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What If Aliens Came To Save the Galaxy From Mankind?
astroengine writes with an amusing piece in Discovery. From the article: "In a study carried out by NASA and Pennsylvania State University scientists, several intelligent extraterrestrial encounter scenarios are examined. One of the scenarios is a sci-fi favorite: what if we encounter an alien race hellbent on destroying us? However, there's a twist. This isn't mindless thuggery on behalf of the aliens, and they're not killing us to get at our natural resources; they have a cause. They want to exterminate us for the greater good of the Milky Way."
We could always have voiced our objections against the interstellar express route.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
At our technological level, we pose no danger to anything off this planet.
It would be like saying you'll sterilize a grain of sand to protect the planet.
Such a silly scenario...
If we ever develop interstellar travel that is fast, cheap and practical, maybe then this scenario starts to have legs.
Alastair Reynolds explores this scenario in his Revelation Space series. The inhibitors come to eat anyone that progresses too far to keep a greater threat in check (IIRC).
Fantastic space opera, if you haven't read them yet.
I thought that was a staple scenario in its entirety. I saw The Day the Earth Stood Still (both of them) where the aliens come to say "yo, we've come to save the earth. From you losers".
One twist is where the aliens think they need to save the earth from us, but really we're the good guys in a galactic conspiracy (or bureaucracy), like David Brin's Uplift trilogy.
really, the global warming scare factory blew right past hyperactive speed and went straight to plaid.
It is crap like this that makes it hard for many to believe there are is any seriousness in the global warming let alone man causing it or making it worse. I cringed while reading this article. I am not sure if its more of a creepy cringe or just offensive to real thinking
Its time to get the zealots out of the lead roles, they are no more than Bible thumping tent preachers, whats next, snakes?
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
The perfect storm of magical thinking and self hatred.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
I think it's unlikely, and not just because the Universe is huge and travelling at the speed of light is a paradox. (not a scientist) Simple social observations, we have free will, our free will creates great works of art, science, invention, engineering, we think outside the box because we have unique perspectives on life. Just like all things, this comes with a downside. The downside is of course that not all of us think about art when we think outside the box, some think about murdering people and exploiting them for their resources. So to assume that an alien race where they have achieved the goals of intergalactic space travel through free thought and innovation, the idea that this alien race would think we were more evil than them because we wage wars and kill each other is laughable. Because if they have the same free will, the same free innovation and free thinking free spirited individuals as we do then they would by that logic have the same evil, the same murders and the same exploitation.
the paper describes plenty of contact scenarios, but I like the cherry-picking: only doomsday references are TFS-worthy
This is either a joke or an elaborate ruse by the Tea Party to visually demonstrate government waste...
What is with the Ender's books? I heard of it so I read the first one. It is just like a bad high school movie (shy young boy who has a glorious fate, who is a do-gooder but kills whoever gets in his path because he is "forced to do", and who becomes a world hero by playing video games and not risking anything). I realize it is ideal for nerdsturbation and nerdgasms, but didn't think that alone was enough to suppress critical thinking of so many people.
Why can't
Aliens did land here to destroy us, but they were small and insect like and the bug exterminator guy killed their entire galactic fleet, thinking they were some "weirdo bug infestation". A second attempt was tried by another species, and aquatic one, but it got ate by sharks. A third one came, land based and they were bigger, but were ate by the wild life. A fourth came and the RF that we are immune to quickly burned out their brains, and they too were ate by wild life.
A mechanical race came and was destroyed by a thunderstorm, when a bolt of lightning struck their ship and it exploded. Of course there have been several small missions which end up in races being consumed by just the biological aspects of our planet. Germs, viruses, and an assortment of microbes tend to make short work of them if they don't use the proper environmental protocols.
Not to mention we are a biological weapon to 99.9999999% of the species in the known universe. Many in the galaxy speculate that the "creator" an extra dimensional entity that instilled the creation codes, was being some kind of a dickhead when he instilled the planetary creation code for this planet. Many speculate and fear that we are doomsday weapon made by said "creator", some want to destroy us, others think we have some special link with the "creator" and should just stay away at least.
Considering we breath poisoned gas, we are mostly water, which is a universal solvent that eats through many species on contact. We live near oceans of water which scare most species. We are larger than most species by far and are physically more capable. We have lived in a constant state of war with each other since before our history, hence we are really good at it and durable, some how we fight each other so hard, yet our species is over populated. Which is a terrifying aspect of us, we breed so fast compared to most species.
Most species pray that we will just kill ourselves off. Others are convinced we will achieve the technology to travel about the universe, hence over running it in a matter of eons. But it's galactic law that nobody gives us any aid, and any species that tries to cultivate us is punished. Often rich juveniles from a species will buzz Planet Earth to impress a mate or mates, only to get shot down, spotted or crash; many escape, but its still risky behavior that if caught gets severe punishments.
Mostly we are immune to solar radiation, in fact we bath in it to get a tan. Our Sun puts out enough EMP to burn up the nervous system of some delicate species before they even get near Earth. Our skin though we think it's thin in contrast to some of the beasts of the planet, is incredible to most species. It's chemical resistant, radiation resistant, and waterproof which baffles everyone. Shooting an Earthling with an alien water cannon only amuses them. They in fact stole several water cannons and reproduce them as toys under the "Super Soaker" line. An Earthling child with a water gun chills the bones of the hardiest of galactic warriors.
Lastly, what we can eat is frightening as well. What we eat and drink frightens most species away alone. Most of them would be on our dinner plate, as a delicacy. Not to mention our waste byproducts are the most foul bits of toxic waste in the universe. They have watched us poke and prod everything on our planet and try to eat it. We have even ate each other, which is a horror that most minds can't comprehend in the universe. Not to mention we skin other species and wear them as clothes and trophies.
Then some have tried to understand us, they have figured out that TV is some form of entertainment to us, not educational, not some history archive. This process drove many species insane. One species was found in some insane collective nightmare after watching Gilligan's Island episodes, they fell into some logic loop and have been catatonic as a species ever since. They have concluded that we as a species are quite insane and it's illegal to attempt to figure us out psychologically.
Its now
Take the Red Pill.
I am going to be the devils'advocate and suppose that it is just the media spin; after all one guy can be an scientific from 8 to 5 and then go to the bar and speculate about what colour ET's underwear was. As long as they did not claim that they were doing something more than "wildly speculating", it is not so grave.
Anyway, the part (media or participants) who put the enfasis in the science aspect should be feathered, to begin with.
Why can't
"From what we've seen of the alien planet, the dominant species is working furiously to increase the temperature of the atmosphere, CO2 levels have risen sharply over the last 200-300 years, not long before we were able to pick up faint traces of unnatural radio transmissions from the area. We can only assume that they're an invading species terraforming the planet, and with no other inhabited planets in sight, we must assume their interstellar travel capabilities (and other technology) are far beyond our comprehension. This is why we've decreased our radio signature and have pooled our resources to begin work on erecting a cloaking device outside our solar system to block it from their view. If they detect us, it's only a matter of time before they colonize our planet with its already similar atmosphere (based on their recent slowing of CO2 increase, indicating that they're approaching their target level), and we'd have no chance of defending ourselves with our combat jet aircraft and treaded gun cars. The Bluglobians are the greatest threat known to Klurfkind, we should thank Tr'altef for every day we remain undiscovered by them."
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Given it wasn't funded by NASA, and wasn't done by NASA, and NASA has no involvement at all. What do you propose NASA do about it?
Ban everyone who is affiliated with NASA from human contact outside of work?
what if we encounter an alien race hellbent on destroying us?
We die.
Seriously, if they can get here we are no threat to them. If they can get here, then they can send a rock big enough for an extinction event.
While alien troops landing, an aircraft battle are fun to watch, there the worst way for a space faring race to destroy the life on a planet.
But again, If there is a galactic civilization, we aren't a threat to them anymore then a primitive tribe of people in the tropical rain forest is a threat to Canada.
If they did show up, our only logic repsonse "You want us to stop doing 'X'? OK."
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The Guardian got it *very* wrong. NASA had nothing to do with this study: http://paleblueblog.org/post/9110304050/some-important-points-of-clarification
Earth View
They came from the sky's in giant mechanical monstrosities and targeted only humans, leaving other creatures alone. Surely its payback for our violent ways or abuse to our ecosystem. When it was over only 10% of the human race remained.
Alien View
It was Flerns first big field trip, they were going to harvest kooplas for the harna festival. Due to it being a viska year a substitute for the koopla was discovered in a primitive harva like animal. Unfortunately only about 1 out of 50,000,000 was suitable but they bred quickly. Flern vowed to find the best koopla and beat Klerv once and for all using the harvester his dad bought him for kuska day.