Aliens Artifacts & Xenoarcheology

[@thedoruk6324]

If *any* Colonist or Miner evet notices a Dna Helix Shaped *Marker* and or Dark Clad *Monolith* please abandon the colony or the mining project and immediately notify your nearest orbital bombardement center! Its a dire matter!

[@PerfectAlibi1]

What does that mean?

[@SomeKindaSpy]

@@PerfectAlibi1 it's a reference to Dead Space and the Monolith from 2001, I'm pretty sure.

[@masonsmith9619]

You forgot strangely designed derelict alien ships

[@michaelpettersson4919]

@@masonsmith9619 And if you see round objects under a still working blue light in the cargo bay, do not go down there and tuch those things...

[@a3van609]

"Make us whole, Engineer!"

[@charlesmoore3390]

I'm reminded of the Manga BLAME! by Tsutomu Nihei. It takes place in what is heavily suggested to be a absolutely massive (Even by this channel's standards) self replicating megastructure who's AI has gone rogue many eons in the past. There isn't a ton of dialog as the the basis of the storytelling is the extremely well done visual narrative artwork. I highly recommend it.

[@zagreus1249]

I am intrigued

[@williamsjm100]

Good call, Blame! Is great and Nihei is a hard sci fi genius. Gravity beam emitters all round!!

[@mechredd]

@@zagreus1249 the anime is available on Netflix. I haven't read the Manga, and it apparently has a great deal more world building, but the movie is still good. It left me wanting to see more.

[@toshiyaar7885]

You've sold me! Will watch in my 6th lockdown!

[@zagreus1249]

@@mechredd thank you !

[@user-qt7so4tj1x]

Even if a museum's or warehouse's automated anti-theft systems are meant to be nonlethal, they might become unintentionally lethal as the rest of civilization falls apart. I doubt that a security program designed for the Smithsonian would execute criminals outright, but it's quite plausible to imagine it having a policy of "detain the suspect until authorities arrive, providing food and water from the museum's snack bar if needed". If there's no water, and no food, and nobody comes to let them out, the humane 'detainment' policy becomes a death sentence. AIs in alien structures would likely be designed to operate in concert with the rest of their society's technology, as a single cog in a complicated machine, rather than as a single all-purpose mind. They don't need to evolve, modify their code, or get corrupted - they can behave strangely and dangerously simply as a side effect of lacking the support structure they're designed to have.

[@borisvidolov]

The challenge is that such AI may not even recognize alien or post biological species as intelligent. When rats infest museums, we simply kill them.

[@calvingreene90]

What is nonlethal to the thieves the system was designed against could be lethal to the puny humans that come to rob the dead as well.

[@kalakritistudios]

Jesus Christ 💀

[@user-qt7so4tj1x]

@@borisvidolov Even if an ancient alien AI recognized humans as sentient beings, was strictly benevolent, was undamaged, unmodified, and uncorrupted, and was designed by a fairly enlightened culture, it could still be the monster in a horror movie. Imagine an extinct alien race (we'll call them the Blargians) which has radically different physiology and biochemistry from humans. A sedative designed to be mild and universally safe for Blargians might be an agonizing and deadly neurotoxin for humans. A human exploration team is searching for technology in a Blargian ruin when they pull a 'fire alarm' and unintentionally reactivate an AI. The humans keep walking, unaware that they are being watched from a thousand surveillance cameras and sensors. Suddenly a human trips and sprains their ankle. Less than ten seconds later, a large robot machine grabs them, poisons them, and carries them off into the distance. They never find the body. As the humans flee from the city, one stubs their toe, and again, a drone catches them, executes them, and steals their corpse. One by one the humans are eliminated as the remaining survivors panic and hide. A Blargian medical system wakes up and begins monitoring their city for injured people. The only living beings in the region are a single small team, so it reallocates all of its resources to their care. One of these life forms falls over, potentially injuring itself, and the AI sends an ambulance to care for them. Upon arrival, the ambulance detects that the patient appears scared, and is not carrying an RFID tag warning of special medical care needs or allergies. The ambulance administers a safe, mild sedative, but the patient's condition deteriorates quickly. The ambulance moves the patient to a nearby clinic as fast as possible, but the patient dies en route. Per local religious beliefs, the body is cremated. The local medical system scans its stockpile of sedatives for contamination, but they are in good condition. Then, it attempts to contact the global medical network for updated medical care standards, but it doesn't receive an answer. Without new data from a trusted source, it must continue to care for its patients as best as it can.

[@lowleypeasentmr.l8836]

That is damn horrifying. Good job writing this, would you be so kind as to allow me to use it in my future campaigns?

[@EduardoRodriguez-jm8sz]

"What killed them, may be still around". Ridley Scott's astronauts: "Helmets off!"

[@miamijules2149]

Lololol so stupid….. I can’t stand movies these days

[@42NORRIS]

@Eduardo Rodriguez: Prometheus (2012) I saw Prometheus in a theater when it was first released years ago, I still remember cringing at that scene.🤮

[@miamijules2149]

@@42NORRIS It was so fucking stupid that, leaving the movie theater, I felt disgusted at myself for not having accomplished more in my life. Lolol seriously. I left thinking: they pay THESE MORONS 6 and 7 figures to write and direct THESE STUPID, INANE plots and scripts and movies over and over and over?! Then I must be doing something run cuz WOW

[@42NORRIS]

@@miamijules2149 Amen!

[@fjnordthedwarf4004]

@dihvocfoscocudvyvdd I don't think it's so much anger at the movie itself. I think it's more directed at the idea that the director that made the shitty plot of said movie in like an hour on the back of a napkin got paid more than a person who works graveyard shifts just to earn enough to feed their kids. The entertainment industry is a valuable discipline, don't get me wrong. There are certainly people within it that worked really hard to get where they are. There are just some serious issues with elitism and quality control, and that's not a recent development. Though it is partially our fault for watching the shitty movies even though they're shitty.

[@belmiris1371]

As I read The Mote in God's Eye (like a thousand years ago) I kept wondering why a super technological society put so much effort into making machines and pretty much zero effort into learning about biology. It seemed like such a simple problem to solve. It's the same old story with almost all sci fi stories including Star Trek. Piccard is... old? People still get old? It's shows how hard it is for human's to imagine the future.

[@innocentbystander3317]

Star Trek technologies: Matter transporters Genetic profiles and complete mapping Medical Neural regeneration Seems to me this is shaping up to be a recipe for immortality, but yeah, I guess figuring out FTL and instant communications over vast distances would be a lot easier... lol

[@camp002]

It would seem easier to people because we have been constantly getting faster and communicating at longer distances but we have always been aging and dying

[@robertmiller9735]

If you're asking why Moties never developed contraception, they probably did, many times. Those willing to use it would always be outbred by those who weren't: it'll take the power of the human empire (if it can, I think that universe is doomed to be filled with breeding Moties) to force everyone to use it. As for why Picard is old, the obvious answer is that Patrick Stewart is old. It'd be hard to make TV shows with ageless characters using actors who age. Plus, such a society would be so alien, to both the audience and the writers, that no one would know what to do with it. There is, of course, no in-universe reason why humans wouldn't pursue life-extension medicine, especially as they interact intimately with people who (like Vulcans) live twice as long.

[@joapercan6887]

@@robertmiller9735 Well, in reality there is a kind of explanation for why in Star Trek there is no advancement into life extension. Or at least, is hinted in the general way that all characters act when someone even dares to mention any method to expand someones lifespan. For example all the times that someone talks about changing any of their body parts to a robotic version, the comments about cryogenics, any episode were someone does something about genetics or clones in general, and in less than ten minutes half of the characters have said that they find the idea abhorrent in some way. Is not exactly a direct explanation, but they express good enough that the Federation believes in biological superiority for some completely incomprehensible reasonings

[@belmiris1371]

@@robertmiller9735 - I would image it would not have been hard to form an alliance to insure biological changes were made to prevent cycles of system wide catastrophe. Anyone not getting the changes would be killed. Plus, numbers of 'people' stopped mattering in wars a while ago. Zero progress in aging, sickness, heck even being biological has always made me shake my head at science fiction. If you can redefine physics and confound Einstein, keeping a crappy goo sack alive or better yet replacing it with something better should be trivial. I kind of think it more than a little hubris.

[@charion1234]

I can imagine finding a satellite whose records are mainly customer complaints like we've found in Mesopotamia.

[@spacecat85]

I love how in movies when they find ancient texts its almost always some scary af curse or sth that wakes up some evil whatever, and in reality it's like, 90% random paperwork (which is fascinating in other ways) proving the bureaucracy was alive and well millennia ago and 9% inscriptions on tombs telling us how great that person was in life (which is also interesting obvs)

[@somethinglikethat2176]

Dear Sir, The resolution promised by your satellite as proved to be insufficient and far below that with you promised. I understand that you have had trouble with your zero point energy modules from Eridu, however the satellite grid is an important part on our ability to track incoming relativistic kill missiles from Ur. Going forward we shall only supply 1/3 of the agreed upon barley until the issue is resolved. Regards Mayor of Ururk

[@SpecialEDy]

All of this "We", and "Our", I've determined that the intelligence known as Isaac Arthur is most definitely a Hive Mind...

[@rShakeford]

Very good insight. May I suggest that They is getting us used to hearing “We” and “Our” for when you and I become part of that “We”?

[@WE-ep9tq]

Or a commie

[@llewelynshingler2173]

They are mentally linked to all of Humanity

[@davidbrennan660]

@@rShakeford We are Us and Us is the IA Algorithm that controls this channel..... maybe I need to get out and have some fresh air?

[@JB52520]

This one often says "we" to reference the collective of conscious entities.

[@Mate397]

Correction, the One Ring's power is not invisibility, it enhances the wearer's powers to it's maximum. Hence a sneaky hobbit becomes invisible. Thus why it wasn't carried by Gandalf or the Eagles, both of those are far more powerful compared to a hobbit and if those get corrupted by the ring then things are really screwed.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

Like a sober alcoholic that refuse to tuch alcohol again know that they are likely to fall to temptation if the do.

[@arrachcoeur]

I guess isildur was a hobbit. Tun yun tun!!!

[@Mate397]

@@arrachcoeur ?

[@JRexRegis]

@@Mate397 The movies had Isildur turn invisible when he put on the ring

[@Mate397]

@@JRexRegis Odd, then again a regular human is low on magical potential as well so I guess it makes sense he only turned invisible?

[@rommdan2716]

A derelict O'neill cylinder sounds like and Awesome setting for a TTRPG Campain

[@DigitalJedi]

I'm on it.

[@jgr7487]

that's pretty much half of WH4K or Paranoia.

[@rommdan2716]

@@jgr7487 I don't like Warhammer 40k, ok no, I like Warhammer 40k but I hate playing as The Imperium.

[@Joshua_N-A]

Watch out for gas residue. That cylinder might've been planned to use as a weapon, by dropping it on a planet's surface.

[@pancakes8670]

I always liked the idea that the secret organization has an Alien Spaceship or Ruin that they recovered, but the reason they haven't studied and repurposed the tech and revolutionize mankind yet is because they've been spending so long trying to explore/map the ship or ruin without disturbing anything as much as they can.

[@colinsmith1495]

I think another important thing to consider is what condition the alien artifacts may be in, specifically if we only find one piece of a vast and disparate machine, that may well be your cell phone. It's a single piece of a vast and disparate internet and cellular network. Likewise, as much as it relies on software to function, if the memory is damaged and/or the aliens just do computing differently enough that our software makes no sense to them, the full function of the device may well be a mystery for ages untold. That's more and more becoming standard fare for our technologies, too. While a car is obviously going to be a means of transportation of some kind, the radio is no longer a single box with a receiver tuned to a particular band of the EM spectrum and speaker that translates that signal into pressure waves in the air. Now, it's all integrated into one complex on-board computer that does TONS of other stuff critical to proper functioning of the vehicle. The transportation part is obvious, but the EM receiver, and possibly transmitter? The complex computer core? The myriad of sensors dotted all over the place? Now consider only half of each of those things is still there, since this is a ruin. What on Earth were all of those things for?

[@douglasphillips5870]

Obviously it served a ceremonial purpose

[@jamescambias9189]

"Diamond Dogs" by Alistair Reynolds is about explorers trying to penetrate an ancient alien maze and modifying themselves to survive all the deathtraps it contains, all the while trying to figure out what it's supposed to protect.

[@johnfelix503]

Sounds interestingly cool

[@isuckatusernames4297]

bassically mechanicus

[@inthefade]

Vast alien empires that have vanished, leaving only ruins behind, are similar to transcendental Lovecraftian horrors; They are compelling because they are beyond human comprehension.

[@scifinerd1911]

How fascinating to discover alien artifacts, this is one of the reasons that the TV show Stargate captivated me so much.

[@fredwupkensoppel8949]

Ahh, the words that will get me hooked on any sci-fi show no matter what. "They discover an ancient, dead civilisation at some point in the plot? Let me binge it in one go."

[@ssjwes]

right?

[@kyjo72682]

ST:TNG - S07E17

[@justin_5631]

"It's not actually a McGuffin." FINALLY Someone says it. Everyone uses it as a classic example of a McGuffin but it's not a McGuffin because it _does_ something. It has in-story effects.

[@lordgrunwalder1607]

I cant wait for humans to discover a realy ancient fork shaped alien artifect and thought its something important just to learn that its a mechanical sex toy…

[@rommdan2716]

And then use it

[@Datan0de]

Mechanical sex toys ARE important!

[@s.punkt21]

Treasure of Nadia

[@soulphur9647]

A potentially crucial finding to study the way that species reproduce!

[@michaelpettersson4919]

And they learn that after the fork has become the holy symbol of a new world religion...

[@styxdragoncharon4003]

There is no way out of the maze at the beginning.... This has been bothering me ever since you began using the clip. *No way* out of the mind.... drives me "in sane" XD

[@mj6463]

I think there is, the recessed portion looks closed, but the sections in other parts are half the distance, so it could be open

[@styxdragoncharon4003]

@@mj6463 Start the video again.... pause when you can see the whole head... the maze is basic. There is no exit and the only path cuts off most of the maze.

[@willyreeves319]

it's open at the top. just stop thinking in 2D

[@styxdragoncharon4003]

@@willyreeves319 Try that excuse in a hedge maze... the gardener never goes for it. XD

[@emzywillrich7243]

Try going up and jump across.

[@HistoryTime]

I’ve listened 3 times already 🤣

[@BigZebraCom]

Discovering alien artifacts could be a problem for researchers, especially if the object is linked to ritual rather than a practical purpose.

[@atle853]

The Marker from Dead Space.

[@colinsmith1495]

Honestly, even practical purposes could be seriously problematic if all they find is one artifact. Think of some alien finding your smartphone, but with a dead battery because it's centuries later. They'll examine it, take it apart, figure out it was some kind of computer and it had some capacity both for local data storage and transmission/reception, and they may even figure out that the glass in front is a screen with a touch interface. What was it's use? What did it connect to? Was it some kind of pass-card? Was it a communications device? A complex data tracker for the presumed but unproven central AI? An interface with said AI? Was it for business? Entertainment? Ritual? Was it involved with reproduction somehow? Even if you have a whole device, the reality is that you only have a small piece of a much larger device: the internet.

[@BigZebraCom]

@@colinsmith1495 yes, interesting!

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

There's generally a practical aspect or origin to ritual objects that lets you connect the dots with enough samples, and for that matter, practical objects that develop ritual/traditional aspects. Of course its the sort of thing that might make archeologists of a future era believe John Deere was a god of Agriculture whose favorite color was green, unlike his Orange rival Kubota, and wonder what great nation or family Pepsi and Coke were.

[@BigZebraCom]

@@isaacarthurSFIA I've wondered about the Nation of Pepsi from time to time. Thanks for your reply , thought it was interesting!

[@cristiancamilovaldiviesopo6717]

Do an episode about Alien art!!

[@Lukegear]

Imagine aliens finding Isaac's videos in a distant future xD

[@joshhoffman517]

I hope they'd be impressed

[@Trader_Spero]

I'd rather they find Isaac's works instead of some of the other things we've made. Might make us look more credible. Lol

[@dragoninthewest1]

Plot twist: aliens are highly evolved genetically modified humans who look like elves in appearance. They're doing archaeology. Isaac is now regarded as a great futurist like HG Wells

[@matt.willoughby]

Imagine they found them in the distant past.

[@isoldaisnotok]

Lol they're watching rn too

[@MrAdryan1603]

I've been so excited & waiting for an episode like this for years, thank you so much! When I'm talking to somebody or meet somebody interested in anything related to biology, physics, the future, sociology, the cosmos in general, etc, I immediately pull up your channel and tell them about it. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but this has changed the lives of so many of my friends, family, and acquaintances who had either never put much thought into these topics, or even general science, who are/were religious, etc, and it's a feeling I can't describe to see their jaws just drop like mine did when they start watching your videos and realize the complexity of the universe & what is possible, humanly and otherwise, and even things they've never heard of or couldn't imagine existing. Seeing someone's hunger for knowledge explode (along with mine, more every day) is the coolest feeling in the world for me... I've seen your channel change the core of how someone processes and appreciates their own life, our world, the cosmos, and beyond. It's just f*ing phenomenal and it makes me so happy to be alive at this time in history. The work on your channel is beyond anything I've ever seen (especially that is available to anyone), your huge body of work on so many subjects in so many fields and the quality of it is mind-blowing to me... Anyway Cheers, and *thank you* for expanding my world

[@fabioduarte3301]

Ive been a fan for a while, but listening to you calling reed Richards useless, just made me apreciate even more the show.

[@SKy_the_Thunder]

Is the "most recommended book series" the new "rule #1 of warfare"?

[@andrewgraziani4331]

8:38 The Dead Aliens is in my opinion one of Isaac's best episode. Really made you think while offering tons of hypothetical details.

[@richardgreen7225]

I like a keep-it-simple alternative ... The advanced culture leaves some rosetta stone messages for us to find on the far side of the Moon, and in various other places in the solar system which are of increasing difficulty to reach and to find. Encouraging a kind of treasure hunt. Each message ends with "to be continued on ...." leaving a hint of where to find the next message.

[@DrakusLuthos]

Feels like Cicada 3301.

[@ephennell4ever]

Huh; I like that, both as a not-unreasonable concept, *and* as a *great* way to create an on-going series of stories/books. Actually, you could even 'complicate the narrative' by having each item suggest two possible 'next-step sites', each of which extends knowledge in a different area of science/technology. But each 'next step' is so *very* much harder to get to that it essentially encourages the exploring civilization/society to decide *which* one path is worth expending time/resources to pursue!

[@rockscousteau]

This is one of my favorite channels. Holy Smokes these videos are GOOD. So damn good

[@rockscousteau]

Isaac.....You sir are a CLASS ACT

[@TheOneWhoMightBe]

The rarely heard but much-appreciated Babylon 5 reference.

[@fredsilva7274]

Time to watch B5 again :-)

[@volcryndarkstar]

Where was the reference? I never watched B5

[@TheOneWhoMightBe]

@@volcryndarkstar It's at around 5:12, where Isaac talks about curious Humans being warned not to go to "Planet X, or Za'Ha'Dum, or the Necron Tombworld".

[@volcryndarkstar]

@@TheOneWhoMightBe ah, thank you. I was curious.

[@GreyDeathVaccine]

One and only: Za'Ha'Dum

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

I love Endless Legend, an exactly this kind of setting - "Welcome to Auriga, we have all kinds of deadly attractions for you to to explore!"

[@TheRealBlackNet]

Why are the alien dead? a entity called the author killed everyone of them in cold blood... ;-P

[@hyperdude144]

Hmm.... An all tomorrows reference?

[@TheRealBlackNet]

@@hyperdude144 no, needed to google it, but it looks like a interesting book.

[@hyperdude144]

@@TheRealBlackNet I encourage you to read it. Lots of speculative evolution. It surged in popularity these past few months on account of a video made by youtuber "Alt Shift X". They're even making memes about it. Some of them are actually good.

[@kevincrady2831]

The animator suddenly had a heart attack. :)

[@johannageisel5390]

They are dead because they killed themselves in their attempt to conquer Earth. (Stanisław Lem "The Astronauts"; also known as "The Silent Star" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Astronauts )

[@klemmensenpf]

The question to life the universe and everything: How many pips are there on a pair of dice? Answer: 42 Because life is just a game of Craps.

[@tiberiusbrain]

Exception to the alien artifact trope: mass effect. The artifacts have purpose and meaning.

[@iamkrohn]

"You exist because we allow it. You will end because we demand it.

[@69Kazeshini]

True and the protheans put in alot of effort to make it easier for primitive races to understand.

[@iamkrohn]

@@69Kazeshini well the concept of harvesting civilizations is kinda dumb when you think about it. You could just send colonies on generation ships with Solar Sails and the Reapers would never find them

[@tiberiusbrain]

@@69Kazeshini i think its cool that "the protheans" cover earlier cycles too!

[@tiberiusbrain]

@@iamkrohn it isnt about the harvest, the harvest is an outcome. The other outcome would be a society that doesnt have war wirh ai. The citadel ai constantly repeats a galactic wide experiment, it needs to reset the galaxy. Just until a cycle breaks the cycle. To do so, it needs force and thus it creates forces. As far as i understand it, the citadel ai considers creating a reaper perserving that society (idk how, is there a virtual versin of it inside? Does it contain a database of architecture and art? It isnt explained what a reaper is to begin with) when it fails to break the cycle. What is dumb, however, is that the reapers themselves ruïn the experiment by forcing war with ai for society in the process, so every cycle will end up being harvested anyway because of it.

[@zachcrawford5]

Many "abandoned" alien "ruins' might not actually be ruins. Instead of being abandoned, They may have been built by machines in advanced still waiting for their intended occupants to arrive. They could also be matter storage facilities intended to be used in a much later era of the universe (much like a squirrel making stashes of nuts in summer in preparation for winter). They could also be fully active civilizations but just unrecognizable to us, like running so slow that we don't know it's life or a "digital" civilization that uses "computers" that are so efficient and alien to what we are used to that it look like stone and emmits waste heat at such a small rate that it is easily drowned out by background radiation. Any one of these would have very good reasons to have extremely unforgiving defences systems to protect it while looking like something that has been abandoned.

[@Alex_Rosefur]

These are all definitely plausible

[@tach5884]

A group of humans explore alien "ruins" until the aliens return from their coffee break. Ooh, and it's a horror story up until the aliens get back. Then have a version from the alien's perspective like robot chicken's predator.

[@JMEYER2090]

Greg Bear's Eon is kinda like this

[@janneaalto3956]

I love stories of people exploring alien artefacts, especially when said artefact is still lethally or catastrophically active in some way. One of my favorites is the Omicron Hygeras Object.

[@maxkronader5225]

The wildly unpredictable contents of a slaver stasis box.

[@robertmiller9735]

@@maxkronader5225 Unless it turns out to be a ball of neutronium, eh?

[@isaacvanoss2101]

Isaac Arthur is the only critter in the universe that could casually name drop a Necron Tomb world and still proceed to make the situation scarier. SFIA centered tabletop universe when?

[@knowplay3258]

The Emperor protects!!

[@kinguin7]

I haven't read Mote in God's Eye yet, but I was surprised you didn't mention the libraries on the Protector home world.

[@robertmiller9735]

It's always seemed to me that the Library is regarded by other protectors as a place to keep those disturbing childless ones busy and out of sight. Kind of like a homeless shelter.

[@This_is_my_real_name]

When he initially mentioned "libraries" the first thought that sprung to mind was "Moties!" Still waiting for a Ringworld reference...

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

Probably subconsciously didn't want to plug the same author twice in the same video :)

[@kinguin7]

@@isaacarthurSFIA I suppose a recurring theme in their work, some authors will nearly write the same story multiple times with the characters and background dressed differently.

[@kinguin7]

@@robertmiller9735 perhaps more like an asylum? Or perhaps hospice....

[@HistoryTime]

Incredible stuff. Fascinating

[@hillzachary01]

Gotta love some Sci-Fi Sunday. Thanks Arthur!

[@Kainlarsen]

That point you made about artifacts being left as a weapon or trap for future civilisations is exactly what happens in Neal Asher's Polity series; The Jain, a supposedly extinct, hyper-advanced species, left egg-like artifacts behind to be found by sufficiently advanced (and arrogant) races, in order to destroy their societies by transforming whoever touches them into nano-tech killing machines and then using their bodies to propagate more 'eggs' for others to be found, etc.

[@JohnJ469]

For most of this I've been hearing the word "Protect" over and over.

[@MateusMeurer]

I can tell for sure that we would utterly and completely ignore any advice from other civilizations to not explore a planet, a hundred percent sure, as clear as the day. Especially if it was our first contact.

[@isaacarthurSFIA]

I don't think we would ignore it, we might go explore it anyway but if the beacon says 'BEware, high radiation and self-replicating automated anti-personnel gun platforms" we are likely to bring rad suits and armor. If it just says "Beware Danger" we are likely to take the vague warning seriously but still check it out. Kinda have to or otherwise folks can claim places by just leaving a danger flag up rather than saying "This is ours, if you want it, you gotta pay in blood or gold"

[@ephennell4ever]

@@isaacarthurSFIA - or, if the 'phosphorus dilemma' is real - "Pay In Blood Or Phosphorus"

[@YadraVoat]

14:58 - Is that stock footage of actors watching other stock footage, which itself has been often used on this channel?

[@bigdopamine9343]

And there’s someone watching stock footage of us watching that stock footage, and stock footage of those watching those who watch us. Nobody knows how deep it goes.

[@lordphullautosear]

@@bigdopamine9343 -- it's like the label on a bottle of Dubonet. It shows a cat and a bottle of Dubonet, on which is a cat with a bottle of Dubonet...

[@GreyHak]

Earth wasn't paved over because it was in a good position. It was targeted specifically to prevent readout of the ultimate question.

[@ericpode6095]

Beat me to it! 😀

[@knowplay3258]

The wisdom and knowledge of Douglas Adams...if only people would pay more attention to his "teachings". 👍

[@emzywillrich7243]

Well, okay.

[@SpecialEDy]

Happy G-Type-Main-Sequence-Star-Day S̶u̶n̶d̶a̶y̶

[@alexv3357]

In the comic _Astral Aves_ witches call the Sun the Daystar

[@sindarpeacheyeisacommie8688]

I like the idea of a galaxy full of floating derelicts. Can you imagine having the job of policing up all that old alien trash? Imagine a galactic graveyard/junkyard… Every time you go out to pull in an old wreck, you were wondering if it's going to explode, or be full of some weird alien radiation, or have some bizarre virus and or organism that might kill you.

[@wingdings5812]

I am a Mongilian. I gotta tell you that your pronunciation is great and you did dig deep into our history and language. Almost everything in this video about Mongolia is correct. Nice work👏👏

[@renderproductions1032]

Isaac Arthur on Sundays too? What a lucky week.

[@avonacolyte]

That Dead Aliens episode referred to is one of the absolute best on the channel. I never realised there was a mystery in it as well!

[@sarcasmo57]

I hope we last long enough to find our modern trinkets as ancient artifacts.

[@johannageisel5390]

"Maybe this object, which rotates around a central ring, was meant to symbolize the unity of three aspects and the balance of a world in motion." - some alien upon finding a fidget spinner

[@daveb1964]

Making my workday much more bearable

[@lcoop9351]

Great video! You’ve got a new sub thanks to Jethild’s Generals video & BouncingBob’s recommendation.

[@mikemclaughlinror]

hell ya ..... I am Pheonix The TechnoDruid and this is by far my favorite show on youtube.

[@kylewatson952]

YEAAAAAAAAA BOOOOIIIIIIII ITSSS SCIENCE TIME

[@Sporkbug]

OOOOOHH YEAAAAAAAAAAA

[@hernangallegos9949]

It's interesting to think what we might find, but it's even more interesting (to me) to think in what we will leave behind to aliens

[@domehammer]

My favorite sci-fi artifact is the Star Forge from Star Wars. A automated shipyard that outlived the civilization that constructed it. The structure was built with technology and the force but the builders were so cruel it became infected with the dark side. Because it was corrupted by the dark side it was a danger to anyone that wanted to use it.

[@mjk9388]

Great thinking and great artwork. That's why I love SFIA.

[@Deadlyish]

There's a great real-world example of the much higher likelihood of finding mundane artifacts rather than profound ones. One of the oldest potential archaeological examples of a person's name being recorded is the Kushim tablet, which recorded transactions of barley (although it is uncertain whether Kushim referred to a person, officeholder, or organisation). So one of human civilisation's longest-kept works of information storage regarding people is essentially a rather mundane sales receipt. If we ever find alien records, it's less likely to be a voyager golden record equivalent and more likely to be a simple letter from one alien to another about co-ordinating commerce.

[@marcst3199]

Roadside picnic is my favourite Story about alian artifacts. Also Other Stories by the Brothers Strugatzky have this topic

[@fheflin21]

This work would have been one of the most relevant for the video

[@janisleimanis7080]

Let the inquisition of the God Emperor handle the xenos artifacts.

[@rommdan2716]

Sorry, this is The Tremplin Institute's jurisdiction

[@SomeKindaSpy]

nah screw gw

[@rattusludus8528]

SILENCE, HERETIC!

[@felox1715]

This just reminds me of the expanse with the ring builder ruins

[@robertmiller9735]

If you're wondering where the rest of New York's ruins are, where do you think the apes have been getting their raw materials all these millennia?

[@PhoenixNL72-DEGA-]

As far as scifi stories were artifacts are found go, my personal favorite is the classic SciFi novel "Inherit the Stars" by James P. Hogan. Were they find the body of a 50,000 year old astronaut on the moon. (And no it's not a timetravel story)

[@t.3465]

you should really make an episode about colonizing uranus (and its moons), or how to mine the helium from the gas planets

[@camp002]

He did do Neptune which covered mining helium it was done a big orbital ring called Neptune's chainsaw

[@robertmiller9735]

I'm sure when people settle in the Uranus system, they're going to be living in spinning habitats, with robots mining the moons. Still, the habitability of gas giants would be an excellent video topic.

[@t.3465]

I wish he also went over the solid-state wind technology and how the chandelier cities would be built. Also, Uranus has multiple icy moons, and he mentioned that there would be "stations on Uranus' moons", but I wish he would go more into what he meant by those "stations", andhow you would build those stations.

[@CrimeOfTheTrueKind]

ahhh i love tng and the inner light may be the best episode of any star trek series. i just love it

[@fluffly3606]

"Maybe even this video [will be uncovered]" I can just imagine parts of it being leaked before fully translated leading to sensational headlines talking about "Did the Humans SEE Their End COMING?!"

[@zackcook5123]

I think when discussing this it's very good to discuss why as you have. And I feel that the discovery of tech leading to a surge in technology

[@Emdee5632]

If you are interested in reading science fiction about lost human and lost alien civilizations, strange derelict human and alien objects etc. I suggest the novels of Jack McDevitt. Especially two series: One is about starship pilot Priscilla ''Hutch'' Hutchins, several centuries in the future. Even more astounding is the Alex Benedict series about a (xeno)archeologist, collector and seller (some might call him a grave robber) of objects from lost human civilizations, thousands of years in the future.

[@TheTemporalAnomaly]

Thanks for another great video Isaac. Regards from Chris, UK.

[@TitansTracks]

Today's Thursday? Damn I must have slept in more than I thought! 😁

[@DavidEvans_dle]

In Batman vs Superman, love the way Lex Luthor compromised the genetic security of the Kryptonian council. Via logically reasoning with the AI computer 🌝

[@harlequingnoll5]

Shout-out for a game I enjoyed around this topic. Torment:Tides of Numenera. A top down single player rpg with all "magic" being 1 of at least many previous civilizations tech.

[@DeathDefiant]

I just finnished Outer Wilds! This is perfect timing lol

[@damondo8870]

Hi from Ireland, can't wait to relax later and listen to this in peace. :)

[@adeptusagronomist9650]

You got my subscription the moment you mentioned necron tomb worlds.

[@henrycobb]

The alien archive includes a handy function to download their language into the minimal assumed brain complexity, which is ten times human capacity. Madness of the out-of-memory error.

[@harbl99]

That was a plot point in _Stargate SG1_ , wasn't it? One of the characters nearly cooked their own brain by downloading an Ancient knowledge dump into themselves.

[@JRexRegis]

@@harbl99 Twice! The only reason O'Neill (the character) didn't instantly die was because he had a single gene from this species in his DNA, which allowed his body to use muscle memory (which was also downloaded from the knowledge dump) to build a power source and contact an alien civilisation capable of helping him.

[@ephennell4ever]

Yeah, but I seem to have a remnant memory of something similar to the concept ... somewhere ... in some other story/book!

[@Obsidian762]

Nice Portal reference at 6:31

[@brucebehner4142]

Saw the headline and got so excited about a Isaac and warhammer 40k crossover.

[@erideimos1207]

LOL I happened to start re-reading the Mote in God's Eye again a day before this came out. I think the sequel was even better and will do that again next. Great books everyone. If you like Isaac you'll like these too. :)

[@darthvex1971]

This channel is so cool... Thank you sir for your hard and very awesome work

[@JohnSagin-SimViDeLucis579]

Imagine finding some kind of cell phone discarded ages ago and a few of the "Apps" still work. Hell, it would be amazing just to find some clark-tech photo album.

[@letsgobrandon416]

I can definitely see finding a warning amongst ruins, for which the fallen civilization didn't heed the warning. The warning doesn't have to be a common-knowledge to the fallen race, it just hast to come from a small group that realized all too late what was happening to them and could only manage to create a warning but not save themselves, much like a man who has drunk from a poisoned spring, he cannot save himself, but he may write a message near that poisoned spring before he dies to try save others. It's still somewhat contrived, but not completely illogical or unforeseeable.

[@sogil8078]

in "A Fire Uppon the Deep" they actually find a ancient A.I...that would be pretty bizarre...

[@ephennell4ever]

One of my all-time *favorite* books! So much depth to the possibilities there!

[@sudarsan6010]

Need a full episode on birch planet.. Thanks

[@emersonduncan56]

I don't know why, but I got a smile on my face at the mention of Zaha-dum.

[@42NORRIS]

How can you have xenoarcheology without FTL? Unless the ruins are in our solar system, accumulating data would take so long and be so drawn out (hundreds,thousands or millions of years) who could have an interest? Imagine if Egypt were 100 light years away, so much time would pass between trips and knowledge gained it wouldn't make sense to be an egyptologist.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Good point, but there is the possibility that an Alien wreck drifts into the solar system.

[@42NORRIS]

@@comentedonakeyboard Yes, that's what I wrote: "Unless the ruins are in our solar system"

[@comentedonakeyboard]

@@42NORRIS admitedly i'm a bit nitpicky but drifting leads to a future position vs is sounds stationary (ie. on a planet)

[@bennichols561]

As a stargate supremacists I am disappointed Jack getting the ancient library downloaded by a head grabbing unit was not mentioned

[@GreyDeathVaccine]

Jack is a legend!

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Here are 3 more... Halo some ancient relics are Superweapons and Museums but are harmless and even welcoming to outsiders unless they directly mess with their functions. Mass effect a race of aliens act as a galactic reset and museum in a continuous cycle unless sovled. And Command and Conquer the Tiberium series the relic is obvious and came for you but a complete mystery until it's too late. Also, Star Trek all the series had just about every example in the video at least once.

[@joakimblom1110]

Hard to quit this stuff😄 Skitkul faktiskt!👍

[@jasonbull6560]

Chewing the scenery, cider out my nose. Too funny.

[@aserta]

This was an extremely interesting episode. Certainly a good "thought cruncher".

[@RockRanchCowboy]

Just had to say WHHHOOO NECRONS! Isaac mentioned my favorite faction.

[@buckanderson3520]

Imagine if aliens have been watching us. They could show us HD video of our own history.

[@michaelpettersson4919]

Or some are sitting in a hidden base somewhere in the Oort cloud binge watching Stargate...

[@Cosmosisification]

I don't think it was mentioned, but I think it's also very plausible that a reason for hiding something in a certain spot or peculiar way may be because you want one person or race to find it but not another.

[@taitano12]

With regard to the doomsday weapon part, the fact that anyone authorized to activate it is long dead actually makes it MORE important that the AI protect the weapon.

[@Pyxis10]

Why not put a failsafe that says if species extinct destroy the weapon?

[@bclapp2483]

@@Pyxis10 The general idea of a "doomsday weapon" is to ensure that if you are destroyed your foe is to be destroyed also. telling the guardian his species is gone might cause him to trigger the device

[@henrytjernlund]

Forbidden Planet I think would be a worthy mention (unless I missed it.) In 2001 (the novelized version) I got the impression that the stargate makers had achieved a technology which was immune to the ravages of time, at least on the billions of years scale. And I grew up reading Andre Norton SF books where the various Forerunners had tech that was essentially magic and explorers were very cautious when they encountered any. I admit that I have not kept up with new writers and I am dyslexic and my reading speed is too slow to keep up. I invest most of my remaining energy trying to develop my own ideas.

[@the_complex_cosmos]

I like your videos thanks for sharing amazing information

[@rsablosky]

Isaac, have you read "Vast" by Linda Nagata? (It also has two sequels, "Edges" and "Silver"; the latter is also sort of a sequel to her other book, "Memory.") This is a fantastic far-future novel that features ancient artifacts (including berserker ships) and also deals with mind uploading. The story of how the human protagonists learn how to use the ancient alien technology is very cool, and I'd be curious to know how plausible you think it is.

[@pineapplepenumbra]

An extra video? Yay!