What if earth isnt all its cracked up to be!?!

Im sick of ignorant people who claim "if aliens existed they would have visited us already!" I've heard this line so many times. Of course its from people who have never seen a UFO or did any research on extraterrestrials.

But i kind of got to thinking, maybe this ignorance is a form of arrogance. These types of people think that Earth is the end all and be all in the universe. They think that Earth is the only planet with life and therefor the greatest planet in the universe.

Then i started to think, maybe Earth isnt all that great afterall. We only know what we have seen, and maybe there are other planets (possibly millions) that are so much better, bigger, more beautiful then we can ever imagine.

So if you ever get that response, i think a good answer would be "why the hell would they come here, this place aint all that great anyway!"

There are two ways to look at aliens. Either they are godlike and spiritual beings or they are like us and wish to find something to gain over us for their benefit. It makes no difference to me whether they exist or not, for it is their nature as with anyone that is most useful to me in what I should believe or think about them.


You're probably right though if aliens were like us. If they have the technology to travel the universe, it is likely that there are plenty of other places to go that are more desirable. It is closed minded to think that the Earth is probably the best place to come to for whatever reason. Maybe we all think the grass is greener on the other side?

I don't believe aliens would come for the scenary, perhaps they come for research. Think about it, what do humans bother looking at other planets for? If we had the technology we would definately go to other panets, but why? Curiousity, research, resources.

well if i were an alien then Earth, if at all they discover us in the first place, wouldn't be the first place i would visit. unless of cause the case was that earth was the only planet with life that they discovered. in which case they would only come for research, curiosity and resources, of which there aren't enough to go around anymore, or in the near future at least. i mean really, are we that much of an advanced civilization? we still drive cars for goodness sake.

Depends on whether the aliens come from a nearby star or not. If that were the case it's likely they find Earth soon after developing FTL travel.

But the further from earth they originate the less likely they are to visit earth - after all, from the perspective of most stars in the galaxy, visiting earth would be like living next door to a supermarket in New York and then travelling to Sydney to buy your weekly groceries.

If intelligent, space travelling, life has evolved on planets circling 1% of all stars then the chances are there are aliens within 100 light years of Earth. But if it's only 0.1% (which would still be millions of planets) then the chances are they're too busy exploring planets closer to their homeworld to worry about a remote, out of the way star like sol.

Also worth bearing in mind that whilst there's been life on earth for at least 3,500,000,000 years, there's only be life capable of space travel for 50 years and there is still no life on earth capable of FTL travel. If the same were true elsewhere in the galaxy then the chances are their are millions of planets with life on but only a handful with life more advanced than us.

Originally posted by funny_pom
well if i were an alien then Earth, if at all they discover us in the first place, wouldn't be the first place i would visit. unless of cause the case was that earth was the only planet with life that they discovered. in which case they would only come for research, curiosity and resources, of which there aren't enough to go around anymore, or in the near future at least. i mean really, are we that much of an advanced civilization? we still drive cars for goodness sake.

Yeah but aliens probably haven't seen cars before, so they'll think it's something very interesting. If you're an alien and you've never seen Earth before until you watch a very busy city from above, I think you would be amazed.

Originally posted by funny_pom
we still drive cars for goodness sake.

Thats right, we drive cars, you say that like you expect something better?
We used to drive steam powerd cars, we we drive petrol and even electric cars. I highly doubt we'll ever have flying cars if thats what your expecting. We have enough bad trouble with ground based traffic.

well the point being is that if a civilization is capable of interstellar travel, i think the combustion engine is not exactly the most exiting thing they would ever see. i mean, of cause it would be interesting because its different, but really would they be that impressed?
im not saying that given however much time we will be in flying cars, which in that regard i don't think we will be in cars at all, but that simply we are still using fossil fuels. cars still run on petrol, of cause there is research going on into hydrogen cells and so forth but that is rather a long way off. i would thing that if there were a civilization that could travel here they would have found a way to provide power without the use of un-renewable resources, therefore seeing us as rather un-advanced and that we don't really give a about our own planet.

I'd also like to add, just because they obviously will be alot further ahead than us in tech, doesn't mean they wont find us interesting. Come on we research on all kinds of animals even though they can't work out what 1+1 =. It's out of pure curiousity as to why we research, also for cures etc, but still they would find us interesting because we're intelligent and different.

I believe if they are visiting, they are being covert until we have matured as a species and stop killing each other (at least with the general public - they may be meeting secretly with those high up). They may be helping us along the way covertly by seeding technologies that will help all of us in the long run.

Once they make public contact, everyone will want to meet them, and get a chance to fly in their spaceships, tour the galaxy and colonize other planets, etc. But we have to be mature enough to do that. If a group of people wish to relocate to a planet 20 light years away for example, the aliens will need to make sure the colonists don't bring their innate human agressions with them. Basically they don't want us to be a threat to other species out there that are less advanced than us.

[edit on 21-6-2007 by curiousbeliever]

What, you guys have never visited the zoo?

Well, it's pretty damn beautiful in parts - the parts that man has left reasonably unblemished that is I'd hate to be too blase about this place - there's the small chance that it's the ONLY planet that would support our particular type of life forms, y'know

I think the thought of other intelligent races frightens many people though. Fear of the unknown, fear of strangers, fear of foreigners - plain old fear...

Just think: there could be races out there far more intelligent, benevolent, sophisticated, technologically advanced than us???? Heheh...no kidding huh?

J.





[edit on 9-8-2007 by jimbo999]