How would you react...

[Destiny]

A really old alien space ship that is similar to Voyager and Pioneer, in that it was unmanned but contained a message from an alien civilization, was discovered and it proved that we aren't alone. Even if it would take years to translate their language and understand their language, we would still know it was proof of aliens, how would you react to such a discovery?

[Onslaught]

I would be skeptical at first, but inside I would be very excited. I'm not sure who wouldn't be. The discovery of other lifeforms would be huge, and even if it did take years to translate their language it would be worth it.

Although if it was hostile I would destroy it and when the aliens come knocking on my doorstep armed with their ray blasters and mech suits I'll just say I didn't get the message.

[SleepyGlenn]

I would be skeptical at first, but inside I would be very excited. I'm not sure who wouldn't be. The discovery of other lifeforms would be huge, and even if it did take years to translate their language it would be worth it.


Personally I think it would give us all a kick up the backside to sort our planet out. Better tidy the place up, we might have guests coming!



Although if it was hostile I would destroy it and when the aliens come knocking on my doorstep armed with their ray blasters and mech suits I'll just say I didn't get the message.

The alien message... it's a bad iTunes review for We're Alive! This means WAR!

[Pteranodon]

I'd react with Paranoia of course....

[Chelsea C.]

District 9 put it best.

[Funny Muffins]

A really old alien space ship that is similar to Voyager and Pioneer, in that it was unmanned but contained a message from an alien civilization, was discovered and it proved that we aren't alone. Even if it would take years to translate their language and understand their language, we would still know it was proof of aliens, how would you react to such a discovery?

Why?
You got something you need to say?
HA!


BRING IT ON!
Only girlie men think that humans are alone in this existence.


AM I RIGHT?!?!

[manintrees]

District 9 put it best.

Yeah, it's unfortunate but it's true.

[Ra1th]

nay, i say stephen hawking put it best,

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

but that also goes vice versa, if we visit them, we'll have district 9/avatar, on our hands, whoever has the technological advantage will win, and to the victor go the spoils

but that also brings up a lot of other possibilities, a war with another species would unite the human race once and for all, a common threat to all humanity with no judgement for skin color, race, or culture would bring us all together... to beat the shit out of the other guy, but still SILVER LINING!

[HomeGrown]

We can't even interpret the language of dolphins. If we found an alien craft that was the approximate size of our own (versus the size of a planet or a grain of sand), and there was some form of identifiable message in it (even if we can't translate it), then I would have to presume that its builders are relatives of humanity that left Earth at some point in the past. Thus, I would be very nervous.

It's thought that humans had about the same capacity for intelligence 10-20,000 years ago as we do today, and it only took a couple hundred years to become so "advanced" that we can wipe all traces of ourselves from the Earth, so it's not implausible that some advanced humans left 20,000 years ago and moved to a star 50 light years away, while the rest remained to blow up each other's buildings for a few thousand years.

If they ever come back and wage war with the Earth, I wouldn't assume that earthlings will unite any more than a zombie invasion caused the tower and mallers to unite.

[Pteranodon]

Suppose aliens land and they look like crappy 1950s "little green men"? Or worse, suppose instead of fantastic otherworldly lifeforms they look like people with funny ears or lumpy foreheads a-la-Star Trek! (and they all speak English!)

[nikvoodoo]

Suppose aliens land and they look like crappy 1950s "little green men"? Or worse, suppose instead of fantastic otherworldly lifeforms they look like people with funny ears or lumpy foreheads a-la-Star Trek! (and they all speak English!)

in theory, no one in the Star Terk universe other than humans spoke English. They used Universal translators that translated everything the Enterprise (or Voyager etc) heard into English. They just don't bring it up that often so people don't think about how far fetched that is when they meet new races. It was a big plot point in a couple of Star Trek Enterprise episodes because the translators didn't exist in Star Fleet yet. But you could argue it's technology the Vulcans and Andorians would possess and could have given to them eventually or at least eh database to translate the languages.

ok, you can continue your other conversation about aliens now.

[Pteranodon]

Next Generation explained why most aliens are humanoid.....

[cycogod]

in typical trek fashion...big long drawn out set up,bad acting then some techno babble to explain it....uhh wait. this is pointless , there already here.

[gaijinpunk]

If aliens ever did land/ invade, we'd be screwed.
Don't buy into the E.T. (or the AWFUL Tom Cruse WOTW remake). I'm SURE, there's no way in hell we're alone in the universe, but if an advanced race finds us now? How about just the top ten reasons to hope we continue to go unnoticed.
1-we'd be slaves.
2-we'd be food.
3-we'd be spare parts.
4-we'd be incubators for their young.
5-the martians just want the women.
6-the martians just want men.
7-we'd be fertilizer.
8-we'd get "probed".
9-can we say, a case of the "Venusian Crabs"? ...e-yuk.
10-we'd all just be dead. Period.:zombie:

[Cabbage Patch]

I thought Gordon Dickson wrote the scariest alien encounter scenario in one of his short stories. In it humans encounter a coaliton of intelligent alien races whose sole desire is for us to take...

[gaijinpunk]

I'd call up my roommate from back in college and yell "I &!@#ING TOLD YOU SO @$$HOLE!!!" into the phone. He was the most, closed minded idior I've ever known.:D

[reaper239]

i know i'm going to catch flak for this but here goes: it is highly unlikely that there is any other life in the universe. you would almost have to recreate the earth, sol system, and it's position in the milky way (spiral galaxy btw) perfectly. here's why, point by point. the earth: the bigger a planet is the more perfectly round it is. a perfectly round planet, assuming it has water on it, would be a "water world" now outright that seems like it would work fine for the creation of life, the problem is that the salinity of the water would be so high that nothing could survive. the water would be so salty it would be white. continents are what help to manage the salinity of a worlds bodies of water and without them the salinity would rise untill the water literaly could not hold anymore salt. conversely a planet that was too small would not have oceans which are neccesarry to regulate weather paterns and the like. also you would need enough heavy materials to make a planet and you would need the right mix of materials to have a properly life sustaining planet.

next you would need a sun identical to ours. for photosynthesis to work properly, you need certain wavelengths of light which a dwarf of any kind lacks, the red wavelengths. a red giant burns out entirely too fast for life to develop to any meaningful level (assuming you believe the concepts of Darwinian Macro Evoloution, but that's a different discussion). next, once you have the right star, you need to place your planet in the "belt of survivability." too close and the planet will be too hot to sustain life (see venus) too far and the planet will be too cold to sustain life (see mars) both mars and venus are aproximatley the right size, but are too far and too close respectively to sustain life.

next the galaxy: if you look at the center of the milky way you see a cluster of stars. the same if you look at the arms. now one might think that where there are an abundance of stars, there would be an aabundance of possibilities for life. the problem is that where there are stars clustered together like that there are not only adverse gravitational conditions, there is also the problem of macro chain reactions. ie one star goes super nova and sets off many other stars, causing a chunk of the star cluster to explode and reshape as new stars in a realatively short period of time. this is a frequent occurance.

stars like the Sun are rare enough (ask any astronomer) but finding one in a spiral galactic armpit is even rarer, likewise finding one with the proper sized planet in the perfect place is like trying to hit a dot somewhere on earth with a dart from space. if you believe that we are here by a stroke of luck and good fortunes, then we are truly lucky to be here.

oh i almost forgot to answer the question. i would prepare for war and pray for peace.

[reaper239]

great, i posted something for discussion and consideration and killed the thread