What IF an Alien Species Were Discovered 5 Lightyears Away?

This is losely based on the plot of a sci-fi movie I saw a few years back.

Imagine the following freely conceived scenario:

The year is 2047.

Two decades ago, the GAIA space observatory detected an Earth-like planet orbiting a class G2-V star (like our sun) in the habitable zone. A spectral analysis of the atmosphere surprisingly revealed various signatures of biological activity and scientists found substantial evidence for plants and animal life on this new Earth.

A cosmic paradise was found and we called it "Adeena"!



Several Adeena Reconnaissance Orbiters (incl. descent units) were developed and launched to retrieve in-situ data.

Expectations were high and yet the results were a revelation: Adeena is home to an intelligent species, a society of human-like beings that populate most of the planet's habitable area. The orbiters mapped Adeena's surface and scientists identified numerous articifical structures on the ground as well as faint lights at night caused by local fires and torches employed by Adeenians to illuminate their villages. Additional reconnaissance data retrieved by landers & small aerial drones confirmed: the Adeenian society is a medieval society!

Further observations provided additional insights:

- the Adeenians developed various cultures
- they engage in battles to protect their territories
- a simple economic system exists (based on trade), rare metals are the major currency
- predominant rulers of Adeena strive to expand their power and exploit the population
- these rulers provide protection and occasional benefits in return (eg. games & events)
- civil rights have not been heard of and jurisdiction is largely intransparent
- Adeenian rulers just allow a small elite to join the club of the powerful
- science is 'taboo'

In this society, scientific discoveries and enlightenment would seriously threaten the powerful grip the ruling class has on the people. Accordingly, anyone engaging in this field is either executed or otherwise punished. Scientific research is thus restricted to a small group of individuals in close proximity to the Adeenian overlords. Inspite of extensive reconnaissance operations directed from Earth, the Adeenians do not know they are being 'observed'.



As a result of these discoveries, it has been decided to plan a manned mission to Adeena. The main objective will be to study the planet, it's history and the development of the Adeenian society. A mission team has been put together to determine more detailed mission objectives and a set of priorities on how to proceed once the crews enter orbit.

The team is currently debating one very special question: should we have contact, yes or no? If yes: how, when and why ... what are the opportunities & risks?

Q: What would be your advice for the mission team?

P.S.: I hope the storyline is OK for you ... any thoughts are welcome, there's no need to reply with an 'essay' (though I wouldn't reject it)!

Image courtesy: NASA

What was the movie called? I love watching sci-fi films, good or bad I will watch them anyway..

Leave satellites in orbit to track and record what goes on. If they survive into the space age consider opening dialogue. Otherwise leave them to it.

Pretty boring response but i think its the right one.

Originally posted by wemadetheworld
What was the movie called? I love watching sci-fi films, good or bad I will watch them anyway.

Thanks for asking! The movie was called "Hard To Be A God" ... it was a Russian/German coproduction from 1989, some details are available via the following links:

Hard To Be A God (Wikipedia)
Hard to be a God (Allmovie)

I'm not sure whether it's available in English, but at the time I thought the movie was well-made (for the most part) with an interesting spin to the storyline. No blockbuster by any means, but interesting!

My suggestion would be, non-intervention and no contact. Simply observe and study, you do not want to influence their society or culture. No matter how good your intentions would be, they would still cause disruption if not conflict.

I would be against the mission in the first place. History clearly shows there can be no good (for the Adeenians) can be had by human interference. Whenever two cultures (here on Earth) we brought together, it resulted in negative experiences, death, and suffering.

The humans in this scenario should stand-off, observing with automated probes only. BEtter for the Adeenians to discover automated probes than actual other beings, which could result in changes such as (but not limited to):

- Witch Trials (pulling in not only the humans involved, but other innocent Addenians)
- Birth/change of religious dogma (think Ancient Alien fisaco)
- The overthrowing of the existing cultural norms and replaced by human "norms"
- The imposition of numerous religious doctrines from humans (which ones should be spread there?)
- A side-effect of the contact could be a religious war/strife back on Earth over various religious factions striving to be "the one" to have the opportunity to "convert" the Adeenians.

If the society there was more advanced (more than Earth is today in fact), then contact may not be as detrimental, and welcomed. But until that time, the downside is much larger IMO than anything we may gain at their expense.

It would probably take 10,000 years to get there.

We'd be uninterested by then I think.

5 Light years doesn't mean 5 years. It means the time it would take travelling at the speed of light. And according to wikipedia, the fastest we've made something go is 156,000 mph in space.

I'd say communication would be the first step, but not since they're medieval. We could send a few nukes their way, and blow them up to let them know we're here. It's the human thing to do, don't you know!

Oo

I could see the Headline right now

"Alien threat, Netanyahu calls their existence the red line and calls for Pre-Emptive strike".

reply to post by winofiend

We could send a few nukes their way, and blow them up to let them know we're here.

That is definitely one way to get their attention...

reply to post by jeep3r


Visit from above, do not interfear with them...maybe take a few for some close up observation....

reply to post by DogMeat


Sounds familiar...

Assuming we have not destroyed ourselves before mastering deep space flight I would say we will have "evolved" spiritually by then.

They aren't in the information age yet. Open contact is permissable, but only if we seek to help them develop spiritually and not exploit their planet.

However, it would need to be done gradually in order to guage their response. It would be a fluid situation once you got there.
I mean, if they charged you with pitchforks it may change the plans a little.

Originally posted by pstrron
My suggestion would be, non-intervention and no contact. Simply observe and study, you do not want to influence their society or culture. No matter how good your intentions would be, they would still cause disruption if not conflict.

or.....they could remove the cruel people in power, and provide a framework for representative government with a warning that any leader bent on becoming a dictator and enslavement of the populace, will be quickly dealt with by the people from the other world. kind of a jesus/mr.spock sort of rule from above

Haven't we already screwed up this planet badly enough? Do we really need to go and screw up another one?

Rotheschilds would send in a team to destailize the planet. First name the person in charge as a tyrant. Second then fund freedom fighters to fight this named tyrant. Once the tyrant is deposed set up a central bank and introduce debt instruments with fine print. Profit!

On the taxpayers dime of course...

We have seen this movie before...

With technology advancing, I believe we could send people there within 80 years. Of course we would likely send advanced weapons for their own defense. The purpose might be to set up a remote base. Maybe they would go undetected, maybe our people would be described like the Greek Gods in our history. As we became more advanced, we might no longer need a base or outpost and leave. Unless of course the people of the planet suddenly advanced and we set up shop. Trade, commerce, industrial activity could set off a golden age for the locals. That would assume they didn't all die off from diseases we brought or go to war with the alien invaders.

Hopefully someone will have invented a quantum entanglement communicator before setting up a remote base. Otherwise it would take 10 years to communicate with an outpost 5 light years away. Radio waves take 5 years to get there and 5 years to come back.

If our ability to travel to the stars rapidly advanced, we might just skip the planet to focus on planets with more resources and no threatening life forms.

Originally posted by Krakatoa

 

I would be against the mission in the first place. History clearly shows there can be no good (for the Adeenians) can be had by human interference. Whenever two cultures (here on Earth) we brought together, it resulted in negative experiences, death, and suffering.

Thanks for all your replies so far!

Inspite of this story requiring a significant technological advance in deep space propulsion to get the orbiters there in time, I was (and am) interested in your view from a philosophical perspective (in terms of "should we interact or not?").

I wasn't quite sure whether the majority thinks it's better to avoid contact or whether there might be reasons to engage, somehow, at some point in time ... I'll definitely keep watching this thread and thanks again for your input!!

Originally posted by DarknStormy
I could see the Headline right now

"Alien threat, Netanyahu calls their existence the red line and calls for Pre-Emptive strike".

So very true!

I suspect this is what is happening now with Earth. We are being observed and studied and probably the same sort of debate is being made over us. After all we are only stupid apes!

Great post. It sounds a bit like Avatar. And for all of the UFO guys on the site, could it be possible that this is the scenario that currently exists and we are the Ardeenians?