If aliens came to Earth...

MortimerInBlack · Post by **MortimerInBlack** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:53

I am interested in people's opinions about this.

Assume that aliens exist and they have watched/studied Earth for a while, and they want to establish relations. How would they go about it? What would they say?

I think they would ask to 'join' the United Nations, so that they could sorta' work with everyone. Cuz they wouldn't want to be partial to any single country, and would want to be open with them all.

Post by **KeenRush** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:57

Heh, well, I have a feeling before they could open their mouth some country would send some nuclear warheads in their direction... Or well, if not, I can't really see any way they could possibly make any contact without making humans too scared and hostile. Perhaps the safest way would be to loom 'above' the Earth, visible, and broadcast messages in English and Spanish and China and other big languages. But we would feel pretty defeated, they would be so much superiour to us, and in whatever relations they might want to establish they would make the rules. If we don't like it, The Earth Explodes!

Post by **tulip** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 15:18

Did you watch "The Day the Earth Stood Still" lately, or why the interest in this?

(By the way I meant the good 1950s one, not the new crappy one)

I think that movie shows pretty much what would happen. And I don't think we've learned since 1951.

Post by **Ceilick** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 16:46

I guess it depends on what kind of relations they want to establish. They'd be breaking the Prime Directive though...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive

(By the way I meant the good 1950s one, not the new crappy one)

Wow, you are the second person I know who actually knows about and seen that movie!

Good to know the classics are still appreciated

KeenEmpire · Post by **KeenEmpire** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 17:32

Commander Keen must climb into their exhaust port and disable the 8 Tantalus rays, or...

grafix · Post by **grafix** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 17:47

I imagine it would be something like when the Spanish went and conquered America. So probably not great.

Genius314 · Post by **Genius314** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 20:54

I've always wondered why aliens in movies always spoke English*? And with American accents, too*. Either that, or they speak some crazy language that no human is capable of speaking.

It's also funny how aliens in movies are always complaining about how primitive humans are, and how their race has eliminated the need for war and stuff*. Just because they put all their effort into developing space travel, doesn't make them more advanced overall.

*Of course, this doesn't account for all fictional aliens. But it's pretty common.

Post by **tulip** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 22:05

It's the same thing with someone in a movie suddenly becoming super intelligent (no matter what cause), and suddenly he also knows how to read ancient egyptian script.

MortimerInBlack · Post by **MortimerInBlack** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 22:59

tulip wrote:Did you watch "The Day the Earth Stood Still" lately, or why the interest in this? (By the way I meant the good 1950s one, not the new crappy one)
I think that movie shows pretty much what would happen. And I don't think we've learned since 1951.

I've seen the original, but don't remember much about it. I'll check it out again. And yeah they'd be breaking the prime directive, which in my mind is not really a good idea. I'm just asking for the sake of argument, because i think about these things.

BTW i did not mean they want to conquer/take over earth, they just want relations like with other aliens they know. They're not gonna' force any thing, just offer it.

I'm not so sure that they would be attacked or shunned, because we would know they have advanced technology we can benefit from.

It's also funny how aliens in movies are always complaining about how primitive humans are, and how their race has eliminated the need for war and stuff*. Just because they put all their effort into developing space travel, doesn't make them more advanced overall.

I have not seen movies like that; the only example i can think of is Star Trek, which i know is famous, but i don't think a Star-Trek like universe is the norm with alien-themed things.

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 0:12

C'mon, we all know that a crazed scientist who would be the inventor of time travel would go back in time to stop the aliens' arrival and if that didn't work they'd assassinate the alien delegate.

MortimerInBlack wrote: I have not seen movies like that; the only example i can think of is Star Trek, which i know is famous, but i don't think a Star-Trek like universe is the norm with alien-themed things.

In at least the Next Generation, Star Trek never said any of the important races had eliminated war (except maybe the Vulcans, but they eliminated emotions too and even served on war capable ships).

And actually the only thing closest to that was humanity, but while they eliminated issues on Earth they still battled alien races (such as the Romulans).

Yes...I am a Trekkie.

ckguy · Post by **ckguy** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:56

I've been going on a massive Star Trek: The Next Generation kick lately.

That show is awesome.

Commander Spleen · Post by **Commander Spleen** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:55

I'm going with the Day The Earth Stood Still scenario (yep, I saw the 1950s version just a few weeks ago). If they wanted to make contact, they'd quickly figure out they're not going to get far through the official channels, and begin seeking out 'regular' people in a relatively stealthy manner. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there really are such things taking place here.

At the moment we're in a state where we can comprehend who they are without immediately assigning them a religious persona and causing us to worship them... but instead we're likely to fear them (hell, we're still living in fear of each other!) and spawn massive panic and chaos. So they wouldn't confirm their presence (unless they were malevolent) until we get past that.

Genius314 wrote:I've always wondered why aliens in movies always spoke English*? And with American accents, too*

Yeah, that's always bothered me about StarGate in particular. I really enjoy the show, but occasionally my logical mind kicks in and I think, "Gah, this doesn't make any sense!" At least Doctor Who has a plausible Babelfish style explanation.

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 3:08

CK Guy wrote:I've been going on a massive Star Trek: The Next Generation kick lately. That show is awesome.

Indeed, it's one of my favorite shows.

Post by **Ceilick** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 4:16

Me too, though I'm actually in the process of watching the original series

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 4:20

Ceilick wrote:Me too, though I'm actually in the process of watching the original series

Ah yeah, the original was still good (2nd only to TNG....it's leagues better than DS9 or Enterprise and it's especially better than Voyager, in my opinion). I do really wanna watch the original more, since I've seen too little of it.

And I really enjoyed the classic movies (even numbered ones...except the 1st is still kinda special, though very corny in areas), especially the Undiscovered Country (as aside from story telling I love it's cinematography). And of course Star Trek: Generations brought in the best of both worlds (best of all of the TNG movies)