OT: A question about the Human Ability to Cope

[Starhawk]

So what was Napoleon again I always forget? I mean he's always called a "French" hero but what was he really?

Anyway BTW the USA is not as bad as the EU lol or what the EU will be in ten years hehe

Seriously though I think aliens may have a harder time coping with US then we would with them, afterall we are a rather confusing lot go from one country to another in some cases and it's like going to an alien planet imagine how confusing that would be for an alien, unless of course that alien planet was just as screwed up as we humans are.

And that brings up another point why do we always assume any alien race we meet would be superior and unified I mean for all we know their tech just evolved along totally different lines, for example maybe their oceans are so destructive to materials or they have no oceans and went streight to designing "flying ships" which then evolved into space ships or something, for all we know they'd still use slug throwers or low power energy weapons that don't compare to "death rays" like seen in the movies.

And what if they are not unified but we ran into say a spaceship from Planet Goo's country A? Perhaps making a peace treaty with that would mean we'd be hostile to Nation B or C or they may have a NATO or UN (hope to God not the UN) style thing on their planet?

I mean advanced tech in one area does not by default mean all areas and does not mean Superior species.

[ToddT]

Hmm Two interesting scenarios of pop , interesting i have read a short on the second and a series of books on the first and a short story.
Short story aliens have already invaded earth as a oupost/resupply base, stories point main character trying convince underground the futility of trying over throw the alien invaders (tech so advanced it was like magic)
book series was (Dan Foster)Earth was discovered by a alien probe, fortunately the benign variety. they sent a small recon group to check earth out. after their 1st and second probes were shot down. From the aliens point of view this was highly irregular, most civilized worlds did not have means to readily shot down probes on sight. the normal behavior of most races was non aggressive unless given no other choice. currently at war with a psychic race that had the same view point, but had a twisted way of looking at it (the could manipulate other races minds, so violence wasn't only used when resisting race failed to se reason).
Any way the alien recon group was amazed/stunned at humans raw strength and tendency towards violence. We turned out to be the perfect weapon against the psychic race. We where from the aliens point over unussualy armed to the teeth and un to psychic manipulation, some part of our minds didn't repond well to mental intrusion, fatal to aliens.

now as to aliens tech, status short story, not sure by who, can't find the correct issue of " Analog" ascience fiction pulp type magazine back in 1985. We are about 20 years more advanced in some areas than we are today and have a ship out bound to somewhere beyond the asteroid belt, currently in the belt. They dectect some ships appearing out of no where, and head straight for earth. turns out the ships are a raidng force.
the kicker other than faster than light travel and anti-grave type propulsion, they where no more advanced then earth was in the middle ages. Turned out in the story faster than light travel and gravity control was absurdly simple and we had missed it, and had taken the other fork in the road. So after earth rounded up the invadeing teddy bears (the aliens looked liked small bipedal bears) tot'n cannons and muskets, one of the invaders came to this conclusion, what have we done.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Series 'The Damned', Alan Dean Foster, for the overly violent humans, I think.

[Kevin_Raven]

eh, again, I can't see any real good reason to invade Earth... I'd imagine that invading Earth would take a lot of time and money, so you'd have to have a damned good reason to do it. Unless we do something really stupid like terribly insult an alien ambassador, I think we should be fine... If these aliens are so advanced, they would know that trade is more profitable than war, anyway

[El_Phil]

No I think you'll find that stealing things is always far more profitable than trade. You smash your way in, grab what you want and then go back home all in the style of space vikings. Of course each raid becomes more difficult as you have to face prepared defences and possibly some X-COM type force. So the solution is just steal all you need first time around. Of course such action will not win friends and will make an entire planet distrustful of aliens and out for vengance.

But it would be more profitable than trade, as what do we have to trade that has any value beyond raw materials? (Unless we are the ultra violent species of the universe, in which case contract mercenary work bekons. )

[Starhawk]

Heh I hate to say it but I seriously doubt we are the "ultimate" violent species in the universe I mean odds are there are others out there that are just as if not more warlike then humans Authors just tend to lean towards the inferior brutish human because it makes a good story point to beat a dead horse on how humans need to learn to work together in peace and harmony and lala because LOOK the rest of hte galaxy does

If you ask me we'd probobly end up like the Earth Alliance in Babylon Five either buy or Steal advanced alien tech unify what governments we want in a stronger version of the United Nations and then head out into the galaxy with the same attitude we head towards other countries 'Be nice and so will we mess with us and we kill you".

The Star Trek Federaton is FAR beyond what we humans would probobly ever do because let's face it even if we met friendly aliens and said "Okay your nice" we probobly would not want ot share our ships with them.

[Kevin_Raven]

Oh, sure they'd trade with us... their people would love to buy our exotic primitive goods to decorate their houses with

if nothing else, they might just outsource all of their tech-support jobs to earth where we'll work for shiny metallic objects and green pieces of paper

[Suicide Junkie]

Hello, you've reached tech support for the Starship Lifesupport 3000.
All our operators are busy at the moment, so please continue to hold until a PUNY HUMAN is available to take your call.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

'Uh, I don't know either, ma'am. No, ma'am, threatening to destroy the Earth won't help. Why don't you just push the shiney red button, ma'am? *Pause* Ma'am? I can't help you if you disconnect."

[Kamog]

"Please provide the exact model and serial number of your life support system. ... It's on the product tag at the back of the machine. You will need to unplug the power and turn it around to look at it ... You must answer the following questions first before we can provide support... how many life support systems does your company purchase each year? How many crew does your ship have? How many new life support systems do you expect to purchase within the next six months?"