This post is about Jill Tarter's Video.
One thing I found very surprising and interesting is Jill Tarter’s thoughts on the what if first contact happens. She mentions that the first thing she would ask an extraterrestrial civilization is about how they made it through the “technological adolescence” with destroying themselves. This opened up an interesting line of thinking to me because that question assumes, at least partially, that the extraterrestrial civilization had similar interpersonal issues as we have had. Isn’t it certainly possible that they didn’t even have the same timeline as us. Or maybe they got stalled at a different point in the technological advancement. I do think she hints at this by saying that we will have to find our own way but that she would like to know how they got through in order to glean some kind of insight. However, it seems to me that it would be very unlikely that a civilization took very similar path to the one we are on.
I think this a fascinating point Ben. From my perspective, this dynamic shifts depending on the circumstances of first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. If the extraterrestrial civilization has the capability to travel across space, they are clearly extremely technologically advanced. Even if they took a different technological path than the one we're currently on, they will have had to solve significant barriers to space travel, like the infinite production of energy. If that is the case, Tarter's question is extremely valuable.