Friendly Aliens.

ScumLord · 09-03-2015 5:46pm

Karl Stein wrote: »

Consider, if you will, the conquistadors. In our own history it rarely worked out well for people when they were visited by more technologically advanced others.

It's not really a good comparison. For any animal to be able to build a spaceship their going to have to be fairly social, they need to be able to work together to achieve large scale construction projects. To be successful at science they need to have an appreciation for biodiversity and drop any biases they have, which would mean their very open to new discoveries.

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

If any alien species exists that is advanced enough to travel here, we would be so pathetically primitive by comparison that I don't see why they'd pay us any attention at all. Imagine walking past a pond full of tadpoles on your way to work.

Human scientists don't walk past a pond of tadpoles and think it's insignificant. I'd be shocked in any aliens spent thousands of years exploring millions of lifeless planets and didn't blow their top when they came across earth. If aliens already know about earth they're more than likely studying us and will continue to study us in secret for as long as they can. I very much doubt they'd make themselves known to us as it would erode any scientific value we have to them.

_Brian wrote: »

So while aliens actually mightn't be bothered with us, they may want our natural resources and incidentally leave our planet inhospitable as a result of extracting the resources..

The only unique things about earth is life, and an intelligent species. Maybe you could argue oil would be unique as it needs a planet with life on it for millions of years but we've used up most of it and it's not exactly a fuel that makes a lot of sense in space. The resources needed to get our natural resources into space would be huge as well. Much easier to just cruise up to the asteroid belt and take what you need.

Maximus Alexander · 09-03-2015 5:53pm

ScumLord wrote: »

Human scientists don't walk past a pond of tadpoles and think it's insignificant. I'd be shocked in any aliens spent thousands of years exploring millions of lifeless planets and didn't blow their top when they came across earth. If aliens already know about earth they're more than likely studying us and will continue to study us in secret for as long as they can. I very much doubt they'd make themselves known to us as it would erode any scientific value we have to them.

I wouldn't be so sure. I mean it's basically impossible for us to predict the motives of an alien culture because they'd be so... alien. However, I would be of the opinion that if they are capable of travelling in such a way that they can get to Earth in a reasonable time frame, then they would have such a vast array of places to study that Earth would be pretty unremarkable.

It's remarkable to us because it's our home, and the only place we know of that harbours life, let alone intelligence. However, what we're talking about here is a galaxy that not only harbours life apart from ours, but life that's even more advanced and close enough by to visit. At that point you've enough information to say that intelligent life is most likely ubiquitous and we're no longer special at all.

ScumLord · 09-03-2015 6:10pm

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure. I mean it's basically impossible for us to predict the motives of an alien culture because they'd be so... alien.

They will be alien in many ways I'm sure and I'm sure they've found alternative solutions to some of the same problems but it's just as likely they might be a lot like us because sometimes there's only one solution to a problem, science and maths leads to absolute answers were their is one answer. It's impossible to know but we would know that resources wouldn't motivate them to land on earth, we do know that they'd need to share tasks across their society if they want to get into space which would mean they'd have to have some sort of social structure that didn't involve a self centred dictatorship.

However, I would be of the opinion that if they are capable of travelling in such a way that they can get to Earth in a reasonable time frame, then they would have such a vast array of places to study that Earth would be pretty unremarkable.

From what I remember of astronomers searching for planets is that the majority of planets that they've found are gas giants, and many are in such a close proximity to their sun that it would make any rocky planets like ours existing in the habitable zone of their solar system impossible. I think planets with the right conditions for life are very rare and looking at how humans evolved on earth it was pure chance something like us came along. There's no reason to believe that accident has ever happened before and if it has happened it's bound to be something super rare on the few planets that have life. That could still lead to thousands of intelligent species out there but there's no guarantee there's any at all.

If a species was aimlessly wandering around the universe with no actual purpose and came across a planet with life on it, even if it was the 1000th planet they'd found with intelligent life, it's still going to be a one in a billion find. It's bound to break up the monotony of finding gas giants.

Maximus Alexander · 09-03-2015 6:27pm

ScumLord wrote: »

From what I remember of astronomers searching for planets is that the majority of planets that they've found are gas giants, and many are in such a close proximity to their sun that it would make any rocky planets like ours existing in the habitable zone of their solar system impossible.

This is / was an observation bias. Gas giants close to the star are much easier to find. In the wake of more recent observatories like the Kepler space telescope, the balance has shifted dramatically, with smaller planets now considered to be much more common than gas giants.

So much so that current estimates are that the galaxy has about 22 billion earth sized planets in the habitable zone of sun like stars, with about 50% of red dwarfs (the most common kind of star) thought to possess Earth like worlds in that zone.

Mind boggling to think of really. So if you thought they were going to get bored of gas giants, they may well be much more bored of wet rocks.

Aenaes · 09-03-2015 6:28pm

Superman?

YellowFeather · 09-03-2015 6:33pm

Was gonna say Casper. But he's a ghost. Damn friendly though.

kneemos · 09-03-2015 6:49pm

Aenaes wrote: »

Superman?

Superman spent all day working for a newspaper.
What's the use having superpowers if you're going to sit behind a desk 9-5?

ScumLord · 09-03-2015 8:33pm

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

So much so that current estimates are that the galaxy has about 22 billion earth sized planets in the habitable zone of sun like stars, with about 50% of red dwarfs (the most common kind of star) thought to possess Earth like worlds in that zone.

Would there not be another confirmation bias there though? I remember watching something on youtube about them actively looking for red dwarfs because it was easier to see the smaller rockier planets pass in front of them.

I wonder would a red dwarf put out enough energy to support life on a planet? I would also think that life would depend on being in a collection of stars or gas clouds that have had plenty of activity too. There would have had to have been multiple generations of stars spewing out the building blocks of life to create the breeding ground for life baring solar systems.

My point being, I don't think it's as straightforward as, there's a sun with a planet in the right place, there's probably life there. There may be a load of other variables that need to be in place too. Maybe a large moon is a pretty essential component to advanced life forming?

It kind of sucks that we may be the in between generation when it comes to our understanding of space and space travel. In that, the last generation pioneered space exploration, everything seemed possible and just around the corner. The next generation with their extended life expectancies may be the ones to pioneer an actual commercial space industry that see's people moving into and working in space. We're probably a few hundred years off people realistically living in space and we'll probably have gone through a significant change as a species seeing the kind of technology coming down the line.

Capt'n Midnight · 10-03-2015 8:25pm

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

There's nothing on Earth apart from biology that you can't get elsewhere, more easily.

And you don't even need to come down here to get it.

They could just download the DNA and protein sequences available on the interweb and print their own organisms.

Butterface · 10-03-2015 9:08pm

Zig and Zag. And Zuppy, of course.
I know Zag can be a bit of an aul bitch sometimes, but they're mostly friendly.

al22 · 11-03-2015 6:14am

All the above from the point they must be as we are and think the same way.

Se aliens (people) in a real life. There is a plenty of space on the Earth.
Why they move to Ireland?
They need money mostly? not a land or water :-)
Some aliens from te Space may not need a natura resources at all/ But what?

There are travellers in the Universe who can survive billions of years without water, food, heat etc and can not be killed with cold and heat. These travellers are with us and everywhere.

It is the viruses. They can travel and so on/ There are no dead viruses at all/ If we destroy tem? they able to restore and/or reassemble into other viruses from the parts available, sometimes into unknown new viruses.

They can leave on the sun or in a very cod and dark spaces and will be not destroyed.

They can hange our cells and we will reproduce something biological, may be a new species, unknown to us.

Etc....

Fuzzytrooper · 11-03-2015 3:31pm

Why do aliens rarely wear pants?

ScumLord · 11-03-2015 3:33pm

Fuzzytrooper wrote: »

Why do aliens rarely wear pants?

Probably for the same reason the keep anal probing people, their sexual deviants.

Depraved · 12-03-2015 10:57am

Fuzzytrooper wrote: »

Why do aliens rarely wear pants?

Think of it this way; Of all the species on earth, we are the only one that wears clothing. Wearing clothes is the odd trait, not nakedness.

kneemos · 12-03-2015 11:03am

Depraved wrote: »

Think of it this way; Of all the species on earth, we are the only one that wears clothing. Wearing clothes is the odd trait, not nakedness.

Since we lost our fur we need clothes for warmth and sun protection,and standing upright has exposed our genitals which also need protection.

dandyelevan · 12-03-2015 1:43pm

I believe Aliens have been here in the past. For instance, who really built the Pyramids, Stonehenge, O'Connell Bridge,,,not to mention a certain bog standard house on Gorse Hill?
(Or more recently, who do you think designed Mick Wallace's wardrobe?)

Humans?

Hardly.

Seriously, if there are Aliens studying the human race on their 'Discovery Channel' today, those scaly Plutonians must be having a great laugh at what they see.

Isis - lopping off heads off fellow humans because they believe in a different sky-fairy, and destroying thousands of years of their own culture. (This of course would be shown after the little Alien kiddies are in bed)
Humans hating humans from other countries, simply because bad stuff happened a thousand years before they were born.
Humans killing other humans, just because they are a different color.
Humans hating themselves (as in Ireland)

Kilgore__Trout · 12-03-2015 1:49pm

The Thing was a friendly sort of chap. All it ever wanted to do was to get to know us... on a molecular level.

ScumLord · 12-03-2015 2:38pm

kneemos wrote: »

Since we lost our fur we need clothes for warmth and sun protection,and standing upright has exposed our genitals which also need protection.

I don't think we need fur for sun protection, we sweat and clothes just get in the way of that. Clothing at it's most basic (south American jungle tribes) seem to be just to stop your lad slapping around all over the place.

When we went to colder climates we needed to stay warm but it's actually quite surprising how quickly you can adapt to very low temperatures. The heating was gone in my house during the snow and cold, getting up and into the shower was painful but once I got out of the shower I immediately adapted to the cold and could stand around in the nip without too much discomfort. A day like today you could run around in the nip all day long, the activity of hunting would keep you plenty warm.

My point being clothes don't have a huge practical advantage when combating weather. Outside of the extremes of winter, we could survive without them up to a point. I think we started using clothes to display social standing and prestige.

dandyelevan · 12-03-2015 2:48pm

When Aliens crash land it's always in 1950s America or Britain the plot is always the same

There's always a 'Dr. Carrington' type with a clipped British accent and an Army Captain (it must be a Captain for some reason) with a bunch of educated hangers-on... 'Boffins' they were called, in white coats and horn-rimmed glasses rushing to and fro from a mobile Laboratory.
One of these MUST be female, black haired of course (because 1950s blondes weren't Boffin material?) and she's in the past had a thing for Dr. Carrington but nowadays is having it off with a newspaper reporter called Dave or Richard. It is she, who, in a moment of weakness with Dave / Richard, gets the Press involved and all those flashing bulbs scare the bejasus out of our friendly Alien just as it's about to tell us how to.....before taking to its scaly heels, only to be plugged by a sturdy no nonsense Marine corporal, or a five foot feck - all wiry Cockney private and we'll never know what secrets he/she/it was about to impart to Dr. Carrington and the world
The said Alien (who is, of course, highly Radio-Active) and speaks great English with an American accent.

Its dying words are spoken in its own language into the ear of said female boffin who bravely flings herself across its dying body, caring not a whin for the Radio-Activeness, but she somehow understands and recoils on her stiletto heels in horror and shock.
Later, when the Alien has breathed its last and she had shed a tear (for she was secretly in love all along with the Alien and no one copped on)...nobody, but nobody, not even Dr. Carrington, or Dave / Richard, or the handsome, kind, well meaning but rawhide tough Army Captain can prize from her what those final Alien words meant.
Soon afterwards she gives up Boffinry, enters a Nunnery and takes a vow of silence under a very strict Reverend Mother, who, as it turns out is Irish and hails from County Roscommon...or Sligo?...played by either Anna Manahan of someone else from the Abbey.

Capt'n Midnight · 12-03-2015 10:19pm

Depraved wrote: »

Think of it this way; Of all the species on earth, we are the only one that wears clothing. Wearing clothes is the odd trait, not nakedness.

Lots of animals do, hermit crabs and insect larva

Then again we don't have fangs or claws. But hands means we can use sticks and stones. Which means we can take out most predators while staying out of their reach.

Without clothes we can chase down most animals in the heat of the African sun. With clothes we can live anywhere including the Arctic.

Flexibility is one of our key attributes. Though cephalopodas have us beat on that one. Odd thing is that they don't have personality. An octopus can behave differently on different days. Perhaps a lesson about ET.

Another lesson would be that we share DNA with the octopus and we kinda turned out different. So I'm guessing that ET won't be a humanoid biped.

riffmongous · 12-03-2015 11:30pm

They came, they saw and acknowledged
Some good, some bad, opinion dangerous

*guitar solo* \m/

Friendly Aliens.

Comments