Hostile Humans

[herme3]

Most scientists agree that if any aliens visit us, they would be more advanced than us. The scientists also say that they aliens would probably not be hostile. However, humans have a long history of being hostile to civilizations that are less advanced than them.

 

When Europeans first started going to Africa, they found African tribes with less technology. As a result, the Europeans took the Africans, and made them slaves.

 

When Europeans first started going to America, they began killing the Native Americans. Then they took their land, and made them live on little reservations.

 

As you can see, humans have had a long history of being hostile to civilizations less advanced than them. What makes you think the aliens won't be the same way?

[Hellbender]

As you can see, humans have had a long history of being hostile to civilizations less advanced than them. What makes you think the aliens won't be the same way?

 

well for starters, they are aliens and hence different than us.

[ydoaPs]

how is this astronomy or cosmology?

[herme3]

well for starters, they are aliens[/i'] and hence different than us.

 

Please explain. How do you know they will be different just because they are from another planet?

 

how is this astronomy or cosmology?

 

How is it not? Aliens would be coming from another planet in space. The study of space, planets, and any life out there is astronomy.

[ydoaPs]

ok, i broke my leg. my leg is on earth which is in space. i'll post about it in astronomy.

[Hellbender]

Please explain. How do you know they will be different just because they are from another planet?

 

I am speaking speculatively. I don't know anything for certain about aliens, nor do I believe we have ever had any contact with a sentient extraterrestrial species. So I can't pass certain judgement on their behavior. I said "for starters" because their differences with humans is a given, they are aliens, right?

[Cadmus]

Most scientists agree that if any aliens visit us, they would be more advanced than us.

Depending on what you might mean by the words aliens and visits, it would certainly stand to reason that if an intelligent life form were able to make a purposeful visit to earth that their technology would have to be more adavance than ours, as we do not yet have such capability.

 

The scientists also say that they aliens would probably not be hostile.

I doubt that "most scientists" have weighed in on such a question, or that they have come to the conclusion that you mention.

[Hellbender]

ok, i broke my leg. my leg is on earth which is in space. i'll post about it in astronomy.

 

also, one could shoehorn this topic to fit into almost any forum category, but since it deals with space, i guess this forum was picked.

[herme3]

ok, i broke my leg. my leg is on earth which is in space. i'll post about it in astronomy.

 

So, if you hear about a star that collapsed into a black hole, would you post about it in General Medicine because you think the star was sick?

 

As you can see, you are not making any sense. If aliens aren't about astronomy, tell me what they are about.

[Hellbender]

So, if you hear about a star that collapsed into a black hole, would you post about it in General Medicine because you think the star was sick?

 

not to butt in, but you are completely misrepresenting yourdadonpogos' point.

 

As you can see, you are not making any sense. If aliens aren't about astronomy, tell me what they are about.

 

thats the thing. With a topic like this, it is hard to define where it should go. I see since extraterrestrials would of course be from another planet, which of course would be in space, it should go here. I think it should be in "pseudoscience and metaphysics" because all sorts of anomalous stuff is talked about there. But I digress, the point of your post wasn't to argue where you should have posted in the first place anyway.

[psi20]

Aliens could be hostile, they could not be. Do they want something? If they want something, they might be hostile. If they are just checking out this part of the galaxy, they might not be.

 

I agree with you on our own aggressiveness, but you might want to check on the history part.

[Macroscopic]

Most scientists agree that if any aliens visit us, they would be more advanced than us.

Probably.

What makes you think the aliens won't be the same way?

 

They are aliens, and would most likely be completely different from us. They are different creatures, they could be hostile, or they could be peaceful. We have no way of knowing until we encounter them.

[Macroscopic]

When Europeans first started going to Africa, they found African tribes with less technology. As a result, the Europeans took the Africans, and made them slaves.

 

When Europeans first started going to America, they began killing the Native Americans. Then they took their land, and made them live on little reservations.

 

As you can see, humans have had a long history of being hostile to civilizations less advanced than them.

First you talk about Europeans, then all humans. You look at the actions of one 'tribe' of humans, then base the actions of all humanity on the actions of that group.

[Noshi]

I think the idea works like this...

 

To develop such technology they are much more advanced, they have probably had peace on there world by that time. You might look at our past and see alot of war and hate, but as we get more advanced Western Civ. moves more and more towards trying for world peace, so if by the time we have technology like that it might be a safe assumption that as a species we have ended our conflict. So by the time we visit other planets we will be peaceful.

 

Another way you can look at it is the people in charge that could send people at that distance are mostlikely peaceful since in a normal society which is advanced democracy is there and most people are good over evil....

[Macroscopic]

To develop such technology they are much more advanced, they have probably had peace on there world by that time.

Advanced technology doesn't mean anything except advanced technology. The only judgement you can make about a society based on their technology, is that they have good scientists.

[YT2095]

Advanced technology doesn't mean anything except advanced technology. The only judgement you can make about a society based on their technology, is that they have good scientists.

 

and the necesary resources.

Coupled with the desire/will to explore (why else come here?).

 

from the desire to explore we can extrapolate a "Need" to do so, be it Curiosity or Survival etc... (not being an alien, I can`t think of any others).

 

if it`s to "explore", then we can assume reasonably that their role will be largely passive.

 

if it`s for Survival, then it`s not so clear cut, it COULD be diplomacy 1`st, OR it could be Hostile.

 

YT bigs it up for the explorer types

 

(based upon the assumption that such entities even exist!).

[Ophiolite]

Several points:

1. The only place for this thread is in Evolution/Morphology/Exobiology. The clue is in the last word of the somewhat bizarre troika.

 

2. We may want to use a broader term than hostile, or redefine hostile. Are the Amazonian natives, or the timber corporations hostile towards native flora and fauna when they clear a patch of forest? I think not.

 

3. None of us should overlook the notion that alien means different, and we may lack the capacity to truly imagine just how different that may be. Our first encounter with aliens may therefore be a huge psychological and cultural shock; or the merest tremor, because we failto notice them.

 

4. Here's a draft attempt at what we might encounter in terms of attitudes and consequences. It expands on some of the points raised in earlier posts.

 

• ’Species tuggers’: devoted to helping species develop as rapidly as possible
  
• 'Species huggers': environmentally concerned , protective and paternal
  
• 'Species buggers’: environmental pest control attitude, with man seen as the pest
  
• ’Species muggers’: opportunistic resource grabbers, with little interest in, or concern for the consequences of their resource gathering
  
• ‘Species thuggers’: take delight in destroying or crippling more primitive civilizations.
  
• ’Species **uggers ‘:remain aloof but protective, possibly unseen (except by FoxNews teams)
  
• ??: completely indifferent to humans, viewing them as no different from rhinos or squid.

 

[The unusual terminology was inspired by the thought that some aliens might have the equivalent of anthropocentric urges and gaian tendencies displayed by environmentally concerned, ‘tree hugger’ greens. They would embrace all intelligent species and so might be called ‘species huggers’. Then ‘species tuggers’ tug, or pull civilizations up to a higher level of knowledge and technology (and one hopes, behaviour). ‘Species buggers’ just work to eliminate species they think are not in tune with their environment. ‘Species thuggers’ are the Predator type, who just like beating up on weaker species. And so on. Couldn’t come up with any ‘uggers’ for the aloof type. Suggestions?

The majority of these are bad news: so, in answer to the thread starter, I don’t think they would be hostile, but I think there is a fair chance that what was in their interest would not coincide with ours.

[YT2095]

well I`m pleased that you can think of it on those levels, personaly, I figure space travel is difficult enough in concept over these distances, and any race willing to make such an effort would have to be WELL MOTIVATED!

 

I can`t rule out any of which you said as a possibility, I lack the data, but I would consider the probability that any race willing to traverse these types of distances would be a little more enlightened than wanting to smash a race because it was "Fun" for instance

 

hell... what do I know, I`m just Human and Proud of it!

[us.2u]

looking at some of these posts from man to man dosen't look too friendly; so i would advise aliens not to bother with us!...us.2u

[Macroscopic]

Originally posted by YT2095

Originally Posted by Macroscopic

Advanced technology doesn't mean anything except advanced technology. The only judgement you can make about a society based on their technology, is that they have good scientists.

and the necesary resources.

I think their technology would conform to the recources they have.

[herme3]

First of all, I would like to apologize about the argument over what topic this thread should be in. I suppose some people think aliens are completely fictional, and not scientific. However, I believe that aliens are just as scientific as the big bang theory, black holes, or anything else that scientists can't 100% explain. I feel that this is the correct topic for this thread, and if anyone disagrees, I apologize and I do not wish to argue about this anymore.

 

I'm sure the Europeans killed less advanced civilizations because of the fact that they were the most advanced. No matter how advanced the aliens may be, I'm sure they would still be hostile to life that is far less advanced than them. Humans do this today with other forms of life. Most people would step on a bug without thinking twice.

 

When humans need more resources, most companies would go into forests and other natural habitats without thinking about animals. What if the aliens are so advanced that they think we are animals?

[Macroscopic]

When humans need more resources, most companies would go into forests and other natural habitats without thinking about animals. What if the aliens are so advanced that they think we are animals?

Then we would have a serious problem.

[Hellbender]

First of all, I would like to apologize about the argument over what topic this thread should be in. I suppose some people think aliens are completely fictional, and not scientific. However, I believe that aliens are just as scientific as the big bang theory, black holes, or anything else that scientists can't 100% explain. I feel that this is the correct topic for this thread, and if anyone disagrees, I apologize and I do not wish to argue about this anymore.

 

A lot more than pure assumption goes into these theories. Extraterrestrial life, while not impossible, isn't something that can even accurately be speculated.

[[Tycho?]]

Nobody knows how aliens would/will react to humans. Currently our only example of intelligence is ourselves. Therefore all our ideas about what an intelligent species would be like are based at least somewhat on ourselves. They could be totally different than anything we think.

[psi20]

"I'm sure the Europeans killed less advanced civilizations because of the fact that they were the most advanced. No matter how advanced the aliens may be, I'm sure they would still be hostile to life that is far less advanced than them. Humans do this today with other forms of life. Most people would step on a bug without thinking twice."

 

European advances during the late 15th century onward were not even a match for the Chinese fleet in the earlier 15th century. You gotta stop thinking of Europeans as the most advanced or superior people. My advice to you is to start researching other cultures and their expansion process. Look at how the Aztecs and Mongols expanded. Compare and contrast the two. Look at West African vs. Muslim expansion. Look at the Vikings and the later Russians.

That might give you a broader definition of humans, not just Europeans.