[_Nat_]

I thought that we already conclusively ruled out alien life by observing that there aren't huge, galaxy-sized smoke signals, generated from their massive candles to heat their galaxy-sized cottages? I mean, if aliens were out there, then surely they'd have sent us a notarized letter in the mail by now, as would any civilized culture. I bet they use really fancy quill pens, too!

...seriously though, I can't fathom why people are so caught up on the Star-Trek-like predictions where hyper-advanced aliens are still essentially humanoid. It's at least as absurd as [protocells](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocell) assuming that all advanced life would be essentially protocelluar.

[johnchristopher]

> ...seriously though, I can't fathom why people are so caught up on the Star-Trek-like predictions where hyper-advanced aliens are still essentially humanoid.

I can't fathom why people fail to realise that being bombarded for decades with pictures of hyper-advanced aliens still essentially humanoid somehow shapes the general public imagination regarding "aliens". /s

[kayaeb]

Some people claim to have ruled out type III civilizations [1], which I think is what you're referring to.

I thought also that some researchers claimed a star had signals consistent with a type II [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

[2] https://www.space.com/30832-kepler-telescope-alien-megastruc...

[dvdkhlng]

According to recent news, the alien megastructure proposed in [2] may just be a shredded moon [3].

[3] http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/09/evaporating-exomoon-co...

[stinky]

That's no moon...

[dogma1138]

No one seriously thought Tabby’s Star was aliens it was just weird.

[human20190310]

Indeed. I suspect that the things we know almost nothing about (e.g. the nature of consciousness), and perhaps things we don't even suspect "exist", end up being far more important than physical expansion for intelligent beings over the long term.

Communication itself might be of little interest to such beings.