Is finding aliens a good idea?

[Drakmorg]

Nope. Humans can't even go a single day without killing one another, how the hell are we going to interact with a species of intelligent beings that are vastly different from us without killing them? Can't be done. Either we kill them, they kill us, or both sides get tired of killing each other and just call a truce after massive casualties and spent resources on both sides has caused the war to no longer be worth it.

Although, I will admit that after the massive war of the third outcome, we might be able to live peacefully with them and be far better off than we were before.

 

[Valknott]

If aliens are crazy more advanced than us, then they're probably observing us. Hopefully they'll think it through before making contact. For all we know they could have already made contact and only world leaders know this. Maybe only certain world leaders at that.

If they're not more highly advanced than us, or not by much, then we'll probably run into each other around the same time. And there'll be rivalry between the races and that could be bad.

I think that our only hope is that reasonable human beings run into reasonable extraterrestrials.

 

[Gilhelmi]

Okay, no matter what you may believe, yay or nay, in the interest of dicussion, do you think the determination to find others like ourselves is such a good idea? (No matter how long it takes) Brought this up because there has been a lot of alien related news recently.

First of all, you have the fact that humans are destructive in nature, we are sure to spark an intergalactic war with them eventually, thats if they don't declare one on us first.

Second, if they DO have much better technology I hardly doubt they'd want to associate with our primitive ways, some people treat animals on our own planet as though they are stupid, aliens will have us in test chambers and such studying our caveman like behaviour.

Thirdly, we have resources they might want, they have resources we might want, how do we settle that trade civilised.

Fourth, we still have racism and sexism on this planet we haven't yet gotten rid of, how would we adapt to other new beings?

Discuss the pros and cons.

This may have been said but,

What if they are exactly like us, with all our flaws, or even worse.

I still say it is a good idea because it will help us grow as humans. We might not have overcame racism but we have made good first steps.

 

[kikon9]

To address these in no particular order:

As far as the resources thing, any species with technology advanced enough to efficiently travel through interstellar space wouldn't need to use our planet for resources. After all, there are plenty of asteroids and planetoids with more resources available that aren't guarded by angry primitives. And if they have resources we want, something tells me that humans are at least smart enough to not attack sufficiently advanced technology.

As for the test chamber thing, something tells me that they wouldn't need to dissect humans to know our biology, (again, advanced technology). And for examining our primitive behavior, they could probably do that well enough from space, and just keep themselves secret.

As far as the "destructive by nature" thing, that's kind of a relative viewpoint. Humans have done a pretty good job creating things and have avoided fucking up the place more times than most would think.

Then, about racism and sexism, that wouldn't really be as much of a problem as most would think. After all, think of how many people in western civilization think of aliens as "Cool" then there's the people who have their various religions about "gods in flying chariots" While I'm not advertising the whole "ancient astronauts" thing, I'm just saying it would probably be mistaken for such if aliens came back and found those beliefs. Then, anybody truly dumb enough to call the space-faring hyper-advanced race inferior to (insert-race-here) could probably be differentiated from the majority of the population by the aliens.

And all of this is assuming the aliens have the same psychology as us and that they haven't done the whole "Supercomputer Uber-Mind" thing. There are too many factors to accurately predict how it would happen.

 

[NightHawk21]

Firstly, yes. The learning potential is too great to pass off.
Secondly, cut the hippie shit. No offense to all you guys who are saying no because we'll probably go to war, but if you guys actually thought it through you would notice that an interplanetary war would be impractical when we just managed to invent the technology to find another species and meet them in person. Can you imagine the cost of such a war? Also, if we find them first, chance are we would probably have the technological advancement, so if we did go to war (extremely unlikely) we'ld probably win.
Also, while we have had our share of destruction and murder in the past, I for one would like to think we are getting a little better. Look at the political outcries you get now for the smallest things, do you really think we would just mindlessly introduce ourselves with a shotgun to the enemies face? Also, as for the Native Americans, say what you will but that was pretty tame by histories standards, at least they are still alive, given the right to practice their culture and given some land to maintain, when we could have in all reality wiped them all out. Not claiming it was right or even acceptable, but it went a lot better than it could have.

 

[Nouw]

Why does everyone assume alien life is more advanced than us?

What if we find a planet (with intelligent life) that's about 50 or so years behind us in technological advances. Do we kick their ass instead?

Take their resources and run away. Then the inter-solar system treaty kicks in and their technologically advanced neighbours destroy Earth.

I fucking called it.

 

[NightHawk21]

To address these in no particular order:

As far as the resources thing, any species with technology advanced enough to efficiently travel through interstellar space wouldn't need to use our planet for resources. After all, there are plenty of asteroids and planetoids with more resources available that aren't guarded by angry primitives. And if they have resources we want, something tells me that humans are at least smart enough to not attack sufficiently advanced technology.

As for the test chamber thing, something tells me that they wouldn't need to dissect humans to know our biology, (again, advanced technology). And for examining our primitive behavior, they could probably do that well enough from space, and just keep themselves secret.

As far as the "destructive by nature" thing, that's kind of a relative viewpoint. Humans have done a pretty good job creating things and have avoided fucking up the place more times than most would think.

Then, about racism and sexism, that wouldn't really be as much of a problem as most would think. After all, think of how many people in western civilization think of aliens as "Cool" then there's the people who have their various religions about "gods in flying chariots" While I'm not advertising the whole "ancient astronauts" thing, I'm just saying it would probably be mistaken for such if aliens came back and found those beliefs. Then, anybody truly dumb enough to call the space-faring hyper-advanced race inferior to (insert-race-here) could probably be differentiated from the majority of the population by the aliens.

And all of this is assuming the aliens have the same psychology as us and that they haven't done the whole "Supercomputer Uber-Mind" thing. There are too many factors to accurately predict how it would happen.

This.
P.S. Also as is the most likely solution, the alien species will be discovered hundreds if not thousands of years before we are capable of actually making contact do to the speed at which information passes through space.

 

[shadowthorne369]

I don't know if it's a good idea or not, but I'm all for trying to find alien life, especially intelligent alien life. Unfortunately, even if we could travel at the speed of light, it would still take us roughly 13 YEARS to make it to the closest star system. And seeing as we are nowhere near lightspeed, I'm thinking the odds are much greater of some alien race discovering us than us discovering them.

 

[FalloutJack]

My motivation is that, yes, it's a good idea. Because things are too boring around here.

 

[kikon9]

To address these in no particular order:

As far as the resources thing, any species with technology advanced enough to efficiently travel through interstellar space wouldn't need to use our planet for resources. After all, there are plenty of asteroids and planetoids with more resources available that aren't guarded by angry primitives. And if they have resources we want, something tells me that humans are at least smart enough to not attack sufficiently advanced technology.

As for the test chamber thing, something tells me that they wouldn't need to dissect humans to know our biology, (again, advanced technology). And for examining our primitive behavior, they could probably do that well enough from space, and just keep themselves secret.

As far as the "destructive by nature" thing, that's kind of a relative viewpoint. Humans have done a pretty good job creating things and have avoided fucking up the place more times than most would think.

Then, about racism and sexism, that wouldn't really be as much of a problem as most would think. After all, think of how many people in western civilization think of aliens as "Cool" then there's the people who have their various religions about "gods in flying chariots" While I'm not advertising the whole "ancient astronauts" thing, I'm just saying it would probably be mistaken for such if aliens came back and found those beliefs. Then, anybody truly dumb enough to call the space-faring hyper-advanced race inferior to (insert-race-here) could probably be differentiated from the majority of the population by the aliens.

And all of this is assuming the aliens have the same psychology as us and that they haven't done the whole "Supercomputer Uber-Mind" thing. There are too many factors to accurately predict how it would happen.

This.
P.S. Also as is the most likely solution, the alien species will be discovered hundreds if not thousands of years before we are capable of actually making contact do to the speed at which information passes through space.

Also, given the thousands of years necessary for the light to reach us, the aliens will most likely be dead by the time we reach them or vice versa.

 

[WolfEdge]

Second, if they DO have much better technology I hardly doubt they'd want to associate with our primitive ways, some people treat animals on our own planet as though they are stupid...

That's not really a fair analogy though, because there really ISN'T any other species of animal that so much as comes close to the level of awareness and intelligence your average human possesses. Indeed, we have words for people who behave closer to the way an actual animal might behave, one of the most serious of which being "rapist". As for meeting another race capable of or exceeding our intellectual level, I can't imagine they wouldn't have the same sorts of problems our own species has experienced, unless they're some sort of hive-minded society with no sense of free will, then I'd imagine it'd be almost a relief for both sides assuming this is a first-time experience for both camps. And if it's not, then surely there would be some protocol they would follow.

 

[WolfEdge]

I don't believe that aliens exsist; the universe is such a hostile and unforgiving ***** of a place and there are too many ways for life to be wiped out.

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So aliens are probably going to be like klingons and krogans for the most part. I'd vote that would be a bad idea.

Doesn't the mere existence of the Human race sort of put a damper on both of those theories? We're here, are we not? And humans have always been omnivores of all shapes and sizes and ideals.

 

[superbatranger]

That depends on a very important question. Do they think movies like Independence Day to be considered as documentaries?

 

[Thaluikhain]

First of all, you have the fact that humans are destructive in nature, we are sure to spark an intergalactic war with them eventually, thats if they don't declare one on us first.

Firstly, galaxies are what scientists call "really, reall big". Intergalactic war...nah.

Secondly, humans are good at finding people to wage war against that won't wipe them out. The major world powers since WW2 have sort of agreed to mess up third world countries, rather than get wiped out fighting amongst themselves.

Us declaring war on aliens would be like East Timor declaring war on Wester Europe...not going to happen.

Second, if they DO have much better technology I hardly doubt they'd want to associate with our primitive ways, some people treat animals on our own planet as though they are stupid, aliens will have us in test chambers and such studying our caveman like behaviour.

The first part is probably true, dunno about the second. If they aliens were interested in us, there's no reason to believe they'd be hostile.

Thirdly, we have resources they might want, they have resources we might want, how do we settle that trade civilised.

What resources? The galaxy is huge...even the vast majority of our own solar system is beyond our reach. The odd of aliens being interested in our tiny part of it seem remote.

Fourth, we still have racism and sexism on this planet we haven't yet gotten rid of, how would we adapt to other new beings?

This one seems more valid to me. Firstly, you have the Star Trek "everyone wakes up and is nice to one another" thing which doesn't even hold true in Star Trek. Or, secondly, and much more likely, it causes all sorts of massive upheavals. Mass hysteria, religious denial, random craziness...not much fun. Even once it settles down, it wouldn't fix our problems, we'd just have a new set to work with.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

Okay, no matter what you may believe, yay or nay, in the interest of dicussion, do you think the determination to find others like ourselves is such a good idea? (No matter how long it takes) Brought this up because there has been a lot of alien related news recently.

First of all, you have the fact that humans are destructive in nature, we are sure to spark an intergalactic war with them eventually, thats if they don't declare one on us first.

Second, if they DO have much better technology I hardly doubt they'd want to associate with our primitive ways, some people treat animals on our own planet as though they are stupid, aliens will have us in test chambers and such studying our caveman like behaviour.

Thirdly, we have resources they might want, they have resources we might want, how do we settle that trade civilised.

Fourth, we still have racism and sexism on this planet we haven't yet gotten rid of, how would we adapt to other new beings?

Discuss the pros and cons.

1, Agreed, and if they are advanced and space faring, how do you think they got to that stage in the first place?

2, If they have much better technology and they think like us then we're doomed.

3, They likely wouldn't want our shitty planet, but we'd want whatever they have.

4, We're xenophobes by nature, how do we adapt to new beings? We don't.

This is all, of course, assuming the aliens can somehow be contacted and are more advanced than us.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

If we do become a space fairing race, then we must take First Contact seriously and very carefully.

If we find a species less advanced, at most we must observe and not be seen till they reach an interster level, and even then we should try to make our presence one of non-interference.

If we find a species on equal grounds, then we should try to from trade agreements. War is less likely when both sides are benefiting from each other's existance.

If we find a more advanced species... or they find us as it most likely would be, then we should try to not piss them off at all costs.

The people in charge of First Contact must be aware that...

1. The aliens are likely not going to be human like or even humanoid (bipedal with two legs, arms, and a head) in appearance. We won't even begin to imagine what they would look like.

2. You must make the aliens fear you as little as possible, and fear them as little as possibly either. We don't want a nervous shot to be fired.

3. How we communicate, how we build ships, how we do anything are going to be radically different. The explorers need to be able to find universal basics to start comnunicating with, such as math.

 

[Kortney]

definitely not a good idea. i've always held the belief (long before it became mainstream (yeah, "i liked that before it was popular!")) that even if we contacted a peaceful alien race, there would be war, because we would start one. this would be due either to simple xenophobia, or to greed, or fear outside of xenophobia. basically, either "kill them because they're different" or "kill them for their stuff" or "kill them before they kill us".

I don't agree. Surely a society so advanced that they have perfected space travel over incredibly long distances would have evolved past the point of being reactionary, bigoted psychopaths. A society that xenophobic would never have existed long enough to be space faring.

 

[DaMullet]

I don't believe that aliens exsist; the universe is such a hostile and unforgiving ***** of a place and there are too many ways for life to be wiped out.

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So aliens are probably going to be like klingons and krogans for the most part. I'd vote that would be a bad idea.

Doesn't the mere existence of the Human race sort of put a damper on both of those theories? We're here, are we not? And humans have always been omnivores of all shapes and sizes and ideals.

Not at all. It would take a billion billion billion chances to get one solar system right. You put the earth in any other solar system in this galaxy and life will die, eventually. Sol has no twin in the milky way. And not every solar system has a nice vacume cleaner on the outside like Sol's gas giants that suck up life snuffing asteroids. And the majority of other galaxies are too chaotic and not perfectly stable like the milky way is, which kills off planets and therefore life. And actually Sol isn't that safe. In another million years, the sun's increasing luminousity will make photosynthesis imposible and poof, there goes earth.

I mean evolution doesn't even to get on stage for most of the universe, and if it did, without proper protection for that planet, its like your little brother hitting the reset button on your NES while playing mario 1 over and over like the little brat that he is.

I think looking for aliens is a waste of time. We should probably scrap that fairytail and go colonize the Moon and look for fossils of earth mark 1, before the moon was created, to gain a better understanding of how life started. And with that knowledge, then look for aliens because then we'll have a clue as to what we're looking for.

Human still hunted though. Still had to outsmart prey in order to kill it.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

If aliens are found I doubt it's likely they're intelligent/sentient. A bacteria under a rock on Mars or a plant in a crevice on the Moon also count as aliens. I have absolutely no problem with bringing them to Earth and studying them. To see how an organism functions without terrestrial mechanisms can reveal a lot about our own biology.

 

[Timmibal]

And actually Sol isn't that safe. In another million years, the sun's increasing luminousity will make photosynthesis imposible and poof, there goes earth.

I think you're missing a few zeroes on the end of that figure, m'laddo. Sol is still a relatively 'young' star, as far as they go. It's got at least 4 billion years before it starts getting pregnant on us.

I think the kicker is interstellar travel. If it's possible in meatbag bodies, then we'll meet aliens.

If not, We'll have to wait until we get to K2 or K3 levels of civilization before we have the capability to make first contact, and at that stage we'll be looking for others at a similar stage of development, because communicating with meatbags over audio analogue will be like reading war and peace at a rate of one word a week.

If a K3+ meets us, better hope they feel like uplifting us rather than just downloading our brains and grinding a few million of us up for genetic data modelling before deconstructing our planet.