OT: Alien Contact

Atrocities · #1 February 26th, 2003, 08:10 PM

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.

Instar · #2 February 26th, 2003, 08:23 PM

Well, if there is life out there (a possibility, because even if the odds are 1 to a trillion, there are billions of stars), it will be unlikely that we will contact it anytime soon. Due to the incredible distances involved, signals, let alone spacecraft, (radio, laser, etc) take centuries if not thousands of years to get here, because of the limit of the speed of light.
If there is a way around the speed of light, I dont know. String theory holds that we exist in 10 dimensions, maybe we can circumvent the speed of light by altering these other dimensions (if string theory is true, mind you)

gregebowman · #3 February 26th, 2003, 08:24 PM

If an alien race ever did try to contact us, I think that the movies portrayal of what the military might do is probably closer to the truth than I'd like to imagine. I'd like to believe that there is other life out there, but to tell you the truth, I'm more Scully than Mulder. I'd have to see/hear/taste/feel it to know that it was true. This reminds of a time I saw something that might have been an UFO back when I was a kid. I was out at night with my Boy Scout troop, and we were doing a night hike, when we noticed a fast moving light in the sky. We all thought it was a satellite, but as it approached the horizon, it did a 90 degree turn in a split second. There was no gradual turn. Even now that I live in Florida and there's all of those sightings in the panhandle portion of the state, that's the only time I've seen a UFO. But I'd love to see one again.

Wardad · #4 February 26th, 2003, 08:30 PM

Beam me up Scotty. There is no intelligent life down here.

Greybeard · #5 February 26th, 2003, 08:32 PM

I don't believe that alien races exist, at least not on a level with humans. This would be inconsistent with a God who created mankind to be in His likeness, and be special in all of creation.

However, I do believe that there are beings who exist in another dimension, the spirit world, who we usually can't see (we may be able to feel their presence though). There are also methods of contact between the dimensions. I have been very interested in string theory because it may be an explanation to this relationship. It may be possible that all UFO sightings, etc. could be explained by contact between the spirit world and humanity.

Greybeard

QuarianRex · #6 February 26th, 2003, 08:44 PM

I don't think that there would be any real problem with alien contact, provided we are contacted by sufficiently intelligent aliens.

I mean, according to most movies aliens are apparently idiot savants. They can figure out how to travel interstellar distances but they can't figure out how to open a dialogue BEFORE trying to land on the Whitehouse lawn (thus provoking tanks to shoot at it, denying us a cure for cancer, etc., etc.).

Any alien race that managed to say hello before trying to land (a.k.a. invading Earth) would receive a rather warm (if stunned) welcome. As for the military, they might get a little twitchy but there is really nothing they can do against orbital bombardment and they know it. Despite the cliche of the texan general who is aching to nuke something, these are professionals who will not start a war that they have no hope of winning, and no idea of how to fight.

Putting outer space into strategic and tactical consideration would require a greater shift in military doctrine than was required when tanks replaced the cavalry (or any other major advance in the art of war).

oleg · #7 February 26th, 2003, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Greybeard:
I don't believe that alien races exist, at least not on a level with humans. This would be inconsistent with a God who created mankind to be in His likeness, and be special in all of creation.

...
Greybeard

Your argument is fallacious: You question the ability of Allmighty to create the very similar race on any other celectial body. After all, Star Treck proved we can interbreed with Klingons, Vulcans, etc. proving we all are the same kind !

Ragnarok · #8 February 26th, 2003, 08:55 PM

There is no other life out there, if there is, it is only microscopic and not intelligent. Nor have we ever been visited by aliens.
We as humans are unique in the universe, and always will be.

Along with Greybeards thought, well not along with it, but sort of against it.

I don't believe there is another "spirit realm". All those people you see claming to talk to the dead, or talk to the spirits of ones or read the future or crap like that, I like to call that demons at work.
But like I said, that is how I feel and I'm sure not everyone agrees with that. Which is fine.

Wardad · #9 February 26th, 2003, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by QuarianRex:
...As for the military, they might get a little twitchy but there is really nothing they can do against orbital bombardment and they know it...

Some how my disturbed mind conjured up a movie image of a gangster trying to ride a horse. He gets so frustrated and points his gun at the horses head. Well, of course the animal doesn't recognize the threat and doesn't respond.
So maybe we are to stupid to be conquered yet.

Aloofi · #10 February 26th, 2003, 09:25 PM

I don't have an opinion about if alien races exists or not. I really don't.
But if they exist its very unlikely that they would have the means to communicate with us.
In theory, our galaxy might be swarming with life, and even a few intelligent species, or maybe our galaxy its just a barren piece of real estate. Or maybe there is nothing out there and even the stars are an optical ilusion.....
Who knows?