We can make hand gestures and hope they get it.

...or slowly learn each other's language over time.

Someone might suggest pictures or video of people getting killed, but I wouldn't whip it out on the first date.

>>14624
That would be implying that we share the same senses and similar organs -- or at the very least that there would be crossover in culture at all. A sentient species of silica being our aliens for this conversation would present certain difficulties as they likely wouldn't have a language as we're familiar with to communicate.

File 135550539924.jpg - (670.43KB , 900x2216 , 1st Contact.jpg )

While the attached is not absolute it certainly provides solid ground for direction.

File 135551174168.png - (213.17KB , 1457x891 , 316828_M6-01-08.png )

If abducted/caught and put in a cell, I've always been a fan of knocking the first few prime numbers on the wall.

Then again, if someone had the technology to come here from another corner of the galaxy/universe, they're probably know exactly what we're capable of.

Given that they have sight at least somewhat similar to our. Going through the decimal numbers would be a good start. I'd use nearby rocks, sticks or my fingers to display the value.

>>14630
That thing always annoys me. It makes a bunch of ridiculous assumptions.

And all of this is very simple stuff. My question isn't "how do we prove to them that we're intelligent", as >>14632 mentioned all of that should be pretty clear. My question is, how do we use mathematics to communicate things like appreciation for art beyond face-value aesthetics?

>>14634
Abstract ideas aren't learnt through communication but rather observation. You've got to treat an alien like a two year old in that sense. Tell them something is wrong/bad and they'll most likely respond with 'why?', it's only through observation of our responses that they can begin to understand the abstract foundations. Though I suspect the key difference between a two year old and an alien would be how impressionable they are. An alien would most likely have its own mindset firmly established prior to an encounter.

For a practical example, try putting a fan of abstract art in a room of one who likes impressionist art and they'll argue till they're blue in the face, they may see the others viewpoints but it's doubtful that they'll truly understand it. And that's with two humans!

>>14635
This might well be true, but if science and mathematics are universal, then what can we really hope to communicate with them other than how far our sciences have developed in relation to each other? Is then science in regards to communication with aliens, relegated to intergalactic dick measuring?

>>14636
>Is then science in regards to communication with aliens, relegated to intergalactic dick measuring?
Although it provides a foundation for communication that's pretty much it. But remember, it's not what you know, it's how you put it to use that counts. Unfortunately most of ours is tied up in the military. Let the aliens make of that what they will.

File 135641756287.jpg - (67.19KB , 920x720 , contempt.jpg )

>implying the extra-terrestrials won't go all spanish conquistador and kill us all and turn our planet into a strip mine.

(USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)

>>14664
How can an entire planet of alien beings possibly agree on something as drastic as the total genocide of one planet? Plus, it's much easier to strip mine asteroids for resources. There is a greater amount of water, metals, and various minerals contained within them (this is the major reason I hated Battle Los Angeles). There is also the fact that the Earth's gravity means there is a greater escape velocity which they must overcome in order to transport their materials. It doesn't make sense to me that an alien species would condemn an entire planet to such destruction, there are inherent problems with both the efficiency and logic of such an act.

Slavery, on the other hand, kind of makes sense, but that faces the problem of how the hell the entire species of a planet can agree with it. Since I am more than open to the discussion of this topic, does anyone have counter arguments?

>>14666
If their society works anything like many societies on earth the government or equivalent thereof could just make the decision. That's all wild conjecture though, just like any discussion of a biologically and certainly culturally different race.

>>14666
>>14667

Both of you are making the same fundamental mistake in this conversation; the presumption that any of their values are like ours.

Why might they even see our enslavement as slavery and not utilizing a local resource to facilitate their local goals?

Why would they necessarily see slavery as a bad thing, even if they recognize it for what it is?

We can presume that multi-organed systems of life are something of a rarity in the galaxy (universe?) and that any other complex intelligence would realize this, but might they not see that as a blemish to their uniqueness? Or if they're ambivalent to it, why must they even care that species as developed as us are a rarity?

The presumption that even the most basic of values are similar to our own must be abandoned for this conversation.

>>14668
Yes, this is why I also proposed a series of technical limitations. What does our planet have which couldn't be obtained elsewhere in our solar system, other than technology?

Well you wouldn't say that. 1st, there is no such thing as a moral absolute. The word "wrong" doesn't even fit in the sentence "killing people is wrong". The proper, not dumb way to say what you're thinking would be "we have found through much experimentation, that the majority of the time, ending people's lives in a sudden and violent way at a time of our choosing and not theirs or natures, is not constructive for society."

That may sound lengthy and full of a lot of extra qualifiers, but should you change any one of those qualifiers, your intended point is no longer necessarily very accurate.

Take a class in logic in the /phi dept of your local university. That's how ethics are expressed mathematically.

>>14672
This is the answer I was looking for. Thanks.

>>14672
Cool! But the experimentations wasn't experimentation per se.

>>14676
True, i was going a little too fast & got careless. The word I was looking for was experience, not experiment.