Posted: 18 Aug 2011 05:01 PM PDT

Would contact with extraterrestrials benefit or harm humanity? A scenario analysis

While humanity has not yet observed any extraterrestrial intelligence ETI, contact with ETI remains possible. Contact could occur through a broad range of scenarios that have varying consequences for humanity. However, many discussions of this question assume that contact will follow a particular scenario that derives from the hopes and fears of the author. In this paper, we analyze a broad range of contact scenarios in terms of whether contact with ETI would benefit or harm humanity. This type of broad analysis can help us prepare for actual contact with ETI even if the details of contact do not fully resemble any specific scenario.

via [1104.4462] Would contact with extraterrestrials benefit or harm humanity? A scenario analysis.

Your Moment of Counter-Programming

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 09:52 AM PDT

Snow on Cuba Mall in central Wellington (HD) on Vimeo on Vimeo

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Twitter Digest: 2011-08-17

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 04:00 AM PDT

Nice Trulia visualization comparing renting vs buying homes across U.S. Upshot: Buying mostly wins out. http://t.co/P0leW9s ->
Zenvo brings its 1,250 hp ST1 50S supercar to the U.S. Price: $1.8m. http://t.co/iFjXWS1 /cc @umairh ->
"Perpetual fear" and the sophomore serial entrepreneur – http://t.co/bH4oGdM ->
Say you wanted to get a first-person HD perspective of crashing a BMX bike on a ramp. Your chance follows. http://t.co/sN3tkwa ->