why do humans in general fear alien contact?

This is something that have bothered me for the longest time. Why do humans in general fear alien contact? why shouldn't we make contact if we can?
at least we would know for sure that we aren't alone in this universe... Fear is a powerful motivator, but it shouldn't be. I would love to know why "we" are so afraid of the unknown-

a reply to: darkspace

We are afraid of ourselves. We know what we have done when we find a lesser intelligent species and we know what we WILL do when we do find a lesser intelligent species. We will conquer them and any planet they reside on, and we will use their resources until we deem them no longer usable and leave the planet in waste while we transport the last of them alive to be used for our amusement in zoos or as slaves.

We know what we will do, so of course we fear it will be done to us.

a reply to: PsychoEmperor

maybe this planet/solar system in reality is a prison

originally posted by: darkspace
a reply to: PsychoEmperor

maybe this planet/solar system in reality is a prison

Some people believe that and if it is, well, smart move. We Humans are a dangerous lot

a reply to: darkspace

I would argue the exact opposite...

Human beings seem programmed to seek out what ever may lie over the horizon...

And space is the newest horizon...heck, we sent out welcome letters in the form of golden records on both Voyager crafts in the 1970s.

We explained who we were, where we are, and a general overview of our sensibilities..

This very act was contrary to the fear you suppose we humans have...and I do not agree
Quite the opposite in fact

-Chris

Why do humans in general fear alien contact? why shouldn't we make contact if we can?

Some of the serious investigators, like Jacques Vallee or Richard Dolan, will tell you readily that (alien) advanced technology doesn't automatically mean benevolence or a greater 'spirituality'.

a reply to: Christosterone

but in later years, there have been arguments against making contact and/or making our presence known to potential aliens out there. i believe stephen hawking and other scientists warned about making first contact.. personally i want "official" contact in my lifetime

a reply to: darkspace

Because everything we know about biology and intelligence here screams that when others come here they'll invade, just like we'd be doing if we got some place else with this most most advanced cultural evolution we know about (that is still a trainwreck which hasnt much changed in 5000 years).

So why throw ourselves to the extraterrestrial wolves, other than to stoke your curiosity? We wouldnt even be able to get to them to launch a surprise counter-attack if we needed to, if they can easily / quickly get to us in any case.

a reply to: darkspace

Humans fear the unknown.

It is a natural survival mechanism.

Doesn't mater if your talking about aliens, other cultures, or the guys that just moved into your neighborhood.

originally posted by: darkspace
a reply to: Christosterone

but in later years, there have been arguments against making contact and/or making our presence known to potential aliens out there. i believe stephen hawking and other scientists warned about making first contact.. personally i want "official" contact in my lifetime

Heh. I'll bet a bunch of the Taliban thought a war with the US would have been super-cool. The Japanese did back in the day, when they were roughly technological matched up with US.

a reply to: darkspace

Even if we make contact the governments of the world wouldn't tell us about it, for fear of upsetting the religious.

a reply to: ColeYounger

I tend to align with that kind of thinking myself. I just see us humans, if we suddenly discover space flight and can travel to far off worlds. Will all our nations decide to be at peace forever more? will everyone be fed and clothed? Will everyone suddenly have jobs and livelihoods? of course not. Nothing will change except we now have a whole new universe to explore and conquer. Many of our poor and disenfranchised will be persuaded to go to a new world to start fresh, hopefully better lives, OR our wealthy will leave and to conquer the cosmos leaving our poor here to figure things out on their own.


Or... to go back to the op, we discover space flight and discover an alien out there ready to conquer us, and we unite in order to defeat it or be defeated.

We come from the stars and it’s our destiny to return to those same stars and meet with others who too are formed of star dust...

It’s obtuse to hide away in our solar system...

Our genes have a programmed curiosity which demand we become interstellar beings...

And, like Columbus, we will go unafraid of sea monsters though in space we will seek only to discover...fate be damned...

-Chris

originally posted by: PsychoEmperor
We are afraid of ourselves. We know what we have done when we find a lesser intelligent species and we know what we WILL do when we do find a lesser intelligent species. We will conquer them and any planet they reside on, and we will use their resources until we deem them no longer usable and leave the planet in waste while we transport the last of them alive to be used for our amusement in zoos or as slaves.

We know what we will do, so of course we fear it will be done to us.

Bingo!

And this is why I cant warn loudly enough that we had better drastically culturally evolve as a species before this Trans-Humanism / Post-Humanism tech all starts to become a serious element in our affairs the next 20 years.

This is why I argue its silly to vest all our interests in subject like aliens, and pop culture, and MSM narratives, and so on, while completely ignoring this very real and right on our horizon 'actual' 'alien' species (spearheaded by immortality obsessed Power Elites no less) right on our doorstep.

originally posted by: Christosterone

Our genes have a programmed curiosity which demand we...

... DOMINATE the universe. Meaning until we drastically culturally evolve above them then ideas such as inter-stellar travel, or more importantly Transhumanism is suicide if we dont all face our nature head on and overcome it.

For a nice case study in what these techs promise to have us do to each other, take a good look at what social media has done to us in a mere 10 years.

originally posted by: darkspace
Why do humans in general fear alien contact?

Because we're smart.

Why shouldn't we make contact if we can?

Death, disease, slavery, torture. They might take away our guns. The usual.

originally posted by: darkspace
This is something that have bothered me for the longest time. Why do humans in general fear alien contact? why shouldn't we make contact if we can?
at least we would know for sure that we aren't alone in this universe... Fear is a powerful motivator, but it shouldn't be. I would love to know why "we" are so afraid of the unknown-

Aliens.

Humans have a hard enough time with the different species on our own planet.

Spiders, snakes, dogs,birds, fish etc.

A fear of the unknown or potentially harmful.

a reply to: darkspace

I fear that they may carry space cooties.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: darkspace
Why do humans in general fear alien contact?

Because we're smart.

Why shouldn't we make contact if we can?

Death, disease, slavery, torture. They might take away our guns. The usual.

I didn't think about that The FEINS!

I question your premise. How do you know "humans in general" are "afraid" of aliens? It sounds like a gross assumption on your part without any data to back it up. Obviously we can point to anecdotal incidents where some people have expressed fear of aliens, but you can't extrapolate from those incidents of questionable veracity to "humans in general."