If we found a nearby primitive civilization... what should we do??

people keep talking about this prime directive nonsense!!!!
if we make contact they should send me and a few pacafist and not even mention a military
learn ther ways and culture teach people thes things and if agreed hav people migrate for a new life and
search for the meaning of life in a few years space exploration will be private an we need good people able and willing to keep to thes ways ther will be no war ther will be no more death we will not teach curruption and dictatorship to a primative race if we do i will called a terrorist to fight for humanity ther is life evolving this second
US and if we get it wrong how we gunna teach others the right way ?

What would probably happen is that we'd wipe most of them out with diseases and the forced compliance of giving us their resources. Along with that, people of every religion would try to go there to convert the remaining natives to their religion and wipe out whatever religion(s) or beliefs existed on that planet. Eventually, when enough Earth humans feel bad about what is happening on the other planet, the forced compliance will stop and we'll start with the assistance and trading. They would get their own world government(of natives and Earth humans) and exist almost the same as a nation on Earth, just much, much farther away. Most likely at some point, the planet would be populated mostly by Earth humans.

That's what I think would happen. Not what I would want to happen though. If I had to decide, I would either not intervene at all, or go in peacefully and assist their civilization in any way we can. Maybe give them clean, environmentally friendly technologies so they wouldn't have to go through the dirty ones first like we did.

reply to post by jstanthrno1
Generally leave them to themselves.

Drop a couple of satellites into orbit to 'listen in' to their developing technology and monitor all the dull stuff like populations, pollution, weather and land-use etc. Abduct a few to learn regional languages and customs from. Use that knowledge to melt into their societies to study more about them.

All the good stuff floats towards the top of societies so our 'agents/explorers' would have a bit of wealth and be able to 'invent' ideas just a few years in advance of theirs. This would get us in the hot-seats of power and science in a generation or two,

Much of this would be the focus of education and entertainment back on Earth and our 'abductees' would be looked after and probably minor celebrities...

After a while, our guys would drip the idea of 'visiting aliens' to soften up the population for the day we announce our existence. Some of our aircraft would be mythologised and laughed at as 'UFOs.' By the time we genuinely turn up, all the main players on the planet would be working side by side with us and keeping quiet about it. No doubt, some leaks would happen and some of the natives would think us 'evil', but who in their right mind would believe that aliens were in power?

Originally posted by trouble_every_day
reply to post by [davinci]

 

haha you forgot to mention that they will also need a private central bank so that their currency won't inflate and deflate uncontrollably too!
Also I'd make sure their population stayed low and in perpetual poverty so we can protect their delicate atmosphere from the toxic air they exhale, make them live on toxic reservations, feed them that new fangled plastic rice from China and make 99% of the planet into wildlife reserves where the only vehicles permitted will be helicopters for holidays for central bank shareholders like myself). Oh and we should drug them senseless till they think all of this is just dandy.

edit on 27-4-2011 by trouble_every_day because: (no reason given)

Don't forget it would be a great opportunity for Wal(China)Mart.... You feed them full of cheap(?) irradiated s"it..... then give em clean nuclear power.... its a winner

Originally posted by jstanthrno1
Say 25-50 years from now we have solved our own energy crisis. We have discovered a safe effcient way to navigate through space at near the speed of light. We have sent an advanced probe to investigate a 'goldilocks' planet and it discovers the planet is inhabited by a primative human civilization. Essentially a civilization simliar to our around say the 1600s.

Now what do we do??

With a satilite in orbit we could sit back and observe thier culture as they evlove

Being within reach of our technology, we could send people and tools to help this civilazation leaps and bounds, they'd evolve 500 years overnight.

We could deliver them a gift of technology with instructions on how to use it and see what they do

We could easily enslave the population. Make them build a planet that would be suited to our own kind and mine their resources.

We could veiw them as a threat to our future and destroy them completely.

I'm sure there are more options as well but its interesting to think about. We always imagine advanced beings comming here and what they'd do. What if its ends up we are the more advanced species??

edit on 27-4-2011 by jstanthrno1 because: (no reason given)

We'd be way nicer than these supposed greys doing abductions, implants and mind"fritz"es.

We would try to be on our best behavior when meeting guests, and we'd try to actually talk to them and learn about their civilization, cultures and histories. We'd send some professors and hope to meet some of theirs.

We might pay attention to infectious disease control.

And we'd ask permission.

frikin nothing!

why is this even a question!

no, go down and make them build pyramids.

wtf? give em. iphones.

oh wait! gucci! gee wizz!

Originally posted by jstanthrno1Now what do we do??

Hunt them and eat them.

I'm asuming its Americans who find them. Hopefully there will be a cheese moon with which to smother their prey.

reply to post by fooks


Wouldn't it be easier to just not respond to threads your not interested in ?? I do it all the time

Being HUNDREDS of years more advanced we'd have plenty to offer.. medicine, electricity, clean water just to name a few. It was pretty obvious to everyone else I wasn't talking about plugging these people into the internet.

reply to post by jstanthrno1


Where exploration of the cosmos is concerned, I feel that in terms of our attitude to the task there ought to be some serious and universaly accepted rules about how to act when faced with any form of young civilisation, or civilisation which appears to be at a lower stage of technological and scientific capability than ourselves.

Using any technology we have to artificialy increase the pace of that civilisations advancement would present various instabilities in the society which had sprung up prior to our arrival. For a start, even our arrival and introduction could cause serious, devastating rifts in any society which is present, because it is likely that our presence would represent, or be seen as a challenge to any faith, religion, or philosophy that might already be in place on the hypothetical planet.

Furthermore, giving a person from the 1600's a bunch of TODAYS tech would be very dangerous. Can you imagine the brutality that would ensue if those who used swords and arrows to do damage to eachother, suddenly had access to even a simple UZI, or a snipers rifle? Can you imagine the horror , if we taught a group of humans at seventeenth centuary levels of thought, how to mine for oil, gas, coal and so on? How to strip mine rainforests ? Assuming a certain level of advancement in our own tech up until the point the explorator team arrives at this goldilocks planet, giving , or using high tech gear within sight of the less developed natives would in my veiw be bloody irresponsible at best, and murderously negligent at worst.

What we have to remember is that we have no right to mess around with the natural order of another society, even if it were proven that they were human or near as damn it. Just because we might have a hell of a lot more tech, science, medical understanding than they do , does not give us the right to alter the natural course of thier lives, the evolution of thier species, or the evolution of that species intellect and understanding of the world around them. We HAVE the right to observe, to monitor, to seek to protect them, but to interfere with them directly would be abominable, and would show us to have an arrogance on a par with that of the one called Morningstar. No matter how "godlike" our prowess might become, no matter how awesome our skills might appear to less developed planetary populations, we are NOT God, nor are we any other deity. Our power, in short, must be tempered with respect for the natural order.

Another thing that we ought to get straight, is that it doesnt matter a damn wether the species we locate is homonid, four legged and six armed, mammalian or reptilian, or arachnid in its appearance and its manner. We must treat every species which demonstrates intelligence as precious and vital , and worth protecting. Again, we are not Gods, we must not attempt to alter the course of nature on a populated world, either by aiding it in a visible and awe inspiring manner, or by destroying it and everything on it in nuclear oblivion. What right have we to forget the lessons of history , and bring the torment and devastation that humanity has wrought on its own people, its own world, to other planets and species in the galaxy ? I answer you , NONE.

We can observe the natural order of the lives and trials of these species, but to plunge our fists into the earth of thier world, and change it by OUR nature would be a total slap in the face to all sense of responsibility that mankind feels as a whole for its actions.

Leave them alone and observe them.....OR.....give them a little push if need be.

reply to post by jstanthrno1


Good question.

I don't think we should provide them with technology. We still use nuclear power which is a danger to us and any other life form so in a way we are backwards with technology. They may be primitive now but like us will probably be quick learners. Let them build their own technology and hopefully in time, theirs could be more advanced than ours and we can learn from them.

We should help them to ensure they don't make the same mistakes with war, disease and religion.

We should definitely be friends with them as we may need them as much as they need us. Our planet will not go on forever.

reply to post by EDL2011


Was that a sentence? A rant from your iDuh?

Wow - some of the unintelligible sputum lately on ATS is simply amazing...

we must leave them alone, for we are in no condition to be interrupting other life when we can't even manage ourselves.

I would hope we would make contact and offer guidence for them without forcing it down their throats.

I was planning a very non negative response on how we could minimally help them with basic science and health care so they wouldn't take the dark ages approach and burn people alive for being witches, but I just realized you are talking about a maimum of 50 years in the future. That time frame is not for enough in the future to for us humans to evolve. So I think we would end up with a situation like the movies avatar where we kind of let them exist while we study them and of course their resources.

You say they'd be like us in 1600s? Hm, I see. In that case there's a lot of work to be done. The current U.S. policy is to install Democracy™ - EU would approve it and optionally propose NATO bombing of top 10 countries in the tyranny ladder board. Of course, the actual agenda would be slavery, resource harvesting and human trafficking. Few strategically important countries would gain a respectable status and enjoy the fruits of Capitalism™ so they can be an example to others.

But that's so cliche.... I bet someone here can actually come up with a fresh idea and concoct a unseen evil skim our race has never attempted before. Something unbelievably diabolical! Send Justin Bieber to sing for them?

If we found a primitive human civilization on another planet We would have to at least try to understand how they came to be there. Maybe ask some probing questions. We shouldn't expect to find anything like us anywhere else in the universe if life evolved here on earth independently. It would be important to determine how closely they resemble/are related to us and attempt to understand why.

look at the past to understand the future.
we would invade their land, steals their resources and call the planet earth 2.
stamp it with an american flag to seal the deal.
then, spread like a virus, blow everything up and look for a new home.
business as usual.

I think the movie Avatar got it right. A Corporation (walmart) would buy the rights to the planet, and end up cutting down their big tree for profit. They would put all the primitives to work in sweatshops, and put China out of business.

Whose to say this event has not allready taken place......?What should we do or what would our directive from our superiors...?What would i order if i were in power over such an event?.....Observe,collect data,collect a few specimens for official research,record data facts of the planets,species,and races.....move on to the next one and do it again.

reply to post by jstanthrno1


What SHOULD we do? We should probably leave them alone OR attempt to establish a partnership where we trade tech for the resources we need to survive. Now that's not what we would do, we'd probably just move on in the way we did to the Native Americans and take everything, as cliche as it sounds that really is the most likely.