be some drunk and/or high alien crashing onto earth, stumbling out of his ship and saying to the nearest human, "Hey man, is this planet XB-23-AURORA?"
The technological gap would be HUGE, it's difficult not to understate how much. People usually bring up what happened to the American native tribes when the Europeans disembarked, but a more apt comparison would be an anthill being flown over by a jumbojet. I don't think anything would happen to us on purpose, but by mistake or missunderstanding, yes. Also, even if we have jumbojets, we still study anthills. Some recognize they are an important part of the ecosystem, others treat them like invasive pests.
I dont think it would be that huge. And likewise I do not think there is any apt way to compare to anything humans have observed or have history with. The Native Americans where lacking gunpowder and good steel for edged tools yes. In fact it can be easily argued that without outside contact they might have gone many more centuries before learning that iron, or copper alloys could be useful as a hard metal at all, due to the geology of the America's north and south. But they knew what steel was prior to contact. And contact happened much sooner then we typically imagine. First contact was from shipwrecks. And thats where they first saw useful hard irons. Some had types of copper alloys they made prior that where used for some tools just not for sharp tools. And they had thier own iron industry and trade with the manufacturing center coming from centeral America but. That iron wasnt very useful for steel. Now a lot of those same principles apply, we know what should be impossible, and have an idea of whats possible, but instead of tech that evoloved around us for us it was tech that evoloved for an compleatly alien planet, lifeforms, and needs. Heck, as far as actual horsepower goes they might not choose to have any onboard thier ships choosing to concentrate starlight against captured astroids to power thier motors instead. Heck. They might be *more* primitate then us and still be travelling the galaxy if thier planet had just slightly diffrent conditions; steam tech could get into space.
why? Most our technology is based upon maximum compression of information. from mouth to mouth to written word to digital databases. Yet, they encounter the exact laws of physics that we have to conquer...
I don’t think I’ve been this early to an Isaac Arthur video before, but that’s quite a title to wake up to haha. When I first seen the thumbnail my thought was “oh boy, time to finally unsubscribe from Angry Astronaut” then I realized it was Isaac and was like wait.. what
Can you imagine the alien version of social media? Filled with the alien version of cat video's and cat ladies and all the rest of it? And somewhere on there is the alien version Isaac Arthur.
The talk about alien traders reminds of the (now defunct) Disney attraction Alien Encounter. The storyline involves an alien corporation that makes money by selling advanced tech to more primitive planets. They’ve come to Earth to offer interstellar teleportation. Of course a middle manager makes a mess of it.
AI would make quick work I think. Wouldn’t be a thousand year puzzle. Also likely wouldn’t be a one off message either. They would likely include a Rosetta Stone for us to decipher included in the message.
@@floridaman4073 Why would you think that? 'AI' can only collate what Humans have published. It can't 'think' or 'know' anything else. At best, you're talking about translation. Anyone who natively speaks multiple languages, or has had to liaise with foreign actors knows the difference between translation and interpretation. An example is the German exchange student 'Denise' in highschool, who told my friend he was very long... followed by his immediately looking down to check his zipper.
I’ve thought it would make for a good episode of Star Trek that a contaminated society honoring a con man who sold them “mundane” technology. And defending that con man when the enterprise crew try to arrest him. It would be a great idea and repudiation of the prime directive.
there's a episode with the ferengi. One ferengi is kinda stranded on the planet, sells them junk and is regarded as their ruler. Starfleet tries to intervene, they get hostile trying to defend their ruler.
Personally I like the situation in Contact (1997 movie) Alien sent a reply message to human’s first television broadcast, the opening of 1936 summer Olympics, with the Austrian mustached painter being the first human they saw. Interestingly back in the days the out look towards first contact was pretty optimistic. Nowadays we get the dark forest theory.
Have you thought about where the dark forest way of thinking about aliens comes from? Never liked the idea that every alien civilization defaults to murderous xenophobes. It is telling that a Chinese writer is one of the main originators of that particular ideal.
@@edwardson6825I agree. I think the author was trying to say something about the CCP but not openly of course. I dislike the Dark Forest premise too because I don’t believe every species would go on a murder spree and I think some species could survive an attack if such a thing happens. And counterattack. As well as decide to protect other species.
I too dislike the dark forest theory due to lightspeed creating a kind of "horizon bubble". Outside that "bubble", it's simply impossible to retrieve/recieve information since the speed of light is also the fastest way to exchange any information outside of a closed system. Even with quantum methods, due to the EPR paradoxon, super proton computers like in the 3 body problem are impossible. The term for it is called observable universe or particle horizon.
And then the alien responds back in perfect english, while showing examples of all the embarrassing stuff that humanity has been up to, "Which particular 'this' are you referring to?". Probably while we're doing something we THINK is embarrassing but the aliens don't actually care about. Much to our chagrin.^^
Also thinking that galactic colonization timespan disproves nearby aliens and the dark forest altogether. Not to mention a planet with a biosphere isn't exactly a hiding place.
@@T.efpunkt Because back in China almost every single Gen Z unironically believed dark forest HYPOTHESIS even if the original fic literally deconstructed it.
There are way waaay too few sci-fi shows about first contact and even fewer when first contact goes the other way around, I think it’s a shame. Scenarios like this are ripe for thought provoking and mind expanding plotlines
Like 'Planet 51'? Where a human lands on an alien planet in a reverse of our usual stories? I don't remember a whole lot about that movie, but I do remember I enjoyed it. 😂
41:23 "...and the good news for me is if I'm wrong, odds are good everyone will be too busy running and hiding from our new alien overlords to remember I was wrong." Except for the fact that it is saved here on UA-cam to remind everyone. And your episodes are so clearly named as to let people know exactly which episode(s) to look at to confirm it. 😆
Nah follow Richard Dolan for the real scoop. Peace fellow Human Intelligence.. Hehe Post Disclosure World is great not as finished as Mr. Dolan however. I have followed Issac for years... maybe a decade if he has been around that long. Issac is my go to guy for perspective and great speculation some days. Disclosure will have a vast effect once accepted and perhaps great potential to advance in many ways.
If there is an advanced space-faring species that knows of us, now would be the time for a visit, or at least a hello. They would observe our rapid progress into space (in the grand scheme, a century or two is nothing) and decide that now is the time to lay down The Rules.
@@GodWorksOut Thermians: _"We have viewed all of your historical archives!"_ Glen: _"...Surely you don't think the people on Gilligan's Island..."_ Thermians: _"Those poor people."_ 😢
I freaked out 😂😂😂 but then i saw that it was just issac arthur, and i calmed down😂😂😂 I mean that with the utmost respect btw, i saw your name and knew it was gonna just be a great discussion. you're not usually in the business of breaking crazy news 😂
I'm more into the zoo hypothesis personally. Galaxy is most certainly already colonized as you said, but we're just into a galactic reserve. Even we can't conclude on one more than the other, I find the whole story more interesting from this point of view
My only issue: Humanities radio transmissions are not leaving our solar system. Even assuming a 1 million watt broadcast signal, it falls under the noise floor of the CMBR. Aliens would have to be specifically looking for signals below the noise floor, which is possible if the spectrum is wide enough, but only if you know TO look.
Not entirely true. The closest handful of star systems could detect our broadcasts and different those signals from noise/CMB. But yeah, we’ve been sending signals into space for such a short time and at such low power
There was a congress hearing yesterday(nov 13th) on UAPs, where among other things to the question of communication, the answer was "Yes" "When we intercept a russian jet at the border, this is also a form of communication" and things like "biologicals have been recovered" have been said too. The video title is very much on time.. I initially thought it was a quick reaction to yesterday's hearing, one day after congress openly said it. The most interesting part is how, while you can easily find the recording of the session and it's all widely available, it's not actually discussed anywhere... like the first hearing a year ago which everyone just kinda forgot about..
@@yourbuddyunitBecause what they said means nothing. It's deliberately vague so people hoping its aliens will think its aliens and stop inquiring into things the military cares about keeping secret.
There's a cognitive dissonance amongst skeptics that deserves to be studied on its own. Arthur claims that he doesn't consider any sighting legitimate- ok, what exactly is the burden of proof here? How about an electronic warfare aircraft registering a radar pulse from an antenna the size of a football field doing a 180 degree inspection of said aircraft on three separate EW consoles, the entire aircrew reporting multiple visual sightings, and all of them corroborated by ground radar over the course of 4 hours? This is the 1957 Gulf Coast RB-47 incident. We have multiple, highly credible eyewitnesses with their story corroborated by ground radar AND three independent electronic warfare systems. But the burden of proof is somewhere past that, for aliens we need one to land on the white house lawn in order to consider a sighting to be legitimate. But literally any other scientific theory doesn't require even a fraction of the proof. Dark matter/energy? It's good enough to observe that something is affecting real matter in the universe for us to all accept that both exist. "But we can observe their effect even if not the origin"- again, THREE separate EW systems, ground radar, and eyewitness sightings. Science is biased towards naturalism to such an unhealthy degree, and the only reason a burden of proof so severe exists for UFOs is for no other reason than we as humans who practice science, don't like what the evidence is saying. That's it. As usual it's not data, it's how we *feel* about the data. If we had the same quality and consistency of sightings of any less controversial phenomenon, Arthur would be the first to accept their legitimacy. We desperately need a bias check in academia.
This is not how the scientific method works. What you don't take into account is repeatability. You can arrive at the theory of dark matter on your own by doing the math. But you can't repeat an UAP sighting, what you need is the UAP itself, not just sensor data that can be explained in other ways.
@@T.efpunkt then explain it in other ways. We have repeatable UAP data- Washington sightings in that same time frame, again radar data verifying eyewitness testimony, and today we have astro plates from Mt. Wilson observatory on the night in question showing fast transients that are extremely likely to be inside of the earth's atmosphere on the night the main 'flap' occurred- a time where there were no man-made satellites. Fighter pilots from two separate flights being vectored in on an anomalous craft by a CSG air defense destroyer's radar- again, data verified by eyewitnesses. You're right, math can lead you to the conclusion that dark matter and dark energy both should exist. Saying because UAP events aren't reproducible they somehow have a higher burden of proof is a lazy excuse for throwing out the reams of data we have on UAP events. We simply want to ignore data that leads to conclusions we intrinsically are uncomfortable with, and pretend it's not good enough. It's damn good data, and if the phenomenon being observed was less controversial we'd have zero problem admitting it.
@@T.efpunkt So we need a UFO to come back and be detected by exactly the same sensors in exactly the same way for it to be valid? That’s the problem with applying strict scientific principles to the study of a phenomenon such as this. Science was developed to study the natural world, with its repeatable forces and phenomenon that follow natural laws; not a phenomenon that involves intelligence and intention on the part of sentient beings. This is exactly why social scientists need to be involved; a strictly physics/hard sciences based epistemology is not appropriate to understand such phenomenon. When Jacque Vallee says the approach to studying this phenomenon needs to be like a police investigator investigating a murder, this is what he means. A murderer is going to INTENTIONALLY try to hide their tracks. An alien civilization visiting and studying us might well be doing the same. We can’t assume such a civilization would just leave their technology around for us to find, so we have the scientifically valid hard proof to trot out in front of the scientific community so they can reach scientific consensus. Instead, we would have to look at how many lines of evidence converge on a given explanation to increase the probability of that explanation being correct, in lieu of a “crucial test” (the scientific version of a “smoking gun”). Just because we can’t prove something with a crucial test that provides enough certainty to satisfy scientific consensus doesn’t mean we can’t gather enough evidence that taken together increase the odds of a given explanation being correct. It’s one thing to dismiss large numbers of people who see lights in the sky at night. It’s another to dismiss large numbers of people (including astronauts, pilots, military personnel, police, scientists, etc.) who witness clearly structured, metallic, often very large craft performing maneuvers that no conventional craft possibly could. When multiple sensors detect these things at the same time that military pilots are witnessing them, that greatly increases the probability that what’s being witnessed is real. Spectrographic filters on cameras show in some cases the light from these crafts is not possible by known physics since they lack any chemical peaks as all natural and artificial light would have. We cannot rely on a traditional scientific epistemology to study such a phenomenon. We have to acknowledge that we’re very likely studying something that is not a natural phenomenon and we have to take into account the role of intelligence and intention in affecting the process of study.
1957 was in the middle of the cold war. FBI and CIA allready stated that they boosted conspiracy theories regarding ufo sitings cause it's better to let people talk about UFOs instead of stealth fighters currently in development...
The most important question in this scenario is do we even have the capability to deter them from killing us all ? Our nukes number only in the thousands, our fighter jets can't even fly outside the atmosphere, DEW weapons are still in early development stage with a few prototypes. Even with adequate technologies, there is no way our Earth-bound military industrial complex can compete against a interstellar civilization.
Since they could anihilate us (i.e. with an Asteroid) before we even know that they're here, let alone where they come from and how to hurt them, i'm afraid Deterence is futile.
@Mate397 I’m not sure of the story, but I think the aliens looked at us as being nothing more than containers for mitochondria, so they were likely indifferent towards us. That’s the point of using the word ‘alien’.
My 10 year old and I listen to every show Isaac and Love it. The issue we have is that as soon as you question if we’re alone, he switches off. He knows that makes no sense and doesn’t relate to his world. We’ve had our own experience we can’t explain away so easily and no one we know has come up with a sensible explanation though they try it always comes across so very patronizingly which makes them just seem rude and ignorant to him and angers me. He never lies. Skepticism is such a fragile position. Just takes one experience you can’t explain and your belief system falls apart. Hoping more people are open to the possibilities of mental growth. The oceans are enormous and mostly unexplored. We discover new things the harder we try and scientists continually seem to forget that? Specially trained observers, astronauts, pilots and NASA itself hasn’t been able to explain much at all about the objects they see and microorganisms were not discovered until the 17th century!
I have this crazy idea for alien contact. Us humans; act as bizarre as possible and try to confuse them. If we surprise them in any way; it might be novel to them and impress them.
People may claim that the title of this video is click-bate, but it ABSOLUTELY did it's job. I stopped in my tracks when I saw this video on my homepage. Bravo....
There are many lines of logic presented in the first minute which have previously been overlooked, as far as I am aware, that are absolutely valid and are difficult to argue. Very interesting and very worthwhile watch. Beyond that, the value of the content plummets sharply.
19:04 Careful there, Isaac. Watch V (either the 80s mini series or the 2000s sadly canceled one will do) for why you still need to watch the limbs of any alien that will get here even if they seem to be nice.
Maybe planets worth colonizing are so rare that an intelligent species would give up on the idea of colonization before finding one. Or maybe post-scarcity technology is so much easier to achieve than interstellar travel that by the time an alien species could reach us, they’ve lost the desire to colonize.
Bro, we been here for a very long time, we so used to being discreet when being around human beings, you don't even know. We populate most of the ocean, we been using camo light bending tech for centuries.
It could well be a dark forest situation and they see us talk about aliens visiting us but they wont attack us because they think we're being protected somehow and they don't know by who.
It is worth mentioning that they may not be interested in stealth. What are those talking apes that can barely get off their own planet going to do? Shout?
One thing they could value enough to avoid contact on purpose is an analysis on society evolution. They might be so ancient or separated from their origins that seeing a society grow is itself valuable
You’ve come so far since the first Elmer Fudd days brother. Its been a great journey. It’s been a tough day and I wanna grab a snack and learn some cool stuff. Love from UK man
One of the most universal reasons to do something is "for the lulz" and only justification required is "because i can". I don't see why aliens should be any different.
In winter 2004 Florida, I watched a 1 mile long x 1/2 a mile wide , silent , pitch black rectangle glide effortlessly across the entire sky about 14 seconds after it was out of site , 2 military jets came roaring across the sky chasing after it. In those moments , I had to realize , That it was not a human made craft. I have searched and have never found answers etc..
I've always thought that the first unambiguous alien contact will be baffling and inexplicable more than anything else. I once had a dream where an alien space animal swooped down into Earth's atmosphere in front of many witnesses, started eating clouds then went away never to be seen again. If this happened we would probably spend centuries trying to figure out what happened and end up with more questions than answers.
Imagine if aliens contact us, saying something like “oh, we picked up on a transmission from your planet, saying that your race has discovered cold fusion, so we spent 40-ish years traveling across space in the hopes that you’d be willing to teach us how you did it!”, and then you have to be the one to tell them that they wasted their time coming all the way here.
This is the video I have been waiting for. Havent finished yet but I keep trying to say to people "Yay, great, yippe, Aliens are real. What now. I still have to get up and pay my bills" Thank you for this, whatever happens.
I do question why if you're ET you'd want to come here right now though. We're at the stage where we're wriggling in our cradle/playpen and grabbing at anything that comes into our reach. If aunt suzie has a purse with bear spray in it, you probably don't want us getting our hands on it. So while aunt suzie might look in from time to time, she's not likely to come close enough with that purse for us to grab it. That said, if you can travel all that distance and such and pop in on a whim, you might come into the playpen and coo at the kid - making sure you didn't have anything the kid could grab on you. And you might even put on a friendly face so you don't scare the kid so much. After all, its just polite.
33:30 i grow out the santa beard n stach each year. I was twiddling with mustache curl when you said that n i legit looked around my room for a camera ahahahahaha
Most Americans' energy is made by steam engine tech. Whether the water is heated by coal, natural gas, or plutonium, we are living in a steam punk era. Minus the 5 ft long revolvers. A diagram of a steam engine is very useful to us.
In a story I'm writing, a race of hyper advanced aliens use Ice Giants to create interstellar cell phone towers using entangled particles (sci fi handwaving!). Anyways, they were waiting for Earth to become sufficiently advanced to make contact with us and make a treaty for the rights to Uranus and Neptune to add to their network, maybe even give us a small fraction of their communication network. They did this with dozens of other less advanced alien civilizations before. Unfortunately for them, some other hyper advanced alien civilization decided to do it first, making the first alien civilization miss out on some prime real estate for waiting too long. Needless to say they're kind of pissed about it.
If aliens do make contact, I for one hope they announce it here first. You have done a lotta good work, ya deserve some credit. Also, I suspect it would anger a lotta suit dummies and generals and shit, and that is always a plus.
Trying to speculate about the actions and motivations of aliens is fun, but that`s probably about all it is, just for fun. They might be so alien that we literally can`t imagine what their motives might be. But I tend to agree with you (not that my opinion on this subject counts for much) that the reason we don`t see aliens is that there are not any near enough for us to see.
For a second i had a mini heart attack as i thought that it was some extremely breaking news that aliens had actually just contacted us
I don't even believe the "UFOs are aliens" stuff and I still had the same feeling when I saw the title, lol
Same lol
Grrr. ISAAC. Lol
Are you American?
@@morrisjensen1959No but i did watch the congressional hearing on UAP's(i think i finished it around half an hour before the video, in fact)
> Aliens Have Contacted Us... Now What?
Stellaris xenophobe mains: Fuck the aliens!
Stellaris xenophile mains: Fuck the aliens!
The duality of Man
🤣🤣🤣
Knowing how varied fetish content is online it doesn’t particularly matter what the aliens look like, SOMEONE will think it’s hot 😂
Omfg i almost dropped through the spacetime
Accurate LMAO XD
Hilarious! It's funny because it's true!
The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has the best explanation for UFO sightings: spoiled rich kids messing with primitive civilizations for fun. "Rather childish, really", in the immortal words of Ford Prefect.
I always thought if aliens were monitoring us it means they are most likely on our internet and maybe even posting too. So you could run into an alien shitposting online and not know it. Would be wild if they make contact and walk out of their ship speaking perfect internet slang.
@Gaia_Gaistar Aliens speaking Gen Alpha brainrot. The horror.
I'd take my chances with Cthulhu, lol. 😛
To be fair gen alphas terms come from genZ@@Grevnor
@@Grevnor
Aliens: _"We're aliens, dawg! No cap! We gonna glow up your rig!"_
President: _"....What?"_
@@Gaia_Gaistar As ridiculous as that premise is, if aliens were really eavesdropping on us in an effort to try to learn about our language, culture, etc., the internet would probably be one of the best ways to do that... So they'd probably at least be aware of internet slang and "brainrot." There's enough information on the internet to deduce "brainrot" is not the primary method of human communication tho.
Humans: So, what's up with the UFOs?
Aliens: You see them, too?
Humans: What.
👁👄👁
That was a lol
Aliens: Those aren't yours?
😐😨
That sounds like a hell of a writing prompt.
Respond like Truman in Futurama.
“If you come in peace, Surrender of be destroyed. If you come for War, we surrender”
If you're suggesting the aliens look like Zoidberg, I am fascinated and horrified.
Now that’s a title to wake up to….
Right? I had quite the fright seeing this instead of the usual notifications!
I second that.
Ask them "What's up?" or "Wanna throw hands?" Or just tell them "the universe ain't big enough for the two of us."
especially from Isaac lol cuz im like "if anyone would hop right on it"
and! its the perfect time to finally get over yourselves for a change
Isaac Arthur: Aliens have contacted us, now What?
Me after playing Mass Effect: I'm willing to enter open negotiations and diplomatic discussions.
Me after playing Xenonauts: Lock and load, scamble the jets and start scavenging alien tech.
Me after playing Space Marine 2: In the name of the Emperor, purge the Xenos!
Me after playing Helldivers II: "For Democracy!!"
@@Baalurhow to get earth a second great flood like real quick
@@Baalur
yeah, don't actually emulate the hyper-xenophobic religious zealots. they were never the good guys- there are no good guys in 40k.
the 2 genders, Xenonauts and Mass Effect
Obviously saying “hello” back. Isn’t that how conversations start usually?
That's my horse!
How to say hello? What if they are like dogs and require a butt sniff?😋
The Vulcan Hello? 🤣
But what does hello mean? And did they even say hello? Google translate won't help here, I guess...
Do you know the Monty Python sketch about the dirty Hungarian phrasebook? We don't want to be in that situation, do we? :-D
"Yes? This is Humanity speaking, and you're?"
There was that funny bit in early Babylon 5 when a human tried to take an alien to court because the alien's great-grandfather abducted his great-grandfather (pre official first contact) and just took him away on a spaceship.
He didn’t try it was a quick scene of the trial. And it was a gray who’s cruisers later in the show we’re shown to be actual flying saucers. 😂
That’s brilliant!
I remember that scene. 😅
Hopefully, when they visit, they can finally solve the age old mystery as to why they are always naked.
"Got to let the junk breath hoomaannn"
Obviously to farm that sweet Vitamin D equivalent. Or to save in radiating surfaces
Most reports have aliens in tight fitting, one piece jumpsuits.
It's sensory processing issues, clothes just don't feel right on their skins
"Why did you hide for so long?"
"We met with your leaders 80 years ago. They said you couldn't handle the truth."
actually, our leaders wanted us to stop worrying 'bout the wonders of the universe, and keep payin' taxes.
@@partciudgam8478valid concern for the puppet masters. Gotta keep the plebes working or they can’t live in luxury.
And increase everything inflation yadayada
Reminds me of a 40k story where a necron remarked on the "anthropogenic vanity" in assuming the nervous system stems from the head. As he continued to fight and kill the astartes that destroyed its head and thought the fight was finished.
We really got to be careful to not assume familiar biology when engaging with alien constructs or organisms.
What's really dumb is the fact that they put wheels on doors. Any good Ork knows that you can't steer a door.
The dancing and drinking Grey's is becoming my favorite meme of this Channel
If the argument is that sentient alien life capable of meeting us is incredibly rare, then doesn't that mean that we might be the first "aliens" they have met and that it is "First Contact" for them too?
Probably not but it appears intelligence is probably rare. But what do we know consider our primitive tech.
I want an SFIA inspired story of aliens contacting us and the subsequent meetings, discussions, and negotiations. This video and its points of discussion are far more enlightening and entertaining than most first contact sci-fi put together.
Most enlightening episode, Isaac.
Also the discovery (once we both translate each others' languages) that we both wrote the song Xenophobia as a joke.
Nah it would be way too dependent on starting assumptions... Only a tiny fraction of the viewership would be satisfied, and the rest incredibly frustrated.
I think first contact in a scenario where we are the only civilization in a big radius and the first contact is millions of years from now, with some intergalactic colonists millions of light-years away detecting a grabby alien civilization.
Has anyone considered that our first contact scenario could just be some drunk and/or high alien crashing onto earth, stumbling out of his ship and saying to the nearest human, "Hey man, is this planet XB-23-AURORA?"
That will lead to the creation of the Earth Defense Force.
The technological gap would be HUGE, it's difficult not to understate how much. People usually bring up what happened to the American native tribes when the Europeans disembarked, but a more apt comparison would be an anthill being flown over by a jumbojet. I don't think anything would happen to us on purpose, but by mistake or missunderstanding, yes. Also, even if we have jumbojets, we still study anthills. Some recognize they are an important part of the ecosystem, others treat them like invasive pests.
I dont think it would be that huge.
And likewise I do not think there is any apt way to compare to anything humans have observed or have history with.
The Native Americans where lacking gunpowder and good steel for edged tools yes.
In fact it can be easily argued that without outside contact they might have gone many more centuries before learning that iron, or copper alloys could be useful as a hard metal at all, due to the geology of the America's north and south.
But they knew what steel was prior to contact.
And contact happened much sooner then we typically imagine.
First contact was from shipwrecks. And thats where they first saw useful hard irons.
Some had types of copper alloys they made prior that where used for some tools just not for sharp tools.
And they had thier own iron industry and trade with the manufacturing center coming from centeral America but. That iron wasnt very useful for steel.
Now a lot of those same principles apply, we know what should be impossible, and have an idea of whats possible, but instead of tech that evoloved around us for us it was tech that evoloved for an compleatly alien planet, lifeforms, and needs.
Heck, as far as actual horsepower goes they might not choose to have any onboard thier ships choosing to concentrate starlight against captured astroids to power thier motors instead.
Heck. They might be *more* primitate then us and still be travelling the galaxy if thier planet had just slightly diffrent conditions; steam tech could get into space.
If we assume most people think them a nuisance, then what should we assume most alien civilizations would think of us?
Roanoke happened. Europeans learned from that.
As long as tech doesn't run out too fast, that is an apt comparison
why? Most our technology is based upon maximum compression of information. from mouth to mouth to written word to digital databases. Yet, they encounter the exact laws of physics that we have to conquer...
I don’t think I’ve been this early to an Isaac Arthur video before, but that’s quite a title to wake up to haha. When I first seen the thumbnail my thought was “oh boy, time to finally unsubscribe from Angry Astronaut” then I realized it was Isaac and was like wait.. what
How can we be sure that Isaac isn’t actually an alien whose been preparing us for first contact all along 🤣👽🛸
Can you imagine the alien version of social media? Filled with the alien version of cat video's and cat ladies and all the rest of it? And somewhere on there is the alien version Isaac Arthur.
I can relate to the idea that if you've seen an alien or an alien ship you should ask yourself, am I having a delusion?
The talk about alien traders reminds of the (now defunct) Disney attraction Alien Encounter. The storyline involves an alien corporation that makes money by selling advanced tech to more primitive planets. They’ve come to Earth to offer interstellar teleportation. Of course a middle manager makes a mess of it.
Now, we spend the next 1000 years trying to understand what they said, before giving up and forming a new a religion.
Not like we don't have the experience with this lol.
AI would make quick work I think. Wouldn’t be a thousand year puzzle. Also likely wouldn’t be a one off message either. They would likely include a Rosetta Stone for us to decipher included in the message.
Like the shopping list from "A Canticle for Leibwicz...."
@@floridaman4073
Why would you think that? 'AI' can only collate what Humans have published. It can't 'think' or 'know' anything else. At best, you're talking about translation. Anyone who natively speaks multiple languages, or has had to liaise with foreign actors knows the difference between translation and interpretation. An example is the German exchange student 'Denise' in highschool, who told my friend he was very long... followed by his immediately looking down to check his zipper.
I’ve thought it would make for a good episode of Star Trek that a contaminated society honoring a con man who sold them “mundane” technology. And defending that con man when the enterprise crew try to arrest him. It would be a great idea and repudiation of the prime directive.
_"I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half hour ago from this very boutique!"_
That is actually a good idea and one I've never heard before!
there's a episode with the ferengi. One ferengi is kinda stranded on the planet, sells them junk and is regarded as their ruler. Starfleet tries to intervene, they get hostile trying to defend their ruler.
The first message will obviously be: "All your base are belong to us"
Not the message we are looking for but hey we would know we weren’t at the top of the food chain anymore
Personally I like the situation in Contact (1997 movie)
Alien sent a reply message to human’s first television broadcast, the opening of 1936 summer Olympics, with the Austrian mustached painter being the first human they saw.
Interestingly back in the days the out look towards first contact was pretty optimistic. Nowadays we get the dark forest theory.
Have you thought about where the dark forest way of thinking about aliens comes from? Never liked the idea that every alien civilization defaults to murderous xenophobes. It is telling that a Chinese writer is one of the main originators of that particular ideal.
@@edwardson6825I agree. I think the author was trying to say something about the CCP but not openly of course. I dislike the Dark Forest premise too because I don’t believe every species would go on a murder spree and I think some species could survive an attack if such a thing happens. And counterattack. As well as decide to protect other species.
I too dislike the dark forest theory due to lightspeed creating a kind of "horizon bubble". Outside that "bubble", it's simply impossible to retrieve/recieve information since the speed of light is also the fastest way to exchange any information outside of a closed system. Even with quantum methods, due to the EPR paradoxon, super proton computers like in the 3 body problem are impossible.
The term for it is called observable universe or particle horizon.
Ok, time to head to my fridge, this is going to be a long one
that's what she said! xD
@@csehszlovakzehow old are you
Serious question 🙂
Whatcha getting a beer?
@@jasongarcia2140 34 but forever immature 🤣
I'm Commander Sheppard and this is my favorite youtube channel on the Citadel.
Could do with some Calibrations tho
"Take us to your leader"
"...umm yeah, about that..."
"Shure, ill just set you up a 1 on 1 meeting with the galactic Leader, right after you get me one with yours"
Just show them the cats. Dogs will do.
Shalom!
First step is to look at them sheepishly and say, “This isn’t what it looks like.”
And then the alien responds back in perfect english, while showing examples of all the embarrassing stuff that humanity has been up to, "Which particular 'this' are you referring to?".
Probably while we're doing something we THINK is embarrassing but the aliens don't actually care about.
Much to our chagrin.^^
Also thinking that galactic colonization timespan disproves nearby aliens and the dark forest altogether. Not to mention a planet with a biosphere isn't exactly a hiding place.
We're not even done mapping out our own planet, let alone our solar system. How do you even arrive at such huge claims?
@@T.efpunkt Because back in China almost every single Gen Z unironically believed dark forest HYPOTHESIS even if the original fic literally deconstructed it.
That’s not how science works bud. Did you even watch the video?
@@explosivemodesonicmauricet1597 you make even less sense than OP
Simple… WE SHALL CHALLENGE THEM TO A GAME OF WARHAMMER 40K!!!
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel.
I imagine them misunderstanding the concept of painted minis and they just end up dropping real units on us.
Enjoy a lifetime of earning minimum wage. 😂
@@Mate397 More like completely misunderstood fandom memes (The Purge the Xeno Part) and start a real diplomatic crisis.
There are way waaay too few sci-fi shows about first contact and even fewer when first contact goes the other way around, I think it’s a shame. Scenarios like this are ripe for thought provoking and mind expanding plotlines
Like 'Planet 51'? Where a human lands on an alien planet in a reverse of our usual stories?
I don't remember a whole lot about that movie, but I do remember I enjoyed it. 😂
There's way too few sci-fi shows full stop.
41:23 "...and the good news for me is if I'm wrong, odds are good everyone will be too busy running and hiding from our new alien overlords to remember I was wrong." Except for the fact that it is saved here on UA-cam to remind everyone. And your episodes are so clearly named as to let people know exactly which episode(s) to look at to confirm it. 😆
Great title, I thought it was news of actual alien contact
Nah follow Richard Dolan for the real scoop. Peace fellow Human Intelligence.. Hehe Post Disclosure World is great not as finished as Mr. Dolan however. I have followed Issac for years... maybe a decade if he has been around that long. Issac is my go to guy for perspective and great speculation some days. Disclosure will have a vast effect once accepted and perhaps great potential to advance in many ways.
If there is an advanced space-faring species that knows of us, now would be the time for a visit, or at least a hello. They would observe our rapid progress into space (in the grand scheme, a century or two is nothing) and decide that now is the time to lay down The Rules.
They were horrified by all the documentaries that humans call movies and kept going.
@@GodWorksOut
Thermians: _"We have viewed all of your historical archives!"_
Glen: _"...Surely you don't think the people on Gilligan's Island..."_
Thermians: _"Those poor people."_ 😢
Suspect now would be the time. Maybe what’s going on. Yet the public has to pry that info from our governments.
And of course how the US, Argentina, NK and the rest are shoting themselves and the world in the foot
When the time comes I do indeed nominate Isaac as spokesperson for humanity
I immediately went on my news feed to see if I’d missed something when this showed up. lol 😂
I freaked out 😂😂😂 but then i saw that it was just issac arthur, and i calmed down😂😂😂
I mean that with the utmost respect btw, i saw your name and knew it was gonna just be a great discussion. you're not usually in the business of breaking crazy news 😂
Happy Arthursday
That alien at 1:56 sure has poor muzzle control, he pointed his lazer blaster right at his budd.
I'm more into the zoo hypothesis personally. Galaxy is most certainly already colonized as you said, but we're just into a galactic reserve. Even we can't conclude on one more than the other, I find the whole story more interesting from this point of view
My only issue:
Humanities radio transmissions are not leaving our solar system.
Even assuming a 1 million watt broadcast signal, it falls under the noise floor of the CMBR.
Aliens would have to be specifically looking for signals below the noise floor, which is possible if the spectrum is wide enough, but only if you know TO look.
Not entirely true. The closest handful of star systems could detect our broadcasts and different those signals from noise/CMB.
But yeah, we’ve been sending signals into space for such a short time and at such low power
There was a congress hearing yesterday(nov 13th) on UAPs, where among other things to the question of communication, the answer was "Yes" "When we intercept a russian jet at the border, this is also a form of communication" and things like "biologicals have been recovered" have been said too. The video title is very much on time.. I initially thought it was a quick reaction to yesterday's hearing, one day after congress openly said it. The most interesting part is how, while you can easily find the recording of the session and it's all widely available, it's not actually discussed anywhere... like the first hearing a year ago which everyone just kinda forgot about..
Biological could also be human from many of the non-alien UAP.
Congress has a tendency to do “hearings” on UFO and UAP sightings whenever they need to distract from something. This is not the first time 😅
Holy shit, i looked it up and yea, this is interesting. I wonder why its been utterly ignored.
@@yourbuddyunitBecause what they said means nothing. It's deliberately vague so people hoping its aliens will think its aliens and stop inquiring into things the military cares about keeping secret.
Just because someone says something infront of congress doesn't mean it's real. Humans are known to lie for a variety of reasons.
‘You can’t know how aliens think’
Proceeds to do just that for 45 min.
You missed him say “hypothetically” didn’t you?
Google “hypothetical”
I know eh? LoL
Orange and blue morality.look it up folks, interesting stuff
Also look up video called genocide bingo
Now what? We go to war, that's what.
Definitely got me with that title!
Apparently they've been coming and going for thousands of years, make of it what you will!
If aliens show up, you go to war, that's what.
Ahh the 22 minute war
There's a cognitive dissonance amongst skeptics that deserves to be studied on its own. Arthur claims that he doesn't consider any sighting legitimate- ok, what exactly is the burden of proof here? How about an electronic warfare aircraft registering a radar pulse from an antenna the size of a football field doing a 180 degree inspection of said aircraft on three separate EW consoles, the entire aircrew reporting multiple visual sightings, and all of them corroborated by ground radar over the course of 4 hours?
This is the 1957 Gulf Coast RB-47 incident. We have multiple, highly credible eyewitnesses with their story corroborated by ground radar AND three independent electronic warfare systems.
But the burden of proof is somewhere past that, for aliens we need one to land on the white house lawn in order to consider a sighting to be legitimate. But literally any other scientific theory doesn't require even a fraction of the proof. Dark matter/energy? It's good enough to observe that something is affecting real matter in the universe for us to all accept that both exist. "But we can observe their effect even if not the origin"- again, THREE separate EW systems, ground radar, and eyewitness sightings.
Science is biased towards naturalism to such an unhealthy degree, and the only reason a burden of proof so severe exists for UFOs is for no other reason than we as humans who practice science, don't like what the evidence is saying. That's it. As usual it's not data, it's how we *feel* about the data.
If we had the same quality and consistency of sightings of any less controversial phenomenon, Arthur would be the first to accept their legitimacy. We desperately need a bias check in academia.
This is not how the scientific method works. What you don't take into account is repeatability. You can arrive at the theory of dark matter on your own by doing the math. But you can't repeat an UAP sighting, what you need is the UAP itself, not just sensor data that can be explained in other ways.
@@T.efpunkt then explain it in other ways. We have repeatable UAP data- Washington sightings in that same time frame, again radar data verifying eyewitness testimony, and today we have astro plates from Mt. Wilson observatory on the night in question showing fast transients that are extremely likely to be inside of the earth's atmosphere on the night the main 'flap' occurred- a time where there were no man-made satellites.
Fighter pilots from two separate flights being vectored in on an anomalous craft by a CSG air defense destroyer's radar- again, data verified by eyewitnesses.
You're right, math can lead you to the conclusion that dark matter and dark energy both should exist. Saying because UAP events aren't reproducible they somehow have a higher burden of proof is a lazy excuse for throwing out the reams of data we have on UAP events.
We simply want to ignore data that leads to conclusions we intrinsically are uncomfortable with, and pretend it's not good enough. It's damn good data, and if the phenomenon being observed was less controversial we'd have zero problem admitting it.
@@T.efpunkt
So we need a UFO to come back and be detected by exactly the same sensors in exactly the same way for it to be valid? That’s the problem with applying strict scientific principles to the study of a phenomenon such as this. Science was developed to study the natural world, with its repeatable forces and phenomenon that follow natural laws; not a phenomenon that involves intelligence and intention on the part of sentient beings.
This is exactly why social scientists need to be involved; a strictly physics/hard sciences based epistemology is not appropriate to understand such phenomenon. When Jacque Vallee says the approach to studying this phenomenon needs to be like a police investigator investigating a murder, this is what he means. A murderer is going to INTENTIONALLY try to hide their tracks. An alien civilization visiting and studying us might well be doing the same. We can’t assume such a civilization would just leave their technology around for us to find, so we have the scientifically valid hard proof to trot out in front of the scientific community so they can reach scientific consensus. Instead, we would have to look at how many lines of evidence converge on a given explanation to increase the probability of that explanation being correct, in lieu of a “crucial test” (the scientific version of a “smoking gun”). Just because we can’t prove something with a crucial test that provides enough certainty to satisfy scientific consensus doesn’t mean we can’t gather enough evidence that taken together increase the odds of a given explanation being correct.
It’s one thing to dismiss large numbers of people who see lights in the sky at night. It’s another to dismiss large numbers of people (including astronauts, pilots, military personnel, police, scientists, etc.) who witness clearly structured, metallic, often very large craft performing maneuvers that no conventional craft possibly could. When multiple sensors detect these things at the same time that military pilots are witnessing them, that greatly increases the probability that what’s being witnessed is real. Spectrographic filters on cameras show in some cases the light from these crafts is not possible by known physics since they lack any chemical peaks as all natural and artificial light would have. We cannot rely on a traditional scientific epistemology to study such a phenomenon. We have to acknowledge that we’re very likely studying something that is not a natural phenomenon and we have to take into account the role of intelligence and intention in affecting the process of study.
1957 was in the middle of the cold war. FBI and CIA allready stated that they boosted conspiracy theories regarding ufo sitings cause it's better to let people talk about UFOs instead of stealth fighters currently in development...
I agree with you on the chance of actually meeting aliens being astronomically low.
The most important question in this scenario is do we even have the capability to deter them from killing us all ? Our nukes number only in the thousands, our fighter jets can't even fly outside the atmosphere, DEW weapons are still in early development stage with a few prototypes. Even with adequate technologies, there is no way our Earth-bound military industrial complex can compete against a interstellar civilization.
Not when they could just accelerate a chunk of rock to relativistic speeds and wipe us all out.
@chrisbarnett5303 maybe pouring money into the coffers of arms manufacturing corporation isnt such a bad idea at all.
Since they could anihilate us (i.e. with an Asteroid) before we even know that they're here, let alone where they come from and how to hurt them, i'm afraid Deterence is futile.
A thousand years from now people will still be wondering "where are the aliens?"
This turns up in my news feed just after I am done watching old clips of Kang and Kodos on the Simpsons.
I want Issac on the first contact team .
Not to speak but to steal / uh borrow technology .
I recall a short story in Omni that had an alien race show up on Earth to collect all their mitochondria stored in human bodies.
Sorry collect what now... I would assume they'd know that is going to kill a human right?
@Mate397
I’m not sure of the story, but I think the aliens looked at us as being nothing more than containers for mitochondria, so they were likely indifferent towards us.
That’s the point of using the word ‘alien’.
That title, shortly after the UFO hearings, had me clicking the video so quick
Now would be one hell of a time for them to show up.
LMAO that conclusion is amazing
Mabey the aliens just think our planet is awesome? All this water. Nice temperature. Maybe they just come around for the view.
Man, Isaac, you really can't play with my feelings like that...
My 10 year old and I listen to every show Isaac and Love it. The issue we have is that as soon as you question if we’re alone, he switches off. He knows that makes no sense and doesn’t relate to his world. We’ve had our own experience we can’t explain away so easily and no one we know has come up with a sensible explanation though they try it always comes across so very patronizingly which makes them just seem rude and ignorant to him and angers me. He never lies. Skepticism is such a fragile position. Just takes one experience you can’t explain and your belief system falls apart. Hoping more people are open to the possibilities of mental growth. The oceans are enormous and mostly unexplored. We discover new things the harder we try and scientists continually seem to forget that? Specially trained observers, astronauts, pilots and NASA itself hasn’t been able to explain much at all about the objects they see and microorganisms were not discovered until the 17th century!
I have this crazy idea for alien contact. Us humans; act as bizarre as possible and try to confuse them. If we surprise them in any way; it might be novel to them and impress them.
People may claim that the title of this video is click-bate, but it ABSOLUTELY did it's job. I stopped in my tracks when I saw this video on my homepage. Bravo....
There are many lines of logic presented in the first minute which have previously been overlooked, as far as I am aware, that are absolutely valid and are difficult to argue. Very interesting and very worthwhile watch. Beyond that, the value of the content plummets sharply.
Soon
19:04 Careful there, Isaac. Watch V (either the 80s mini series or the 2000s sadly canceled one will do) for why you still need to watch the limbs of any alien that will get here even if they seem to be nice.
Maybe they're just bored devs with admin rights adding mods to mess with us?
"This simulation is taking forever... Lets have some fun!"
Maybe planets worth colonizing are so rare that an intelligent species would give up on the idea of colonization before finding one. Or maybe post-scarcity technology is so much easier to achieve than interstellar travel that by the time an alien species could reach us, they’ve lost the desire to colonize.
Because Blue Orange morality?
Bro, we been here for a very long time, we so used to being discreet when being around human beings, you don't even know. We populate most of the ocean, we been using camo light bending tech for centuries.
It could well be a dark forest situation and they see us talk about aliens visiting us but they wont attack us because they think we're being protected somehow and they don't know by who.
Or use us as bait, to see if someone comes to kill us🤔
I wrote a book about this very subject, which I hope to get published someday. Definitely a fun thing to think about!
Awesome! I been waiting YEARS for this episode!
It is worth mentioning that they may not be interested in stealth. What are those talking apes that can barely get off their own planet going to do? Shout?
I watched the congressional hearings yesterday as well
One thing they could value enough to avoid contact on purpose is an analysis on society evolution. They might be so ancient or separated from their origins that seeing a society grow is itself valuable
If aliens were to arrive, I can't imagine they'd *want* to contact humans, but if they did, humanity would lose its collective shit.
Hi, Mr Arthur!
You’ve come so far since the first Elmer Fudd days brother. Its been a great journey. It’s been a tough day and I wanna grab a snack and learn some cool stuff. Love from UK man
I thought the US government said Xeno are real back in 2020 during the height of COVID.
No. They admitted they didn't know what the UFOs were
I wouldnt believe anything the Trump administration has ever said...
Love listening to this while I make art, and this is one of my favorite topics: first contact scenarios.
Consequently, I didn't get a lot of art done.
I wonder if they'll be upset about all the "noise pollution" from our radio signals.
Wait till they find out that they have to pay radio license fees for the right to receive that noise😂
One of the most universal reasons to do something is "for the lulz" and only justification required is "because i can". I don't see why aliens should be any different.
1:26 They did.We've got stories written about them.They call them gods.
All about the Gold Pressed Latinum, lol.
Or, they simply want stories and culture
The hearing was not a nothingburger. Progress is happening.
In winter 2004 Florida, I watched a 1 mile long x 1/2 a mile wide , silent , pitch black rectangle glide effortlessly across the entire sky
about 14 seconds after it was out of site , 2 military jets came roaring across the sky chasing after it. In those moments , I had to realize , That it was not a human made craft. I have searched and have never found answers etc..
Florida man?
Another great show. I love the fact that your stream of consciousness remains opened to the many variables that may exist whitin this phenomenon.
I'm glad he finally included aliens using llm's in a video
I've always thought that the first unambiguous alien contact will be baffling and inexplicable more than anything else. I once had a dream where an alien space animal swooped down into Earth's atmosphere in front of many witnesses, started eating clouds then went away never to be seen again. If this happened we would probably spend centuries trying to figure out what happened and end up with more questions than answers.
Imagine if aliens contact us, saying something like “oh, we picked up on a transmission from your planet, saying that your race has discovered cold fusion, so we spent 40-ish years traveling across space in the hopes that you’d be willing to teach us how you did it!”, and then you have to be the one to tell them that they wasted their time coming all the way here.
Remember the android intelligence-tester the aliens sent in Niven's short story "What Can You Say About Chocolate-Covered Manhole Covers?"
Just keep calm and carry on
This is the video I have been waiting for. Havent finished yet but I keep trying to say to people "Yay, great, yippe, Aliens are real. What now. I still have to get up and pay my bills" Thank you for this, whatever happens.
I love Thursdays Happy Isaac Arthur day.
Thank you for another great show.
I do question why if you're ET you'd want to come here right now though. We're at the stage where we're wriggling in our cradle/playpen and grabbing at anything that comes into our reach. If aunt suzie has a purse with bear spray in it, you probably don't want us getting our hands on it. So while aunt suzie might look in from time to time, she's not likely to come close enough with that purse for us to grab it. That said, if you can travel all that distance and such and pop in on a whim, you might come into the playpen and coo at the kid - making sure you didn't have anything the kid could grab on you. And you might even put on a friendly face so you don't scare the kid so much. After all, its just polite.
33:30 i grow out the santa beard n stach each year. I was twiddling with mustache curl when you said that n i legit looked around my room for a camera ahahahahaha
Most Americans' energy is made by steam engine tech. Whether the water is heated by coal, natural gas, or plutonium, we are living in a steam punk era. Minus the 5 ft long revolvers. A diagram of a steam engine is very useful to us.
That video title had me going for a second.
In a story I'm writing, a race of hyper advanced aliens use Ice Giants to create interstellar cell phone towers using entangled particles (sci fi handwaving!). Anyways, they were waiting for Earth to become sufficiently advanced to make contact with us and make a treaty for the rights to Uranus and Neptune to add to their network, maybe even give us a small fraction of their communication network. They did this with dozens of other less advanced alien civilizations before.
Unfortunately for them, some other hyper advanced alien civilization decided to do it first, making the first alien civilization miss out on some prime real estate for waiting too long. Needless to say they're kind of pissed about it.
If aliens do make contact, I for one hope they announce it here first. You have done a lotta good work, ya deserve some credit. Also, I suspect it would anger a lotta suit dummies and generals and shit, and that is always a plus.
Trying to speculate about the actions and motivations of aliens is fun, but that`s probably about all it is, just for fun. They might be so alien that we literally can`t imagine what their motives might be.
But I tend to agree with you (not that my opinion on this subject counts for much) that the reason we don`t see aliens is that there are not any near enough for us to see.