If we were unlucky enough to come into contact with hostile aliens, we'd get curbstomped. Maybe it's best to leave them be.
Hawking Warns Humanity to Avoid Dangerous Aliens
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Looking at Earth it is the carnivorus pack-hunters that are the most developed species to be found. Furthermore given the odds that it is generally the strongest, most intelligent, and ruthless that come to dominate and drive the advancement and evolution of most species its safe to assume that aliens would have an aggressive and quick to act personality about them. Add that to the fact that two very different and nervous species with weapons pointed at each other ready to defend themselves would be trying to make contact with one another, all it would take is one minor slipup and shit gets bad fast for all involved. Even if most aliens would be friendly, peaceful, and somehow manage to make contact with us without everyone again slipping up, all it would take is one nasty alien species deciding to visit us to make it all worthless. Until we can field defenses capable of protecting ourselves from such threats, stealth is probably the best course for our continued safety.
PS: Aliens would have little to no reason to conquer us, I'd be more afraid of a botched up first contact. Aliens would be able to acquire all the resources we have here within their own solar systems. We would be of little use to them as slaves. The only reasons I could imagine would be to eliminate us because they see us as a potential threat to them, but considering they would be so much more advanced than us they shouldn't fear us just yet. Or they would want to acquire some of our technology, while they may be more advanced technologically, we may have exceeded them in the knowledge of other fields, or poccess technology never before even thought of by them. An example would be H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" in which the martians never developed the wheel and instead used an overcomplicated series of sliding pieces to achieve the same function as said wheel, the discovery of an abstract concept as simple as that would revolutionize the technology of a race. The idea of coming and taking our own discoveries and advancements by force is what I feel is the most likely reason an attack would ever occur.
PS: Aliens would have little to no reason to conquer us, I'd be more afraid of a botched up first contact. Aliens would be able to acquire all the resources we have here within their own solar systems. We would be of little use to them as slaves. The only reasons I could imagine would be to eliminate us because they see us as a potential threat to them, but considering they would be so much more advanced than us they shouldn't fear us just yet. Or they would want to acquire some of our technology, while they may be more advanced technologically, we may have exceeded them in the knowledge of other fields, or poccess technology never before even thought of by them. An example would be H.G. Wells "War of the Worlds" in which the martians never developed the wheel and instead used an overcomplicated series of sliding pieces to achieve the same function as said wheel, the discovery of an abstract concept as simple as that would revolutionize the technology of a race. The idea of coming and taking our own discoveries and advancements by force is what I feel is the most likely reason an attack would ever occur.
Screw Hawking and his logic. I want to meet an alien. I mean, would you really pass up the opportunity to meet a being from another planet, even if it was dangerous? Would you refuse to be the first person to travel back in time because a dinosaur might eat you? Even if it did, it would be totally worth it.
Ahhhh it is a good idea to try and get people to stop sending those signals.
Too bad it was too little too late, for I am here and your species is doomed.... DOOMED!!! HEAR ME AND OBEY PUNY HUMANS!!!
*ahem*
Well in some seriousness I doubt that aliens have spaceships would prove that they have taken all their planet's natural resources, but I can agree that aliens coming to Earth are probably coming because they want something from Earth... not really just popping down to say 'hi'.
Admittedly we can't blame them, humankind has done the same nearly everytime they colonised a new continent so an alien doing it is just doing the same thing but to a planet. However I don't think it's fair to suggest that ALL forms of extraterrestrial life in the universe would want our destruction, I mean on look at humans shows that we can either be savage towards the unknown or ready to embrace it. I'm just saying the aliens could have a similar mentality, some wanting peace and others wanting destruction.
Point is, we won't know until we know for sure. Granted I think that meddling with communication with a force we don't entirely understand is a bit problematic, but we can't just instantly assume that they want to destroy us either.
Too bad it was too little too late, for I am here and your species is doomed.... DOOMED!!! HEAR ME AND OBEY PUNY HUMANS!!!
*ahem*
Well in some seriousness I doubt that aliens have spaceships would prove that they have taken all their planet's natural resources, but I can agree that aliens coming to Earth are probably coming because they want something from Earth... not really just popping down to say 'hi'.
Admittedly we can't blame them, humankind has done the same nearly everytime they colonised a new continent so an alien doing it is just doing the same thing but to a planet. However I don't think it's fair to suggest that ALL forms of extraterrestrial life in the universe would want our destruction, I mean on look at humans shows that we can either be savage towards the unknown or ready to embrace it. I'm just saying the aliens could have a similar mentality, some wanting peace and others wanting destruction.
Point is, we won't know until we know for sure. Granted I think that meddling with communication with a force we don't entirely understand is a bit problematic, but we can't just instantly assume that they want to destroy us either.
The only real resources that a giant space faring civilization could possibly need from our planet is food and minerals. Minerals are a dime a dozen on any solid body in the universe and to say they wanted food would be assuming that said species even required carbon based oxygen breathing animals or carbon based plants to eat. Hell, it is entirely possible that there is only one space faring civilization within a hundred thousand light years of us survive in a similar manner to some ultra deep sea creatures. By absorbing and filtering nutrients out of volcanic reactions. What makes you think our planet is so attractive? The only rare resource our planet has is life and that isn't any really very useful when you are advanced enough to grow corn from a bio engineered ooze. I never understood why anyone would consider earth a serious interest to other intelligent life. The only thing we could provide that they don't have would be the fascination and insight gained from studying humanity's sapience. Which is warranting of scientific and cultural study but not any form of invasion. The most attention we would ever get is analogous to one of our universities taking a research expedition to study ants.Silva said:
When did real life turn into a Doctor Who episode with famous scientist warning the world not to meddle with alien powers!
Still, it is very likely that any alien species that can reach us will be hostile due to the nature of how predators are at the top of the food chain have the most command over resources and are generally the smartest.
And it is likely that "alien fleet" they won't be all that is left of their home world, it could be that their star system has just become too crowded and the most extreme fringe elements are forced to seek out new place to settle in the universe.
Though the question would be... why Earth? I suspect it would be to inhabit rather than merely harvest resources and one of our planet's best features is the gravity, distance from sun against intensity means the temperature is just right for liquid water to cover our planet, complete with a water cycle and we have a lot of liquid water on our planet. Also our planet is hot enough to have a molten steel core, that means a protective magnetosphere which is vital if you want to be close enough for the sun/star to warm yet not buffet the planet's atmosphere away with the particulate emissions.
Yes, this planet is very good to live on, even for alien species and all signs point to life throughout the universe being dependant on Water and the more the better.
Sure they can capture comets from all over many solar systems but they are ice and there is no way to easily melt them into large bodies of water like lakes or oceans. They need a planet just the right size and distance from a star.
Still, it is very likely that any alien species that can reach us will be hostile due to the nature of how predators are at the top of the food chain have the most command over resources and are generally the smartest.
And it is likely that "alien fleet" they won't be all that is left of their home world, it could be that their star system has just become too crowded and the most extreme fringe elements are forced to seek out new place to settle in the universe.
Though the question would be... why Earth? I suspect it would be to inhabit rather than merely harvest resources and one of our planet's best features is the gravity, distance from sun against intensity means the temperature is just right for liquid water to cover our planet, complete with a water cycle and we have a lot of liquid water on our planet. Also our planet is hot enough to have a molten steel core, that means a protective magnetosphere which is vital if you want to be close enough for the sun/star to warm yet not buffet the planet's atmosphere away with the particulate emissions.
Yes, this planet is very good to live on, even for alien species and all signs point to life throughout the universe being dependant on Water and the more the better.
Sure they can capture comets from all over many solar systems but they are ice and there is no way to easily melt them into large bodies of water like lakes or oceans. They need a planet just the right size and distance from a star.
I have nothing but the UTMOST respect for Mr. Hawking, and chances are he is right. However, I always prefer to play the optimist. Finding an alien race may be the human race's saving grace. If we get lucky with a hyper intelligent race to make us SOOO much better than how we are now..with everything. This is more than plausible. I sorta feel like that, unless some super drastic thing happens (like 2012) where everyone needs to stop with any BS and come together as a whole race to save ourselves, then an alien race that is kind and smart is the only other way out of the VERY likely self destruction that it seems were heading in, given all the hate and wanting to build a bigger,better gun than "the other guy".
And if the aliens we meet are hostile, its probably no worse/different than what we would end up doing to ourselves in the long run. but that's just me.
And if the aliens we meet are hostile, its probably no worse/different than what we would end up doing to ourselves in the long run. but that's just me.
In a later interview Hawking went on to say.
"I saw... its thoughts. I saw what they're planning to do. They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet... their whole civilization. After they've consumed every natural resource they move on... and we're next."
"I saw... its thoughts. I saw what they're planning to do. They're like locusts. They're moving from planet to planet... their whole civilization. After they've consumed every natural resource they move on... and we're next."
We don't have any elements or minerals that you couldn't find in almost any other star system.Canid117 said:
What is special about Earth is not what can be taken away, but WHERE it is.
Earth is just the right size and distance from the Sun for vast quantities of liquid water to accumulate, and in the grand scheme of things water is even more important than a breathable atmosphere.
I'm telling you, if aliens come here, they are going to be here to STAY.
You almost had it in that our most valuable resource is life, but not our life, but the potential for our planet's perfect position to be a new home for an alien life form, an entire alien eco system.
Likely driven from their own home system by competition over dwindling resources and growing population, it is manifest destiny that they will want a comfortable planet with a steady temperature, variety and water. Even if they don't breath oxygen, that can be sorted out in time.
independence day?Decoy Doctorpus said:
OT:Hawking is probably right. However,I would rather die in an alien holocaust than by conventional (boring) means...or I would join them and live a life in space.
Depends, when your entire species is on the line I think wiping out a bunch of crazy apes on a little blue planet wouldn't be much of a problem. In the end, if it's not war, it's gonna be business and "peace", also, the two species would most likely find each other disgusting, having different religious beliefs, cultures etc and probably wouldn't want long-turn success for the other.SuperMse said:
Think about it: eventually we're gonna get to the same level as they are, eventually. What happens then? War happens, either that, or we start to eclipse them, slowly they fade away and we take their place. Now reverse this situation, imagine if monkeys starting learning in our schools and practising some crazy sort of religion, huh, what do you think we're gonna do about it? Let them get guns? Science to rival ours? Let them evolve to the point where they are more intelligent than us?
It'd be too easy to just press the "off" button on humanity. Add to that our barbaric ways (they would probably seem barbaric to them, and let's face it, if they DIDN'T seem barbaric we'd be screwed twice as hard) and well ... bam, fresh slate and a nice familiar people living on earth instead of those crazy apes.
Another thing: It's probably not gonna be like "oh look there's some slightly different creatures to us!" It'd be more like us and cows or chickens, we don't respect them as creatures do we? Equal rights to chickens? We EAT them! So, we're chickens and anyone thinks for a second that aliens are gonna respect us as equals? Would you give a gun to a chicken? You'd cook the thing and eat it with some chips and bread, hell, 99% of you have already done just that.
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Also, if they can get here, they can destroy us without a fight. Imagine this, you land on a little desert island and find some kind of ugly creature that insults everything about your culture and species just by existing. Now, let's say it's like a rat or something, an ugly rat ... rat vs Abrams tank with FLIR scopes and air support, who will win?