What do you expect from Extraterrestrials?

Ill keep this short and to the point.
I have been seeing an increasing number of threads lately that claim Aliens are coming, or that some kind of "disclosure" is about to be opened to all people around the world.

Some say they will be told subtly, some say it will come in a spectacular way.
I personally don't believe there is a rise in UFO activity anymore than there was fifty years ago. I also don't believe in disclosure of ETs to the people by government for various reasons that would make another thread.

At any rate, here is what I do not hear....
I do not hear what people expect to gain from these entities.
Everyone is always talking about what the government will do, or what they will do themselves or how the world would handle it. That's all well and good, but it doesn't answer the question.
What do you expect to gain from extraterrestrials if and when they show up?

Surely you cant expect to be made honorary members of an advanced society. Though I have read that before.
Also you can't expect that they are going to nurture us as a species. Why would they?
More over, how do you expect to be treated by these beings, and how are you going to treat them in return?
I find it interesting that people almost allays anthropomorphize aliens in such a way that they have the same wants, needs and more importantly...DESIRES, as humans.

Well maybe they do, but probably they will not. If that's the case how will that affect your behavior toward them, and how will it change your idea about them if they don't view you the way you as a human "think" you should be viewed?

In short, what are you expecting from these people other than a show of existence?
And if it is just a show of existence, why the hell would they do that?

I would like to hear your thoughts on this, hope I am clear enough.
Thanks

reply to post by snowen20


its kinda humouring you made this thread because i dont think anyone has ever really sat down and thought about well if aliens to earth were to make themselves more public then flying around or w/e the case maybe except me!

tell u the truth i would treat them like i would want to be treated and hope for the best..as far as getting anything from them i would hope to gain vast amounts of knowledge i mean i would be open to all sorts of knowledge as well as wanting to travel through out the cosmos i'm really tired of being on this planet! its beautiful love it to death but...

theres not enough room on this rock for me and humanity :p

Hmm, a valid question for those that await them.

I for one would welcome such a site and embrace them with open arms.
But on a serious note, I would expect them to be benelovent and assume that they are here to perhaps impart some knowledge and help guide us.

It simply cannot be that a race with any other intention would make it this far because they would have destroyed themselves or been stopped. And if indeed they did make it this far and come to conquer, well then we can only prepare ourselves for such a confrontation.

Besides, as many cultures have surmissed, the "aliens" would be seen as "gods" to some, perhaps "angels" or "demons" to others and so on. It is just a matter of perception from each person.

Again, overall I would welcome the opportunnity for such an experience.

As for what I would want personally? To travel with them.

reply to post by snowen20
A lot of people expect Oprah, Jesus and Santa Claus in the form of a Grey alien.

If these guys turn up one day, they'll need to bring free energy and world peace whilst raising our vibrational frequencies and talking like Chinese fortune cookies. Anything less than free goodies and spiritual wisdom will be a major bummer!

reply to post by Kandinsky


i bet behind that sarcasm you view it that way yourself! I dont necessarily agree with all that u said but we both know in alien contact it would be an exchange of thoughts and experiences! kinda like meeting a new person in your life you get inside eachothers heads!

reply to post by snowen20


From a personal stand point, i would hope they were more advanced spiritualy, as opposed to technologicaly. So for me i would want them to enlighten me. To teach me how to shake off my ego and connect with my true self and learn of my true place in the universe. If they are peacful creatures then maybe they could teach us here on Earth to be the same and learn to work towards common goals. Rather than have a ultra competitive social structure that seperates and segregates people. I would also hope that they would bring down our reliance on looking to the few, to make the major decisions on behalf of the few. Thats not working really.

Of course all this is hyperthetical because deep down i dont believe anyones coming to save us. We have the power and the real need to save ourselves. So im focusing on that rather than waiting for ET to do it for me.

reply to post by metalholic


I agree with you but funny you mention the following..."I would treat them the way I would want to be treated."

That may be a problem, especially if they don't agree with the way you treat them. What i mean is that i read ..Oh great ,how lame that I cant remember..Carl Sagan perhaps Steven hawking, or maybe Tipler I cant remember Im looking now. Anyway they said that communication with an alien may be very problematic insomuch as there is nothing in common. Treating an alien in the typical human idea of do unto others as you would have them do unto you could prove disastrous if misunderstood.

Ill try to find it in my bookmarks and post it.

reply to post by Kandinsky


Another point of mine.
People may be expecting too much from them, typical of less advanced societies that once contact has been made suddenly change their entire culture to better fit the informal habits made by the more advance culture.

For example. there was a tribe in Papua New Guinea that after white people came started worshiping and changing their normal ways in order to have the gods send metal birds to deliver them luxuries.
Because the foreigners had habitually delivered products to them via plane the natives altered their social structure in a harmful way.

Does that sound like something an advanced alien would want to do?
If so they have to know that their daily routines among us may effect us in a negative way.

Research some interesting facts about cultural problems and how societies were traumatized by colonization and interference. Some of the topics are very interesting.

reply to post by KrypticCriminal


Unfortunately that will probably not be the case. If it were they may not come to Earth and here is why.

A species that basically teaches in all education what is strictly quantifiable and seen, and measured and understandable, and education system planet wide that teaches how to develop a hypothesis and then a theory from that and all in the practice of understanding the physical universe may appear very unattractive to a "spiritually enlightened being"

To most scientists a spiritually enlightened being would be a fairy tale or an illusion derived from what may best be described as primitive superstitions, in this case both humans and aliens have no room for each others ideas and therefor can not grow together. That assumes that such an ET would be interested in growing with you and didn't view you as just another creature.

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

It would be nice if aliens turned out to be happy, peaceful space brothers giving away free spaceship rides and cures for all diseases. But it's a lot more likely in an "eat or be eaten" universe that they'll be vicious predators who would just as soon kill you as look at you.

So we need to extend a hand in friendship, but keep a few tactical nukes ready to go at a moment's notice.

reply to post by snowen20


Yeah but your failing to take in to account that not everyone puts so much stock in the scientific methodology that would be required to look at the encounter in such a way. They may instead try to teach those who want to be taught and be uninterested in those who perefer cold hard logical reasoning. Those who would be far more interested in the technology they posses and how they can utilise it to there own advantage.

Im a firm believer that all life is connected if only by virtue that its is life. Therefor you instantly have a common bond which can be expanded upon. Life trying to understand life.

I would also like to point out that people tend to associate these beings as just another culture.
You know like a town somewhere else or just outsiders passing through.

That may be the wrong and very human way of looking at it.
If we are to follow the logic of pure science and observations learned inthe animal kingdom it would make more sense for an alien species to avoid contact with less advanced species to an extent.

As we have seen in our own history mingling with less advanced societies can be disasterous for that society even when you have the best ententions.
Also people seem to be wanting somehing from them, usually it is seemingly innocuous but may have long term sid effects to the species own growth. Assuming an alien race contacted then proceeded to converse and or deliberate with mankind what kind of effect would that have at altering our own self governed growth?

We would then have to assume that these aliens also were visited at one point and then altered mentally and culturally and they developed the practice from their visitors.

If someone were to say that we can not grown on our own or lack the ability to advance enough in order to achieve what this alien race could or does consider this.

Referring back to the animal kingdom, if a species can not change and adapt on its own that is the law of the jungle.
If it dies out it was not suited to live. If it does not thrive it was a poor design (evolutionarily speaking).

So why in good conscience would an alien species contact and then proceed to alter us culturally when if we can not do it ourselves the universe will weed us out?
When you watch national geographic do you see the camera man who is obviously far more advanced than the lioness running over to the lion to beat it on the nose in order for it to loose its prey? NO. You don't so the logic follows that an alien race would have no more interest in taking action with the laws of the universe than we do with the laws of the African plains.

reply to post by snowen20
Yeah, you're talking about cargo cults.

Speculation is healthy. When people leave that behind and become partisan to one theory or explanation is when it gets silly. Some guys prefer the 'Prime Directive,' others like the 'cosmic quarantine' or 'prison planet' theories. Way too many take the 'disclosure' view and think ET is hanging out in the shadows until a US President says 'They're real.' Then we have the pessimists who believe ETs eat babies and steal souls. The Greer guys who see ET as Holy Santas with free energy and lotsa hugs. This year's model has been the 'ET are demons omfg!'

All these guys will be *probably* be disappointed because life is never what we we expect and life-changing events have unpredictable qualities and effects.

It's all just fantasy, speculation and BS. We don't know. We don't know what to expect and can only hope it doesn't sting too much. I'm in favour of positive speculations (trade routes, colonies, infrastructure, rule of law etc), but if folk prefer the demons that's up to them.

reply to post by Kandinsky


World peace to them, may involve eliminating all humans from the planet.

All animals fight for territory and we are nothing more than that.

There NEVER has been peace among humans and never will be.

Even sporting events are nothing more than organized battles.

Modern equivalents of what took place in every ancient civilization.

You want world peace,first eliminate the archaic practice of sporting events.

Even the Olympics has become an abortion with participants not even from the "nation/state "they represent.

reply to post by KrypticCriminal


This idea would essentially create what can best be likened to class warfare and would terribly alter a species cultural growth in catastrophic ways.

Having a species who is OBVIOUSLY far more advanced coming to earth to teach a "select" few is bound to stir jealousy and hatred something that a spiritually advanced species may try to avoid. IMO

The idea didn't go over to well when Hitler tried it either. Having a master race or group that alone is to be enlightened and superior goes against the grain of most people.

reply to post by Kandinsky


LOL.. Star for you exactly.
Demon, santa, or care bears. Lets role the dice!

I'm expecting chicken.
Lots and lots of chicken.
Well I'm hoping they have chicken.

Cheers
Brady

reply to post by snowen20


I would never expect ET's to "fix" our problems at all. It's our job to fix our own mess, but sometimes you just can't see a way out of it or how to fix a problem. You need a little help. A hand up; not a hand out. Then again, maturity comes from the journey and not the destination. I don't know, it just seems like we humans are stuck and if we don't find a positive way forward we will end up de-evolving rather quickly. Who knows how many times we have been at this same spot in our evolution only to blow it(literally) and have to start over in the mud. Maybe there is something fundamentally flawed within us that won't allow us to move forward without some sort of....I don't know...."hardware" update from those that have "been there, done that", so to speak. Other than that, I don't think it would be wise for the ET's to get so envolved with us that we become dependent on them. We must make our own way, but with maybe some ideas thrown our way when we do get stuck. Just my 2 cents, anyway.

reply to post by Oneolddude


Thats because as a species we are relatively infantile. I agree that we are nothing more than animals, but even animals can coexist peacfuly. Many of the problems our species face are bred of false ego. People thinking they are better than one another and always trying to out do each other. If we realised that we are nothing more than another species of the Earth, maybe we would'nt be so quick to rape and destroy it, and turn it in to one big cancer.

reply to post by Oneolddude
Quite likely. Based on *our* history of one side screwing the other, it's only reasonable to speculate that contact could set us back generations and leave the world like the West has left Africa. It's a scenario I've often wondered about...it ain't good.

Still, I hold my original position that we just don't know enough to have legitimate expectations. As such, my current favourite speculation is focused on trade routes and rule of law. I figure if we're just speculating, it's better to imagine good things instead of global devastation or societal decimation.