Space - The Final Frontier

So I'm reading this article at work about life in the universe and why we haven't seen any...

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2011/04/darwins-extraterrestrials-new-theory-for-the-great-silence.html?utm_source=twitter

And it describes the various reasons why we don't see aliens, that we are overlooked, that there's not as much life out there as we think there is, and various theories of how unpleasant it might be for us to encounter an aggressive, advanced race of aliens, and how basically we aren't hearing from them because they don't want to advertise their own species because of possible aggression from yet other, even more advanced beings.

Now, here's something I thought of that maybe all these smarty-pantses didn't...

If we know that advertising our location could invite other, more advanced aggressive species to take us over, and we know that it would be smarter for us to be quieter about it, and that's why other species aren't contacting us, I think we're missing the point entirely. We already HAVE advertised our position. Loudly and often. In fact, we're STILL broadcasting it to anyone within range. Wouldn't another species look at this and say... "Wait. They LOOK backwards, sure, but.. why are they broadcasting their location so vehemently? It's like the Earthlings are ASKING to be invaded... It must be a trap, we aren't THAT stupid. HAH NICE TRY EARTHLINGS!!! WE ARE ON TO YOU!!! We're passing you by!"

I mean, think about it. It's an adage amongst generals to credit your enemy with at least as good intelligence about you as you have about them. Since we know very little about aliens, it's safe to assume they know little about us, and yet... We're advertising ourselves like whores of babylon. We're a radio-transmitting beacon of sound, light, sending out rockets willy-nilly, staring off into space with multiple observatories scattered across the globe. Any alien worth his salt would look at us and say "Something is terribly wrong here."

And it's not just my paranoia talking. Think about nature. There are hundreds of examples of this, but i will use only one. The coral snake has deadly venom. It uses warning colors of red, yellow and black to warn predators not to attempt to eat it because of it's terribly poisonous bite. The venom works in conjunction with the colors to warn others away, because if the snakes were just bland brown, no predators would be able to identify it. Sure, they'd bite it and get bitten in turn, probably dying, but that doesn't help the coral snakes any, they'd still get bit. The whole point of the venom/color combo is to warn them off BEFORE they bite you, that way, the snakes are left unmolested. However, this color combo also works for the rat snake, who has a similar color combination, but no venom at all. The predators looking to bite a rat snake will see the red yellow and black colors and go SHIT NO, DON'T BITE THAT! If you've ever heard the rhyme, "Red next to yellow, kill a fellow, red next to black, friend to jack." Then you've got one up on the animal kingdom in general, which can't tell the differences in the colors well enough to differentiate between the venomous and non venomous varieties of these snakes. So both species are left alone, purely because of the colors and the POSSIBILITY of suffering a deadly bite.

There are so many examples of this in the animal kingdom that I am surprised no one has thought of this in the world of physics... Animals frequently use warning colors, sounds or other ways to denote their vicious nature. Rattlesnakes, bees, black widows, I mean, just about ANY variety of poisonous/dangerous animal has some way of warning predators off. Aren't we pretty much assuring ourselves of an unmolested, contact-free eternity by broadcasting to all the universe where and who we are? I think instead of worrying about an advanced species finding us and turning off all our broadcasts, we should increase our efforts to the point where we are like a warning beacon to anything in the milky way galaxy. We'd essentially be the martians in Mars Attacks, saying "Don't run! We are your friends!" as we blast you with disintegrator beams, and who'd want to be friends with a funny looking martian hell-bent on disintegrating you? That way, we'd be left alone long enough to actually BECOME an advanced species by ourselves. If you're thinking this sounds a lot like my strategy on dealing with bears, you are correct. lol

And honestly, isn't that what we really want when we talk of first contact with an alien species? First contact on OUR terms, and not those of the aliens? I would MUCH rather wait til we could handle whatever they throw at us than try and initiate contact NOW, when we can barely tie our own intergalactic shoes, so to speak. And preferably, do it on THEIR planet, not ours. It's just safer that way.

So keep broadcasting how friendly we are! It should ensure our being alone in the universe for millennia to come! lol