Are we all just a bit egotistical?

Illusionsaregrander, I agree, but it all depends on the aliens' psychology and culture. For all we know, they come from a culture of pacifism and love.... or maybe they come from a culture where all other life forms are insignificant. If their psychology and culture are different, then maybe they're not nearly as power hungry and greedy as humans.... or maybe they are even more so than us? It sure would be a nightmare to run into a race more greedy than humanity.... Also consider that different races would have different psychologies and cultures. They don't all fall under one group just because they're aliens.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander

I think it is egotistical to think they are interested in us for our own sake.

Was it really wise to say that? It's not really what I wanted to hear!

Unfortunately it's probably closer to the truth. I'm tired of all the new age authors claiming aliens are trying to help us on some spiritual level. Just doesn't add up. I would suspect they have their own agenda and our interpretations are unfortunately probably just that... merely feeble guesses.

We care about birds, canines, and plants. Why shouldn't aliens care about us? We are lifeforms and we have a large impact on Earth. I mean, we're interested in aliens and lifeforms, so why wouldn't aliens be interested in us and other lifeforms? Note that I am not saying aliens are ONLY interested in us. They would probably find other lifeforms on Earth very interesting as well. I am not saying all alien races would be interested in us either. I'm just offering possibilities that make more sense in my opinion. But yeah, I guess all we can really do is guess, unless they make their intentions known. (assuming they visit Earth)

[edit on 10-4-2008 by GrayFox]

reply to post by GrayFox


Some humans do care about birds, canines and plants. Lots of humans eat them, too. Some humans even eat the birds, plants and animals that they have cared for. (And eaten other humans when the going gets rough enough) And our "interest" in other lifeforms almost always leads to us dissecting some of those lifeforms and subjecting them to sometimes painful experimentation.

You are absolutely correct to say that they COULD be utterly different from us, and non-violent. However if evolution and natural selection has driven the rise of intelligent life forms on other planets, there is a very strong possibility that they are NOT utterly peaceful and loving beings. There seems to me to be very little correlation between intelligence and non-violence. Not that you cant be both intelligent and non-violent, but the rise in intelligence required to facilitate space travel does not seem to require a corresponding rise in compassion. Look at us.

What seems to drive violent behaviour in the life forms we can observe, here on Earth, including us, is WANT or lack of. Once resources become scarce, all bets are off, and the more intelligent a hungry creature is the more dangerous. So, if our Alien visitors are here because they have utterly mastered energy and food production and they are just out on pleasure trips, that would bode well for us. If they come because they have squandered their own resources, and trashed their home planet, and they are scouting for a new one, we are probably in trouble.






[edit on 11-4-2008 by Illusionsaregrander]

egotistical no, but my modesty is what I like best about myself. Just kidding, I think they would be interested because we are part of a science fair project. A long running one.

You read about scientists who study the fruit fly for 40 years...why is it so far- fetched that they would study us?

If it's true as some suggest that they've been manipulating our evolution since the beginning here on Earth they might have hundreds or thousands of so called projects going on, on many different planets.

If we had the technology to travel to other planets in the universe that had life, I am sure we'd go there all the time and study them for thousands of years.

Can you imagine if Mars had just microbial life on it? And we could get there quickly and fairly easily? We'd be studying that for a long time.

[edit on 11-4-2008 by LateApexer313]

reply to post by tha son


You shouldn't have mental poverty about humans.
Humans have the potential to become enlightened.
To evolve into light beings.
Humans are basically good hearted but are being conditioned
by an evil Military Industrial media due to the ongoing greedfest.
Some aliens are enlightened and know that certain individuals
have the capacity to transcend conditioning and tap into their

Basic Goodness.

This type of human is not egotistical but has merged with the true
nature of the universe. Basic Goodness.

Some aliens have advanced technology but are spiritually illiterate.
That's egotistical. To not be humble and patient enough to tap into
the natural mind of compassion. Look at Buddha and Jesus. Forget the
religions after them that misinterpret their evolved state into pure
light being. You won't hear this on CNN. This message is for that
advanced being who knows who they are.

Google Padmasambhava.

The highest being with more extraordinary powers then any alien.
He attained light body. He was pure light during his life. the media
will never tell you about your true potential.
They want you to be disheartened consumers who are discontent. Find contentment in your own basic goodness and study enlightened beings. Otherwise the media conditioning will run you down, ruin
your life and thrust your mind in hell realms.
This is the real Jedi Philosophy.

this is the dimension that George Lucas based the Jedis on.

Google the Karmapa, the most extraordinary living being.
Lucas and Spielberg will be there.
He will be in the US for a few weeks in late May. If you live near
Seattle-go see him. Then tell me what you think.

He's a Jedi master!
Over and Out

A friend once told me about a book, this book was about a UFO. This UFO was discovered by NASA by some sensor or something. Anyway, the plot of the book was that the UFO would reach Earth in 20 years or so. In the mean time, the entire planet prepared for the Alien arrival. After the 20 years, or whatever the time was, the Alien ship just kept going. Does anyone know of this book? It is an interesting concept and one that makes you think, that is very healthy in my opinion. Once again, I just believe in an open mind, we must examine all possibilities.

reply to post by stanglover2008


I had not heard a book like that, but I googled to try to find the title (because it sounded interesting) and the only thing I could find was called "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C Clark. It is kinda like what you describe, although we intercept the ship as it passes and find it empty.

I think that scenario would be the most ego deflating of them all. We see a bunch of craft approaching and we get all happy, scared, etc. prepare, roll out the nukes and the red carpet just so we are prepared either way, and they do a fly by and keep on going.

To not even be worth eating or exploiting. Sheesh. Now THATS a blow to the ego.

Some humans do care about birds, canines and plants. Lots of humans eat them, too. Some humans even eat the birds, plants and animals that they have cared for. (And eaten other humans when the going gets rough enough) And our "interest" in other lifeforms almost always leads to us dissecting some of those lifeforms and subjecting them to sometimes painful experimentation.

You made some good points there, but I was just trying to say that genocide and murder are atrocious. If aliens come here to destroy humanity, then it would be very bad for their reputation with other races. And I was saying that if they come here, then they're going to find us interesting (though maybe somewhat disgusting at the same time.) We are part of the Earth, no matter how bad that may be.

There seems to me to be very little correlation between intelligence and non-violence. Not that you cant be both intelligent and non-violent, but the rise in intelligence required to facilitate space travel does not seem to require a corresponding rise in compassion. Look at us.

Most aliens would probably see violence as primitive... not all, but most. Violence destroys. Destruction is not progress. I'm not saying all intelligent races would be pacifists, definitely not, but I think a good number of them would be quite peaceful. It all depends on a number of factors, but psychology, culture, and motive are the big three. And I just like to think that there's a race out there much more peaceful than humanity.

What seems to drive violent behaviour in the life forms we can observe, here on Earth, including us, is WANT or lack of. Once resources become scarce, all bets are off, and the more intelligent a hungry creature is the more dangerous. So, if our Alien visitors are here because they have utterly mastered energy and food production and they are just out on pleasure trips, that would bode well for us. If they come because they have squandered their own resources, and trashed their home planet, and they are scouting for a new one, we are probably in trouble.

I have to say I agree with that! It all depends on why they're here. If their planet is in a much worse condition than our planet, then Earth could look like a paradise. In that case, we're probably all screwed. If they're here to be our friends, then everyone should be happy.

reply to post by tha son


maybe the aliens are just monitoring us. With all the war going on on our planet, maybe they're waiting for the moment when we take war into space and then they'll contact us..or destroy us if we'd pose a threat to them.

And I don't think they would know everything by now..I mean we don't even know everything of our planet ourselves..why should they?

I think it's wrong to assume that aliens have to be far more advanced than we are, just because they're visting us (if they are). Maybe they use the same technology we use but they just live longer so a trip of a few hundred years would be like a 1 year trip for us.....who knows..

I think that since they are more advanced and consecuently more intelligent than us then their respect for other live forms and their ethical standards should be higher as well, therefore I could understand their desire to help mankind to evolve. Excepticism is always healthy as denotes intelligence, in the other hand blind denial to the posibility of other live forms in the universe is toxic.

Why? Why do we think that they would want to destroy us and use our planet? I'm sure that if they destroyed their planet, with wars and pollution. They would probably want to stop another planet from doing the same thing. Wouldn't you? I think that there will never be a hostile takeover on earth by aliens. Surely there smarter than coming down to earth with "tripods" and start blasting everything. Thats what Hollywood and the Media want you to believe. They don't want you discovering something that could benefit you and the whole world. I have always known deep inside of me that humans are capable of great things. But because we are being manipulated, we can't achieve any of these things.

Humans do something extraordinary. Something that stands out on this planet. When a catastrophe occurs, humans work together and try to help those who have been hurt, damaged by it. Even if they cannot physically help out. Everyone on the planet conscientiously sends love. We all feel pain when disaster strikes, no matter where. 9/11 or the Tsunami in Indonesia. There was an article a while back, about a machine that could sense the disasters, and loss of human life.

"The machine apparently sensed the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center four hours before they happened - but in the fevered mood of conspiracy theories of the time, the claims were swiftly knocked back by skeptics. But last December, it also appeared to forewarn of the Asian tsunami just before the deep sea earthquake that precipitated the epic tragedy."

Link:www.redorbit.com...

Could it be that they are observing us because we are unique on this planet?
Maybe they see a certain potential in us. Oh, and who knows, maybe theres more than just one Alien race keeping an eye on us, some good some bad. Some want us to enjoy free will, while the other is controlling us.

Mmmmm... I believe it's true, that we ARE at our best
when things are worst, but then again, I never tried the
cobbler near Winslow.

Look up at the stars tonight and think about it... that's
no freeway, it's a long long-long way to come to do the
'cr*ppy' stuff they do.
And for the thinking guys here, see how it's genetics now
and not craft statistics. We're off loading our poineering onto
some skinny guy with huge eyeshades.