What if there was life out there, just not as intelligent as we thought?

I think it all depends on what we find.

If we find a life form that doesn't appear to have any intelligence at all, we might "abduct" a couple for study. But if they seem semi intelligent, and can communicate well with their race, and form opinions about the human race, I'm sure we will study them from far away, and try to establish a communication, and there would be no "abductions".


Put simply, we don't want to create fear or hate in consious life forms. But if they seem not so consious, then we would probably take a few and study them.

I'm sure we would treat anything with respect, because after all, it would be the first E.T. publicaly confirmed.


I'm now thinking about what would happen if we found some type of monkeys on another planet. Would we try to communicate? Would we give them some of OUR technology?

I would like to believe that if we found a primitave form of human, we would try to help adavance their civilization and maybe create some sort of alliance. Although, we would probably overrun them and steal their resources.

Originally posted by liftingtheveil
how would we react with the propisition of being able to play god.

Interesting point here, don't we as a species already do this???

Going strictly by humans past track record, it seems obvious what would happen, just another lab experiment to see how the human race could benefit and manipulate another....sad but true imo.

BUT, maybe just maybe, we would sit back and not tamper with them, maybe we could learn a great deal about them and us. Compare it to the photographer versus the hunter.....the photographer is there, gets the photo(s)/videos and gets to study them, AND the animal lives and is unharmed. OR, take the hunter, who as a sport(??????) destroys the animal and takes home food that is not needed and a trophy.

You decide, I for one am a photographer and believe in letting things live whether they be from this world or not and therefore not doing what so many people claim has happened to them in terrible stories of alien abductions and experiments.
Let's not create our own ultimate fears and do what we would despise having done to us!!!!!

great thread by the way, stirs up a great deal of emotions!!!

Peace, Mondo

The Ender's Game series of books deal with this exact subject.

I think the first book after Ender's Game is Speaker of the Dead.

We basically discover out first sentient species (excluding the ones we destroy during the first novel). Turns out they are these sort of little pig faced pygmy type fellas who have a language and stuff but not really much tech, if any at all.

Anyway, we don't "take advantage of them" or anything (probably because it would take to darn long to fly ships out there to do that), but it does deal with a few dilemmas on how people should interact with them.

Just thought I'd throw that out there for anyone who may have also ready the book.

-Big O