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Originally posted by Erno86
I believe that any space alien race that visits our planet Earth, should have the capability to defend themselves; if needbe. Therefore.... I think that the other-worlder's, that visit our planet, should have the capability of provoking extreme violence on a world-wide scale.
Originally posted by peck420
reply to post by JunoJive
The problem is the technological differential.
They may need to keep us around for study, or they may click a button and have everything they want to know.
I hope for the former .
Originally posted by ignorant_ape
reply to post by StarPeace
why would any hypothetical aliens be hostile ?
Originally posted by JunoJive
reply to post by yourmaker
True about the predator prey thing, however I don't think that would carry into space. If these races have the technology to cross those distances, its either extremely efficient requiring little to no resources, these resources are easily manufactured in house, or they travel with all the resources they need. I say this because, in space you can't be sure you can find anything to eat. At least wandering the forest or bush you stumble across things to nibble on. But the distance between points wouldn't allow for scavenging to be effective for sustainability. If they are scavenging chances are its do to being stranded. Otherwise, the technology is so reliable and sustainable, that they can afford the trips here just to observe.
So space piracy doesn't seem that likely, even our piracy would be limited to the solar system, since outside of that, theres nothing to leech.
Originally posted by JunoJive
reply to post by StarPeace
Fundamentally, I think it comes down to what it would take to be a space traveling civilization. Much the same way some believe reptiles couldn't evolve to a society based culture, since they don't raise their live young and therefore lack certain empathetic qualities, we can say that in most probability, a civilization that didn't wipe itself out would have the cooperative spirit that would allow it to take to space and survive. A war based race, would most likely destroy itself before it could pose a threat to another sentient species, unless they shared a solar system perhaps. Even still, our experiences of conquering only relate to ourselves. Humans conquering humans, to ascribe our temperament and ruthlessness to an alien race might be premature. Not to mention, would we have conquered so ruthlessly if it were not for the Kings, Queens, and Empires of old demanding new land and resources. Fundamentally as long as basic needs are met, people tend to default to fairly pleasant individuals.
Its just loose reasoning, but the gap between stars is a bit bigger than an ocean separating continents. Them stumbling across us and wanting our resources is a huge leap, considering the most valuable of our resources are available in massive quantities floating out in space. There aren't a lot of reasons for them to be violent. If they wanted the planet, and were looking to expand their empire they wouldn't wait for us to develop the nuke or other weapons that may have some detrimental impact on their plans. They can get resources faster and easier in the vacuum of space, so for me, besides resources and real estate, curiosity is the only logical driving factor.
Just my two cents tho.edit on 12-12-2011 by JunoJive because: Spelling
Originally posted by StarPeace
When countries invade other countries there is a bit of manipulation of the local population before the war begins.
In my opinion there is no reason to believe the aliens are not any different.
Originally posted by tothetenthpower
The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.
I would hope that with thousands, hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of years of advancement, another race would have gotten beyond our problem of killing each other.
I would think that to be a succesfull race of star travelling folk that you'd be relatively peacefull. Just seems to make sense. Seems to me that races that were more interested in war and imperialistic occupation of the stars would die out rather quickly.
~Keeper
As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.