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For instance, what if they don’t have the concept of symbolic representation of objects/concepts in visual/auditory ways?

Then how did they manage space travel?

Rocket science demands math. You can’t get to orbit if you can’t figure out both the rocket equation, orbital dynamics, and sufficient chemistry to power your launch engine. And you don’t even realize that orbit is a thing if you don’t have enough math to realize that the lights in the sky are things you might be able to stand on.

We have sapient non-human life right here on earth that doesn’t have the concept of writing. And since they don’t they didn’t build cities or civilization and we keep them in zoos and nature preserves.

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ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
That’s just what has happened on Earth, though. Also I didn’t specify they’d be coming to us - if they landed here in something we’d recognize as a rocket, then I’d suspect we’d have a lot more in common with them.

But what if they evolved in gas clouds? Or hell what if they perceive higher dimensions? What if it’s a 4D being, capable of instantaneous long distance travel through spacetime - they don’t need math for that. Or even language. Those are far-out scenarios, but I’m just saying that it takes a very earth-centric, anthropocentric view of intelligent life to assume the sorts of things that’d make communication possible.

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- DomeGuy@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  If the aliens have godlike powers I think we can presume that they would either be smart enough to figure us out or else weird enough that talking to them isn’t worthwhile.
  
  Literally every civilization we have ever encountered evidence of has math and language. If an alien has neither, and is not smart enough to figure us out, then they’re likely not the sort we could communicate with on even the scale of our communication with plants and insects.
  
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