What if we Discovered Alien Life

[Cameroi]

who'se this "we" chimosabi?

[Shaoyuan]

Has anyone ever read first contact by Carl Sagan? That's a really interesting and is probably about as realistic as a book about aliens can be. I haven't quite finished it but I'm like 2/3rds of the way through and there aren't even any physical aliens in it.

[AiliailiA]

who'se this "we" chimosabi?

Astronomers. Linguists. Mathematicians. You know, the sort of people who are taken seriously when they claim to have discovered aliens.

[Futurephilosostan]

I would say neither. Just because we pick up a signal does not nessecarily mean anything that most people don't already suspect. You also have to ask, where did the signal originate? How far away is the planet that it came from? If it is a signal that came from a star 500 light years away then I don't think it would cause any unification on humanity's part. And unless you could prove that the sourse of the signal possessed FTL travel they would not be a threat to us in the form of an invasion.

I think so too. First there would be some media frenzy and a lot of pictures how they may look. But when media people will have had this dialogue with scientists bunch of times "Media: Aliens communicate with us! Did you send reply? Scientists: Yes, they will receive it in 500 years. In 1000 years we will receive answer", then everyone will calm down.

It would be the same as scientists would discover way how to send one way messages far in the future. Or discover that mountains speak but very slowly (100 years a word)... Fun, but not practical.

[Shaoyuan]

I would say neither. Just because we pick up a signal does not nessecarily mean anything that most people don't already suspect. You also have to ask, where did the signal originate? How far away is the planet that it came from? If it is a signal that came from a star 500 light years away then I don't think it would cause any unification on humanity's part. And unless you could prove that the sourse of the signal possessed FTL travel they would not be a threat to us in the form of an invasion.

I think so too. First there would be some media frenzy and a lot of pictures how they may look. But when media people will have had this dialogue with scientists bunch of times "Media: Aliens communicate with us! Did you send reply? Scientists: Yes, they will receive it in 500 years. In 1000 years we will receive answer", then everyone will calm down.

It would be the same as scientists would discover way how to send one way messages far in the future. Or discover that mountains speak but very slowly (100 years a word)... Fun, but not practical.

Even if we can't talk to them quickly at all surely just knowing that they exist would mean that fundamental human beliefs are questioned?

[AiliailiA]

I would say neither. Just because we pick up a signal does not nessecarily mean anything that most people don't already suspect. You also have to ask, where did the signal originate? How far away is the planet that it came from? If it is a signal that came from a star 500 light years away then I don't think it would cause any unification on humanity's part. And unless you could prove that the sourse of the signal possessed FTL travel they would not be a threat to us in the form of an invasion.

I think so too. First there would be some media frenzy and a lot of pictures how they may look. But when media people will have had this dialogue with scientists bunch of times "Media: Aliens communicate with us! Did you send reply? Scientists: Yes, they will receive it in 500 years. In 1000 years we will receive answer", then everyone will calm down.

It would be the same as scientists would discover way how to send one way messages far in the future. Or discover that mountains speak but very slowly (100 years a word)... Fun, but not practical.

There was a science fiction story called A for Andromeda that proposed a solution to that problem. I know, sci-fi, but it was co-written by Fred Hoyle who isn't a lightweight. Radio telescopes pick up a very long communication from space, which starts out very simply so we can basically learn their language (like teaching a little kid language) and eventually becomes a set of instructions for building a very sophisticated computer (well, you know that part of it will be silly ... the 1961 idea of a supercomputer is what we would call a slow-ass piece of shit) ... and this AI computer then designs a living being based on a female human form (which the aliens couldn't possibly have known about) ... who tries to take over the world but falls in love and ... oh, it's all pretty silly I guess.

The point being, that a message from aliens might contain enormously more information than "uh, hi? Is there anybody there? Call me when you get this".

[Maroza]

I think so too. First there would be some media frenzy and a lot of pictures how they may look. But when media people will have had this dialogue with scientists bunch of times "Media: Aliens communicate with us! Did you send reply? Scientists: Yes, they will receive it in 500 years. In 1000 years we will receive answer", then everyone will calm down.

It would be the same as scientists would discover way how to send one way messages far in the future. Or discover that mountains speak but very slowly (100 years a word)... Fun, but not practical.

There was a science fiction story called A for Andromeda that proposed a solution to that problem. I know, sci-fi, but it was co-written by Fred Hoyle who isn't a lightweight. Radio telescopes pick up a very long communication from space, which starts out very simply so we can basically learn their language (like teaching a little kid language) and eventually becomes a set of instructions for building a very sophisticated computer (well, you know that part of it will be silly ... the 1961 idea of a supercomputer is what we would call a slow-ass piece of shit) ... and this AI computer then designs a living being based on a female human form (which the aliens couldn't possibly have known about) ... who tries to take over the world but falls in love and ... oh, it's all pretty silly I guess.

The point being, that a message from aliens might contain enormously more information than "uh, hi? Is there anybody there? Call me when you get this".

That seems very likely if they are more advanced than us. They may try to get us to build something that makes it faster for them to get our messages.

[Zeth Rekia]

That seems very likely if they are more advanced than us. They may try to get us to build something that makes it faster for them to get our messages.

What if they're intellectually bankrupt? Zeno means that... they'd be dumber than us, but way more advanced or something.

[Glugerstut]

lets say SETI picks up a signal and its comfirmed to be from an alien race.
What would the impact be on the world?We have the Star-Trek senerio were
a the world is united and hunger, war, money, dieses, are phased out.Or there is the
War of the Worlds idea were they invade and Destroy the planet.

This could be happening soon since the Kepler Space Telesope has found 1200+ exoplanets in The Habitble Zone
and The Allen Telescope array has Been Turned back on by SETI.

Honestly, I believe that Aliens would not try to make contact with us, Reason being we are an Immature, Irresponsible, And Inappropriate as a Species. They would see us as just that, So why make Contact with us when the first thing we would do is Capture them and Torture them in Experiments and such, That has already been done the past few times, So i think if they did Attempt Contact with us, It will be on terms of War..... Yep....

[Maroza]

That seems very likely if they are more advanced than us. They may try to get us to build something that makes it faster for them to get our messages.

What if they're intellectually bankrupt? Zeno means that... they'd be dumber than us, but way more advanced or something.

You mean like people from Rome meeting people from the movie ideocracy? Well then maybe it would be a good idea for them to give us access to their tech in return for a race that is not so dumb looking after them (Like the older brother looking out for his mentally challenged sibling) Or we force them to go to school and learn?

A society that is like that would slowly fall apart unless it has AI systems maintaining it.

[Cthag-antil]

Smart aliens don't let their livestock run around with guns, babe. They'd be sure to strip us of our intelligence... A few holes in the skull can do some real magic.

Catching billions of people and putting hole through their skull, especially when they are actively hiding? Not really easy.

---

It would be a simple matter to exterminate 99.999% humans with viral biological weaponry...not one soldier would be required.

No, not really... We have developed masks and we will develop vaccine long before most humans are exterminated. And anyway, they are more likely to simply use humans as slave labor.

If aliens wanted us dead...we would be dead, resistance would be utterly futile...imagine landing on an island inhabited by a small village of stone age egalitarians, armed with an AK47 you would massacre them all without breaking a sweat.

No, local villagers will not simply stand in line as we land. They will make a run for local caves, hiding place etc - from where they will conduct resistance movement.
But, more important question is - why wont we simply establish our facilities and employ locals as slave labor rather than bringing people from hundreds of light years away?

Masks....lol

[Cthag-antil]

It would be a simple matter to exterminate 99.999% humans with viral biological weaponry...not one soldier would be required.

If aliens wanted us dead...we would be dead, resistance would be utterly futile...imagine landing on an island inhabited by a small village of stone age egalitarians, armed with an AK47 you would massacre them all without breaking a sweat.

At least some (possibly influential) aliens don't want us dead even if others do...otherwise we would be dead.

Well if we landed on another planet and saw the locals fighting each other most of the time with weapons strong enough to destroy the planet ten times over what would we do.Humanity has a lot of problems which would make it a good idea to destroy us.

I wouldnt bother doing anything if I was an alien commander of some galactic navy, just wait for the primitive savages to annhilate each other or let nature in the form of a massive volcanic eruption and resultant tidal waves or incoming ballistic asteroid to do the job, only a matter of time.

[Cthag-antil]

We will call ourselves Humans, but we may no longer be by definition Homo sapiens.

Humans have always translated into Homo sapiens, no matter what form. Well except the two earliest forms of humans.

The Homo lineage is millions of years old...starting with Homo erectus and leading to Homo sapiens sapiens with many diverging branches on the way..like Homo Neanderthalis.
Chimpanzees and Gorillas it may surprise you to know also descended from the Homo genus.
They are incorrectly taxonomically labelled Panina...they are Homo.

[Soluain]

bet you all 2$ that George Lucas is an Alien and all the Star Wars stuff is true.

[AiliailiA]

There was a science fiction story called A for Andromeda that proposed a solution to that problem. I know, sci-fi, but it was co-written by Fred Hoyle who isn't a lightweight. Radio telescopes pick up a very long communication from space, which starts out very simply so we can basically learn their language (like teaching a little kid language) and eventually becomes a set of instructions for building a very sophisticated computer (well, you know that part of it will be silly ... the 1961 idea of a supercomputer is what we would call a slow-ass piece of shit) ... and this AI computer then designs a living being based on a female human form (which the aliens couldn't possibly have known about) ... who tries to take over the world but falls in love and ... oh, it's all pretty silly I guess.

The point being, that a message from aliens might contain enormously more information than "uh, hi? Is there anybody there? Call me when you get this".

That seems very likely if they are more advanced than us. They may try to get us to build something that makes it faster for them to get our messages.

If such a thing exists, I really really want them to teach it to us.

It's an almost ideal scenario, to parley before either of us has the option of armed conflict. Take a few years (or better yet, centuries) before deciding if the other is a threat. And with such a communication method, we or they could recall our fleets of planet busters if we change our minds.

[AiliailiA]

bet you all 2$ that George Lucas is an Alien and all the Star Wars stuff is true.

I'll take that bet. The Star Wars universe is pretty much a human hegemony and the "aliens" are funny-looking but act just like humans. With that many different aliens in the universe, it is naive to think that humans would run the show.

You know where I'm going with this

Star Trek > Star Wars

[Soluain]

bet you all 2$ that George Lucas is an Alien and all the Star Wars stuff is true.

I'll take that bet. The Star Wars universe is pretty much a human hegemony and the "aliens" are funny-looking but act just like humans. With that many different aliens in the universe, it is naive to think that humans would run the show.

You know where I'm going with this

Star Trek > Star Wars

you never know. If enough planets have conditions like earth. They will probaly evolve the same way. and Inter Galatic Human Party.

[Strykla]

I'll take that bet. The Star Wars universe is pretty much a human hegemony and the "aliens" are funny-looking but act just like humans. With that many different aliens in the universe, it is naive to think that humans would run the show.

You know where I'm going with this

Star Trek > Star Wars

you never know. If enough planets have conditions like earth. They will probaly evolve the same way. and Inter Galatic Human Party.

They would probably evolve in the best way suitable to their planet.

And also, a planet doesn't have to not be in the habitable zone to be uninhabitable. Both Mars and Venus are on the edge of it, and look how they turned out. Or, the planet might never get an atmosphere.

[The House of Petain]

Extraterrestrial marriage.

[AiliailiA]

I'll take that bet. The Star Wars universe is pretty much a human hegemony and the "aliens" are funny-looking but act just like humans. With that many different aliens in the universe, it is naive to think that humans would run the show.

You know where I'm going with this

Star Trek > Star Wars

you never know. If enough planets have conditions like earth. They will probaly evolve the same way. and Inter Galatic Human Party.

No, I don't claim to know. Aliens may walk on two legs and use two arms, and have their brain close to their eyes, ears and other senses and have all that high away from the ground.

All the animals on earth are morphologically related. The difference between humans and aliens could be like the difference between insects and fungi.

But what bothers me about the Star Wars universe isn't that so much. It's the pitiful degree of imagination that has gone into how they may think and behave differently. They're basically like nice people and nasty people, or smart and dumb, and there's no interesting exploration of how a different history could lead them to be utterly different in their outlook and behavior.

I'm not saying that ST does that a whole lot better but at least it tries!

[AiliailiA]

Extraterrestrial marriage.

Are you sure you want to marry a blue thing who can't get satisfaction unless there's a transparent thing with fifty tentacles involved?

I'm saying, we'd be late to the orgy. And that's never good.

[The House of Petain]

Extraterrestrial marriage.

Are you sure you want to marry a blue thing who can't get satisfaction unless there's a transparent thing with fifty tentacles involved?

I'm saying, we'd be late to the orgy. And that's never good.

I was thinking more the three boobed lady from Total Recall.

[AiliailiA]

you never know. If enough planets have conditions like earth. They will probaly evolve the same way. and Inter Galatic Human Party.

They would probably evolve in the best way suitable to their planet.

Yes indeed! Planets with oceans (of whatever liquid) but no land are quite likely. Plate-tectonics is not a requirement for life.

And creatures evolved to live in that three dimensional environment could be as intelligent as us, or more, while still being squid or fish shaped. They'd probably have advantages over us in zero-gravity too.

[AiliailiA]

Are you sure you want to marry a blue thing who can't get satisfaction unless there's a transparent thing with fifty tentacles involved?

I'm saying, we'd be late to the orgy. And that's never good.

I was thinking more the three boobed lady from Total Recall.

For extra boobs, you should put your faith in genetic engineering not faster-than-light travel.

Also, cat-girls. Genetically enhanced cats, not human girls with cat ears. Less legal hassles and also she will eat cat-food.

[Herrebrugh]

We'd put them in our sushi.