Is it suicide to wish for contact? I think it is

reply to post by GDR3k


Agreed.

Its dangerous if they are too much like us, and dangerous if they are so different as to be impossible to understand. At the end of the day, avoiding them is obviously best for us all.

reply to post by Pinke

Regardless of the resources a species has, what is the one thing it needs to do to get off a rock? It has to unite and work towards a common goal. No species completely without morals is going to be able to do that. Basic game theory rules it out. All the resources in the universe won't make up for a species that can't work together and working together also means working without elements on their planet such as other creatures as they are also resources.

I see you're coming from an evo-bio perspective on this. Well, so am I.

In nature, some conspecifics cooperate. Others automatically regard conspecifics (of the same sex, at least) as enemies. Most social animals do both, choosing their responses on apparent degree of genetic relatedness.

I agree that it would probably take a cooperative social species to attain interstellar travel. However, intraspecific cooperation is a very different thing from interspecific cooperation. The social insects apart, humans are planet Earth's experts in cooperation – yet how many species do we have symbiotic arrangements with? And do we treat members of those species (e.g. dogs) any less cruelly, on occasion, than the species we exploit? Moreover, doesn't the number of exploited species far outnumber the ones we cooperate with? And – most pertinent of all to the OP's argument – what about the millions of species we neither cooperate nor compete with, nor exploit, but which we have inexorably driven or are driving to extinction anyway, simply by minding our own business?

An evolutionary view of the situation richly bears out the OP's premise, as you will see if you think the whole business through.

So by you logic, STAY OUT of Southamerican, Indonesean
and other cultures that is indigenous and have had little to
NO contact with the outside..

And all imigrants heading this way...Get the F of...

reply to post by nightbringr

If they are "enlightened" and godless, why on earth would they need us for anything but resources?

I don't know about the enlightened and godless part - but resources? This is the part I never get - what would they be after? Oil? Corn? Dilithium crystals?

Iron, diamonds - gold? Aren't there other chunks of rock out there they could go to for resources?

And then what - a convoy and shipping lane back to their home planet? I suppose it could be about the real estate...

It's all interesting to think about - I love it. I also think it's interesting the way we think about it - because for the first time we have to deal with the idea that we aren't top of the food chain

The idea of life out there in the universe is now a very real possibility (or inevitability) and the first things we think about are - are they going to try and take our stuff? And - they wouldn't eat us - would they?

:-)

We crack me up

Maybe we'll be lucky and get the Jane Goodall/Diane Fossey kind of aliens

I just hope our first move isn't to try and protect ourselves - it's not polite. We'll probably lose if they're mean - and smart

It's not suicide to wish for it - wishing won't make it happen (I don't think. Who knows what kind of magical powers they might have). But it's not a choice. They'll find us one way or another if they're looking. If they're coming - they're coming

Face it - we're either doomed or it will all be fine. We can't even protect ourselves from us - so...

reply to post by Spiramirabilis

This is the part I never get - what would they be after? Oil? Corn? Dilithium crystals?

1. Apes, ivory, pearls and peacock feathers – biological treasures unique to Earth.
   
   
2. A tourist attraction (Earth is probably one of the few places in the Galaxy where total stellar eclipses occur naturally).
   
   
3. A shrine (see above).
   
   
4. An abomination (see above).
   
   
5. A pest (something we're doing is causing them problems we don't even know about).
   
   
6. Living space (as in the generation starship scenario mentioned earlier).
   
   
7. A battleground or defensive perimeter in an interstellar war. Maybe they'll want to use us as 'sentient shields'.
   
   
8. A penal colony or prisoner-of-war camp.
   
   
9. Property for commercial development – Disney World for aliens.
   
   
10. A hunting ground (intelligent beings are surely the ultimate game animals).
    
    
11. The Sun.

I could go on ad infinitum, but this misses the point. There are many ways in which aliens might harm us that have nothing to do with the extraction of material resources. Mere exposure to their culture may destroy ours, the way Western culture has destroyed so many indigenous ones around the world simply by luring the younger generation away.

The point is this: if they come here, they will come for a purpose. That purpose, whatever it may be, is very likely to be inimical to us. And even if it isn't, their mere presence probably will be.

reply to post by Astyanax


peacock feathers are very pretty

The point is this: if they come here, they will come for a purpose. That purpose, whatever it may be, is very likely to be inimical to us. And even if it isn't, their mere presence probably will be.

And here I was all mostly convinced they were too far away to ever come here and be a problem

:-)

Nobody likes change - but it comes anyway

I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it then. How does a planet prepare for an alien invasion when it can't even manage itself?

What if we can't see that we're being invaded?

We might just have to soothe ourselves with - it will all be fine

Then think about it tomorrow

I do like thinking about it though - seems like there's a lot of stories in that list...