[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
Do you think that it is possible for Earth to have been or is going to be visited by an Alien race?

What do you think would be our response now given all of the hype that Sci-fi shows, books, and movies has generated. Would we be open minded and accept them as friends, if they come in peace, or would we be secptical and be threatened by them?

First and foremost, I do not believe that Earth has ever been visited by Aliens, nor do I ever believe we will be. I do believe that life may exsist else where in the universe, but I do not believe it is wide spread. I feel that Earth is a fragile bio-sphere, and that all life on Earth is a trillion to one happenstance.

If for some reason we were contacted by alien life, then I think we would fear it, but accept it. I think a few nutball goobers might try and mock it up, but overall the people of our world would accept the new reality without wanting to blow it to hell.

That is say for the ultra fanatical religious types and ultra paranoid "the sky is falling" fruit cakes of the world.

Whoooeee, you have a talent for starting discussions. Have you ever considered getting a job as a talk show host?

I think it's barely possible that earth has been visited in the past by 'aliens' from other solar systems. Given the difficulty of travel between the stars, especially the time scale of it, it would most likely have been in an era when there weren't even 'proto' humans to witness it. The 'little green men' would most likely have seen dinosaurs and ferns when they visited. And it's not likely that any other 'visitors' will arrive in any historical time that we can imagine.

Of course, statistics are only attempts to model reality. What really happens is what really happens and that's why bookies and insurance adjusters often have to pay up. If we saw real live 'aliens' arrive I think it'd be a huge shock to the world. Yes, many people would panic, and many people would proclaim the 'new age' of enlightened life in the galactic community. Which reaction was justified would depend on the actual character of the aliens, of course. But the actual long-term effect on our civilization would probably be more like the effect that 'discovery' has had on the various isolated primitive tribes that we've heard about in the Last century or so. Have you ever noticed how that goes? They learn about the huge, complex, confusing world out here and their own world-view is bLasted to dust. They lose motivation and incentive in their old system, as their religion and 'economy' such as it is collapses. I think something similar would happen to the whole world if we were suddenly exposed to a new context including intelligent life beyond earth. Not just because various 'fundamentalists' would be confounded in their view of humans on earth as somehow 'special' either. I think it would rattle the materialists as much as the fundamentalists.

For this reason, I think the 'conspiracy theories' about government cover-up of alien contact is not so outlandish as some have assumed. IF there were in fact clear evidence of extra-terrestrial civilizations I think the govt. would do just that out of fear of our society collapsing. They too have seen what happened to various isolated cultures here on earth when they were 'discovered' by the larger world...

[ February 26, 2003, 22:40: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]