Debate: Should We Fear or Welcome Alien Contact?

reply to post by Risen


lol nukes hitting something of that speed lol i agree with you they would stop every so often look back and laugh as the missile crawls after them.

From a first hand personal experience, I say they were perfect gentlemen.

Also numerous accounts of them stopping nukes from being launched and stopping chemical disasters from spreading, I say they are looking out for our survival. Don't get sucked into the fear train. To make it to interstellar travel I'm sure you have to find a way to get along with all life.

Prof. Hawking has a good point, but I think that intelligent life is ubiquitous and I'll go even further - I strongly suspect that FTL travel is possible for many or most of them.

This would inevitably imply an interplanetary society of races, with inevitable agreed-upon rules between them - and the enforcement of those rules.

It would make sense that one of these rules would be that no significant disruptions may be caused in the development or day-to-day life on primitive planets such as ours.

We all know what happens when a technologically more advanced race meets a technologically less advance race. Instincts are let free reign and the less advanced race suffers dearly. Examples are what happened to the indiginous populations of North America and Australia.

In spite of my doubts about the viability or desirability of a "New World Order" or a "One World Government", it could very well be that intergalactic Law stipulates that diplomatic relations can only be established with planets with such a government.

I would not say that we should fear contact with an intelligence of extraterrestial origin, but we should be wary. Dr. Hawking I believe is correct on that aspect. If it came out that we are not alone, then that confirms, but actual face to face contact, that is something that the world is not ready for. There would be the questions of who is a threat and who is not, and depending on how it was done, it could result in being something diseasterous for the human race and the planet at large.
If you look at the refernece by Dr. Hawking, there were problems that arose from the contact between the Europeans and the Native Americans, the first being language and culture. What may be accepted by one culture could very well be something that another finds offensive. Take a look around today at the different cultures and how people react to the different ideas. The other aspect is that of the microbial nature. When Columbus came to the new world, the native americans did not have the resistence to the diseases that came along with, and vice versa, the Europeans were not prepared for the diseases that was around.
So I would say it would be something to be careful of and that any contact should never be in person, a hi, we do exist would be enough for now.

Debate: Should We Fear or Welcome Alien Contact?

Before we could even answer this, we'd have to know why they contacted us (largely indicative from HOW they contact us...)

If they show up ala "V" or "ID4" with large motherships over each capital, I'd say it's time to run for the hills!

If they establish a dialogue first, agree to conform to Earth-based protocols for international discussions, etc., then we should be as welcoming as possible.

If they truly have been visiting us, abducting people, and adding to the veil of secrecy, then we have to ask them Why....and let their answer decide the debate....

Personally, I think they are simply keeping us in check, from advancing in the Universe before it is "our time" to do so, according to "them"....

reply to post by True-seer


To those who say 'fear the hidden agenda' isn't their agendas already going on here?
Who are trying to take over the World?
What will the NWO consist of?

Aliens are already here i think but if they are flying around from another planet they could have killed us off long ago.. i don't think it's worth being fearful... i'd say they have to be friendly to let us live for so long... there is more to fear on Earth already.

Fear is an unproductive response. It neither contributes to the problems nor moves us past them. Cautious always but not fearful.

We should be excepting, respectful and hospitable. If we do make first connect it is reasonable to assume that these beings are far more advanced than we are and we could use some of their knowledge.

I think that Stephen Hawking is on the right track, but would go further to say that we should be not only highly cautious, but patient too. Building cathedrals scale patience, cosmically scaled patience, really, really prepared. We may only get one chance.

We should definately be up in arms against any single nation or group pro-actively beaming signals into space on behalf of the entire planet (didn't I hear that some countries - China was one I think - are doing that NOW) just yet.

I think it would be wise for us to at least give it another century or two (think how far we've come in terms of scientific knowledge and astronomy in the past two) or perhaps ten, and attempt to prepare ourselves a bit better.

For instance, it would appear that our species MAY have the potential to TOTALLY unravel the mysteries of the universe, or at least the science behind how it all works.

In the process, and wake of establishing such an awesome level of knowledge we would presumably, and hopefully achieve the following:

1. Consolidate and utilise our THOROUGH scientific knowledge to maximise preparations for such an encounter, overcome current issues with energy use/creation, sustainability, protection of our environment, war/conflict, do a lot more thinking, reflecting on our new found knowldege, about possible vulnerabilities and defence options for our world.

2. Avoid further deterioration of our environment, civilisation, technology, knowledge and environment via conflict/war/mishandling of such powerful scientific knowledge.

3. Establish at least one 'back-up' colony/site beyond our own planet, possibly solar system, complete with the means to replicate/re-create the entire biology of earth, and secure our entire knowledge library/records.

Otherwise the stakes are just too high in my books, and aren't we tantalisingly close to knowing just how far we can get in unlocking the secrets of how the observable universe works, and how to travel around it, to blow our cover?

Shouldn't we see if we can nail our own biological/physics/chemical knowledge given how far we've come and how long we spent getting here before inviting in an unknown guest?

Some of mankinds greatest achievements were works completed over multiple generations, this is more important than any of them, potentially. I think it is wholly unreasonable for our generation to jump the gun when we're so close to nailing so many BIG parts of the scientific puzzle, just because we happen to have accelerated our acquisition of scientific knowledge, but prior to reaching the other side of the pool as it were.

I think Mr Hawking's on the money here...

I've read a lot of responses, though I must admit, I just can not get to all of them. I've got a spin for you though...
Many have replied like they have never heard of these little personality quirks of our UFO'ers. Those quirks are as follows:
* They steal cattle
* They mine humans for genetic material
* They have broken treaties concerning human genetic material reports and technology
* There have been human as well as cattle mutilations possibly attributed to them. After all, what other mysterious group is out there snatching cows? (MK Ultra snatches kids and young adults, not cows).
* They can appear in your house at will. I find this one funny because most ATSers won't let a Census rep in their homes but you'd let someone you can not possibly keep out have card blanch! Amazing!
* They can paralyze you and carry you off whether or not you want them to or not. You can not stop them. Go ahead, try!
* They can take you away and then return you all brain wiped and sore and clueless.

Sorry, but my father taught me to never put myself in any position I don't wish to be in in the first place. That way nothing is sure to happen. By investing in someone's innocence before any evidence (be it circumstantial or not) is presented is the same as putting your name and address out on Craigs List as a lonely heart and expecting only men that want to marry to reply. BTW, can I get all of you guys who believe in their innocence, to give me your information? You can trust me with it, I won't get credit cards and go on a spending spree. Come on. It's for the Alpha Dragos guys who wanna go to see the strippers.

reply to post by True-seer

Professor Stephen Hawking, who in a recent release, states that although he believes in the possibility of life elsewhere, he believes we should NOT attempt to contact them.

While Hawkins may be a genius in the physics arena, he an obvious twit in this one.

'He believes we should not attempt to contact them'?

Someone should have a quiet word in his shell like ear and remind him, we sent out a gold disc in the 70's with a bloody MAP to where we are!

Not only that, we have been spewing radio and television, and all kinds of EM signals into space for over a century.

It's a bit hard to hide, when you're shouting your head off!

Clever bloke that Hawkins.

Fear? no, welcome? no, they are alien, and i dont know how an alien will think, they can be good, they can be bad, if they are good, fine, and if they are bad we must be ready to fight if we can.

I dont assume that bs that an advance race must be peaceful or nice, technology is technology, it doesnt have anything to do with ethics, you dont need better ethics to develop a better machine, i agreed they wont enslaved us or something like that, better to use machines, but who knows, they can be xenophobic, expansionist, they can be bored, they can like violent sports or humans for dinner, and i dont think that about "maturity", we dont have anything to compare, we are more mature that 1000 years before, we have a hell better technology and we still fight, why stop, our capacity for violence is important for survival, maybe wont be useful if we find a race of intelligent space cows, but if we find a race of intelligent space hyenas, we will need that capacity.

And anyway, this planet is already boring, theres not much to do here, so if we access the technology them we will do what we do better, conquest, war, and it will be fun, in the end we are predators and i doubt we will stop that, is our nature, we are not evil, we are not bad, we are just how we are, an species who survive.

I don't see any reason for being fear at all !

First of all .. as humans .. we can not even tolerate illegal aliens from across our borders .. or each other for that matter .. how do you think the bulk of us will react to ETs ..? I have very little faith in the human race ..
The open minded ones are few ... very few ..

Governments around the world are so arrogant, they have been shooting at ET vehicles with missiles and other primitive projectile weapons .. even with the full knowledge that they are astronomically outclassed .. that's like a monkey throwing stones at a plane in the sky.. at least the monkey has an excuse .. what excuse do we have ..? I hope the ETs don't judge us as a whole based on this 'shoot first and ask questions later' attitude of the governments ..

Personally I hope they do show up .. and administer a severe serving of humble pie .. starting by rendering all nuclear weapons and other forms of WMD's in the world useless beyond use prior to their landing .. maybe then .. when we are left with sticks and stones .. we'll be good children and sit in a corner and listen to logic for once ..

The human race is by nature destructive and out of control .. and we will always be on a downward spiral until there is nothing left ..
As somebody pointed out earlier .. this is a prison planet .. and the convicts are WAY out of control ..
So yes .. I really hope they do show up and dismantle all these useless so called governments and financial models of modern day slavery ..

Perhaps then .. when we are all faced with extinction by a common enemy .. we will come together and learn to really and truly rely on one another regardless of race .. color .. or religion .. even if we lose .. we will at least die together as one .. thats far better than the crap attitude we have now towards each other ..

Originally posted by spikey
Not only that, we have been spewing radio and television, and all kinds of EM signals into space for over a century.

It's a bit hard to hide, when you're shouting your head off!

True, but those signals still have only reached out to a 100LY radius (a tiny fraction of our own galaxy), and virtually all were relatively weak and unfocused. They may not even be distinguishable from interstellar background noise at that distance.

No, we're still pretty well hidden. That said, it brings up another issue. Even if you fire a powerful, focused signal into space, it will be decades, if not centuries...in the best case scenario... before it reaches an inhabited star system.

I believe Contact with "ET" is only part of a bigger picture of scientific and spiritual advancement, if it can ever happen here. There's not enough to show for the world as we know it to justify its continuation, particularly with the pollution and depletion of the ecosystem (because of industry as we know it), and particularly NOW with the Granddaddy of Oil Spills. And obviously any beings worth formally befriending would not approve of uber-corrupt, primitive, violent, secrecy-based government as we know it. That's assuming any such evolved enough beings "out there" are waiting for enough, or the right type of, Earth humans to reach out to them. Overall, fear sucks; it's useless and getting us NOWHERE.

if we get away from all the hippy sentiments on this thread..


the simple fact is we just dont know


but what I can say is that it's already a little too late, we've been screaming our existence out into the cosmos for a hundred years or so, so we really have no choice, we have already initiated contact with whoevers listening

all we can do is hope they are more vulcan than klingon (apologies)

Originally posted by elaine
I believe that contact with aliens (if they exist) could be detrimental to the human race even if it was not the alien's intent to harm.

We are of and part of this earth. Aliens would not be and could cause harm simply by being here. Like an invasive species overtakeing the indigenous species, they may not be good for us and could upset the balance of nature here on earth.

I also don't think you should assume aliens would be "friendly".

They probably wouldn't be friendly. However, as far as us being part of this earth and not them, there is no way to prove that they haven't already been here and assisted in human evolution, for example, or possibly even been behind programming other life forms.

Originally posted by Gaderel
More likely they should be afraid of us.

We are a violent, heavily armed, untrustworthy species.

[edit on 4/5/2010 by Gaderel]

YOU ARE SO STUPID...its not even funny...ok maybe a little lol
I will explain the situation so EVERYONE can understand okay? good

First you must look at our species, there are lots of bad people corruption and chaos but not every human is bad, some are good and try to do anything (even die) to help others. One must assume that if we developed like them, some (or another alien race) has postive means, while another does not.

It all comes down to is "who finds us first" , using logic the closest (say nearby star system) must just be the safest
So we a species we need to tread lightly on how we make contact.

For example, if there is an alien outpost (colony, base w.e) near our solar system (say a very close one) chances are that they are friendly (seeing how we are so close it would be simple childs play to find us)

But say if a civilzation is always on the move (or we wake up to find alot of big ships surronding our SMALL planet) seeing how they are on a move because they move from planet to planet (honestly what is the point of that?)
IF they come for rescoures then its a short trip and on to the next one, but look at people, judging eachother over little differnces (these aliens might just kill us for being dumber then they are)

As for the friendly aliens, if they know we exist (which they do) they would keep a close eye on us (making sure we dont get kill off from moderate disasters such as astroids and solar flares) so they could jam our signals if we try to make contact (like making sure a baby doesnt drink posion/ or piss off the angry bear so to speak)

so it all depends on how we do it, what our intentions are (lying wont work) so lets hope for the best, pending on the situation to make contact or not is clearly up to nasa and our goverment (not the people cause that would be TOO smart) lol

anyway i know how this is going to play out sooo...GO OUTSIDE AND ENJOY LIFE! (while helping others and such)

If they are peaceful they should stay away from us. If they are violent........hide. I prefer the method of "sticking my head in a hole", Thus imitating the invincible Ostrich!!! Come on everyone- join me!!!

Originally posted by MonteroReal
Fear? no, welcome? no, they are alien, and i dont know how an alien will think, they can be good, they can be bad, if they are good, fine, and if they are bad we must be ready to fight if we can.

I dont assume that bs that an advance race must be peaceful or nice, technology is technology, it doesnt have anything to do with ethics, you dont need better ethics to develop a better machine.

I would agree. I would also tend to think that there would be both destructive, negative races, postive races and nuetral races that prefer non-intervention. I would also assume that if they were intelligent enough to make the trip to the Sol system (which is entirely possible with more advanced modes of travel), then they would definitely be in communication with each other and form some kind of alliances.