We have just Discovered Alien Life, What do you do? - Scenario

What would I do? Probably nothing but to continue my day to day routines. Unless this other world decided to send ships or we decided to try to send ships to their planet there is no reason to go crazy.

6 light years is a long distance and we do not have the technology or the means of making contact in person. Unless someone has a proposal to use hypersleep as a method but that too has not been perfected yet.

Its going to make absolutely zero difference to everyday life. We still have to get up the next day and go to work.

Most people think there is life out there anyway, knowing for sure isnt going to be a big deal in the long run.

The whole idea that the existence of aliens is being kept secret because we would riot and loot etc is total BS IMO. It just something that people selling UFO DVD's and books like to say as a premise to the conspiracy that are about to present.

originally posted by: PhoenixOD
Its going to make absolutely zero difference to everyday life. We still have to get up the next day and go to work.

Most people think there is life out there anyway, knowing for sure isnt going to be a big deal in the long run.

The whole idea that the existence of aliens is being kept secret because we would riot and loot etc is total BS IMO. It just something that people selling UFO DVD's and books like to say as a premise to the conspiracy that are about to present.

Interesting, so you're saying it's a Reverse Conspiracy!? (hope that makes sense) No UFO/Alien Conspiracy, just a "UFO/Alien Conspiracy" Conspiracy to sell UFO/Alien Conspiracy stuff to the masses!

First I run around in circles freaking out... shattered that we aren't god's own special miracle... then I freak out and don't work or buy, helping to bring down the world economy... then I physically attack everything I see in my existential angst... and then I lobby to send a super nuke at them at a fraction of the speed of light because one can never be too careful... or was that what the Brookings Institute thinks I would do?

I forget...

But in case my sarcasm is missed... I'd say to myself "Huh, thought so... hope they're more rational than we are."

Got to be careful, they might be a parasitic race that might just take our planet by force and make a new colony and use us for food lmao.

"I already knew it, hmpf!" u.u

originally posted by: Gakupo
"I already knew it, hmpf!" u.u

You mean you wouldn't volunteer to serenade them with your dulcet Gakupo tones?

Or is Miku already on the billing for that?

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Its going to make absolutely zero difference to everyday life. We still have to get up the next day and go to work.

Well, it will be really awesome for the first few minutes then it will be like anything else. I can already here the whining by some high school kid that had to sit through the hour lecture on ancient alien civilizations. "Aliens are so boring!". I mean we landed on the moon and sent robots to mars! And that's about as exciting as toothpaste now.

originally posted by: PhoenixOD
Its going to make absolutely zero difference to everyday life. We still have to get up the next day and go to work.

Most people think there is life out there anyway, knowing for sure isnt going to be a big deal in the long run.

The whole idea that the existence of aliens is being kept secret because we would riot and loot etc is total BS IMO. It just something that people selling UFO DVD's and books like to say as a premise to the conspiracy that are about to present.

There are some extremely xenophobic type folks who would freak out. Others would make up "alien cults" or "friendship clubs" and spend their lives trying to contact them psychically (to all sorts of mayhem).

But really, that far away, it's not going to matter unless they discover warp drive or a wormhole tech or something...and then just wait till your grandchild shows up at Thanksgiving Dinner with some green multi-pedal entity...a whole new take on "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner!"

a reply to: AboveBoard

Even worse..."My Big, Fat, 'Green', Wedding"!

originally posted by: longy9999
After our discussion on that other thread If nobody says loot or pillage then I'm gonna be really disappointed lol

As soon as I saw the thread title I was imagining welding spikes all over my car, putting on my dirtiest clothes with some combat boots, grabbing my shotgun, and finally upgrading to a 70" tv.

originally posted by: PsychoEmperor

originally posted by: PhoenixOD
Its going to make absolutely zero difference to everyday life. We still have to get up the next day and go to work.

Most people think there is life out there anyway, knowing for sure isnt going to be a big deal in the long run.

The whole idea that the existence of aliens is being kept secret because we would riot and loot etc is total BS IMO. It just something that people selling UFO DVD's and books like to say as a premise to the conspiracy that are about to present.

Interesting, so you're saying it's a Reverse Conspiracy!? (hope that makes sense) No UFO/Alien Conspiracy, just a "UFO/Alien Conspiracy" Conspiracy to sell UFO/Alien Conspiracy stuff to the masses!

Just about, the CIA decided to use peoples interest in UFO's to cover up many of their projects which gave the UFO's authors lots to write about.

originally posted by: 4N0M4LY
What would I do? Probably nothing but to continue my day to day routines. Unless this other world decided to send ships or we decided to try to send ships to their planet there is no reason to go crazy.

6 light years is a long distance and we do not have the technology or the means of making contact in person. Unless someone has a proposal to use hypersleep as a method but that too has not been perfected yet.

originally posted by: AboveBoardBut really, that far away, it's not going to matter unless they discover warp drive or a wormhole tech or something...and then just wait till your grandchild shows up at Thanksgiving Dinner with some green multi-pedal entity...a whole new take on "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner!"

Actually we do have the technology to send a probe or ship that far and have since the 1970s. It would require global agreement to modify the nuclear test ban treaty but google "Project Daedalus" and also "Project Longshot".

And for a more recent study, "Project Icarus".

We can achieve around 10%-15% of the speed of light which would mean the ship or probe would arrive in about 60 years give or take around 4 years to speed up and slow down.

It would be much more likely we'd send a probe to make first contact rather than a human mission right away. The risks of cross contamination would be too great.


By the way did you know the "king of the planets", Geoff Marcy, the human discoverer of the most exoplanets has stated that we should be getting ready to send a probe to Alpha Centauri?


SEE: Planet-hunting pioneer calls for probe to Alpha Centauri - May 27 - Nature

So it is possibly to travel to the nearest stars. All it takes is money and global will to do it. And there'd be a lot of both after such a discovery.

My professor told us that "there are people alive today who will be alive when the first interstellar probe is launched, perhaps sitting in this room."

a reply to: PsychoEmperor

I'd leave them be if this were the extent of the information.

The fact that they have not put out a signal attempting contact at that level of technology is a clear sign to me that they wish to be left alone, or else have no interest in meeting anyone else "out there". To show up uninvited could be disasterous, no matter how well meaning and peaceful our intentions might be.

Just build a better telescope, and observe their culture from afar.

When they're ready to contact "other life" - they'll let us(and everyone else out there) know.

originally posted by: GENERAL EYES
a reply to: PsychoEmperor

I'd leave them be if this were the extent of the information.

The fact that they have not put out a signal attempting contact at that level of technology is a clear sign to me that they wish to be left alone, or else have no interest in meeting anyone else "out there". To show up uninvited could be disasterous, no matter how well meaning and peaceful our intentions might be.

Just build a better telescope, and observe their culture from afar.

When they're ready to contact "other life" - they'll let us(and everyone else out there) know.

I agree. I would much prefer to study them at a distance with massive space telescopes than risk a disaster with a probe. If we found life on a nearby exoEarth that probably shouldn't be the first place we send a probe. We're babies in terms of space travel and I am not sure we'd know the huge responsibility such a mission would have.

THEN I will have to track and KILL every single liberal I can find...OH wait YOU mean SPACE aliens.
I'll ask for a ticket OFF PLANET.
I think UFOs have covered THAT one since I was 10.

Please, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel....a reply to: mysterioustranger

The subject of this thread is also the subject of a story on Space.com: How Would the World Change If We Found Alien Life?



Here's an excerpt:

The ethics of contact

As Dick came to a greater understanding about the potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial intelligence, he invited other scholars to present their findings along with him. Dick chaired a two-day NASA/Library of Congress Astrobiology Symposium called "Preparing for Discovery," which was intended to address the impact of finding any kind of life beyond Earth, whether microbial or some kind of intelligent, multicellular life form.


The symposium participants discussed how to move beyond human-centered views of defining life, how to understand the philosophical and theological problems a discovery would bring, and how to help the public understand the implications of a discovery.

"There is also the question of what I call astro-ethics," Dick said. "How do you treat alien life? How do you treat it differently, ranging from microbes to intelligence? So we had a philosopher at our symposium talking about the moral status of non-human organisms, talking in relation to animals on Earth and what their status is in relation to us."

Dick plans to collect the lectures in a book for publication next year, but he also spent his time at the library gathering materials for a second book about how discovering life beyond Earth will revolutionize our thinking.

"It's very farsighted for NASA to fund a position like this," Dick added. "They have all their programs in astrobiology, they fund the scientists, but here they fund somebody to think about what the implications might be. It's a good idea to do this, to foresee what might happen before it occurs."