Assuming that we are at the door step or first contact or full discloser of extra terrestrial beings what kind of trust would the average human (That’s you guys and gals) have for them? Given that so few of us have much trust in the motivations of humans it would be interesting to see how much we would trust an alien race with new knowledge and history and perhaps knowledge about us that we were not even aware off?
If they presented a version of their religious beliefs similar to what we have here on earth but with a few alien twists. Would you be more inclined to believe what they have to say because of their apparent advancements in technology?

Irish

IMO it would be hard for myself to trust something of the sort..since trust is earned.. I mena you dont just trust everyone you come into contact with untill they have proven to you they are trustworthy...for myself over a period of time, I myself would come to trust in such.. It would diffently take time of my own observations..not of someone elses..if that makes sense.that is a big step, with something we know nothing about just to automaticly trust in it..it would be hard, even if other humans said it is okay..How would we know it wasnt a "set-up" for them to elimate the human race and take over the planet...it would have to be proven otherwise , that they meant NoHarm in order to trust them..for myself...its quit a deep subject with great studying.

If that were to happen I would have to say they would have no religion. They could tell us all the history they liked but I think if they were to reveal our true past we would be in for a shock.

To add, yes I would trust them as humans have proven time and time again we are not to be trusted so why not trust aliens that are far more advanced and probably would not have any reason to lie as it would not serve any purpose.

I wouldn't feel any differently about aliens than I feel about humans. If they could offer proof which indicated that my own belief system was flawed it would be illogical to ignore it. If they could not then it would be illogical for me to adapt my own belief system without it.

However, I have always trusted Mr Spock implicitly on account of his groovy eyebrow.

I would have no trust at all for them .I would wonder why they had come in the first place ,bearing in mind that all Earth explorers spelt bad news for the original inhabitants.For example ,the Spanish in South America and Central America .the Europeans In North America and India also Africa.One thing we could be sure of ,they would not be here for our benefit


fullywired

I would have to agree with Fullywired...considering the outcome on this planet of all confrontations between technically superior cultures with those lesser advanced has always ended with the lesser advanced holding the very dirty end of the stick. Throw religion into the mix (especially one similar to one of Abraham's bloody children) and I would be doubly leery to these aliens. If on the other hand, we turned out to be superior in all technology with the exception of FTL (Faster than light) travel, I would say, "Oh you poor poor slobs, prepare to become second class citizens, even on your home planet, prepare to have your women prostituted, your children enslaved and all your worldly goods to become the property of an Earthling!"


And all along I thought you liked me for my intellect and knowledge! **sigh**

Thanks for your comments people. But please come back and cast a vote, It’s my first poll here and I think its going to be interesting to see the stats as well as the comments.
Lets try and avoid turning this into another them vs us conflict, we have far to many threads like that.

Irish

Oh I do, I do admire your brains. But my admiration for your brow surpasses even that.


I have voted now Irish.

That's because you haven't heard "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins". Once your ears stop bleeding, your opinion of ol' green blood's eyebrow will be forever altered.

To the topic...
It would be quite fascinating to hear an alien take on spiritual matters, but there is no way to say for certain that I would believe or disbelieve what was presented. I probably would be suspicious of their presence on Earth.

Voted Mistrust.

Why now? Why us? Why them? What agenda? What Real agenda? Did they show us how to make greener grass for us, or because the greener grass emits a frequency they can use for another purpose (or whatever example of the proverbial "deal with the devil")?

I still like the stories that we're their food. May not be true but I don't see anything wrong with being wary first.

Like the one where we translate one of their books titled, "How to serve mankind" and find out that it is a cookbook? That kind of story?

As a comedian Mako you would be safe, I understand they taste funny.

I'm told they taste like Chicken! LOL

There wasn't a poll choice for how I would answer. I think that I would give the alien's religious beliefs exactly as much trust as I give human religions, I would listen & study it and decide for myself if I feel the essential truth of it. But they wouldn't have to prove their religious beliefs any more than human religions which aren't able to prove theirs. And their scientific knowledge would probably be irrelevant to whether I trusted their religion, unless of course they've photographed souls and have a telephone line to heaven

On the other hand, I think their scientific knowledge should be demonstrated, verified, proven and understood before being accepted.

But could greater technology result in greater deception?

I don't think that any amount of technology can result in religous deception. Our spirits know what is true. Deception could be used in photographing souls or running phone lines to heaven, but then that falls under the other subject of studying and understanding their techology before trusting in it.

Guarded Trust.

Reason similar to another poster. I would listen to what they have to say and decide for myself. To assume because their technology is advanced that they are also spiritually advanced isn't necessarily so. Doesn't mean they are or aren't just because they have managed to cross some hurdles that humans haven't yet.

LOL! I also wonder what some of the other posters have expressed about a greater culture encountering a lessor technologically advanced culture. Poo end of the stick indeed. But one thing that does make me a little hopeful in that regard. To go further than their own backyard may imply that they have settled their own species differences. The resources of minds/intelligence, raw materials, etc. to make space flight possible confound us and we are stymied (or so it seems to me) because of our petty tribal bickering. They would likely be unified in some manner and that is where it can get dark. Are they a hive mind? Are they unified in their desire to conquer as were people/groups/kingdoms/religions in Earth's history? Or have they reached a point in their evolution that they are exploring and acquiring knowledge?

Their reaction should they indeed show themselves will answer the question in no short order. But unlike Mars attacks or War of the Worlds scenarios were I an alien race intent on domination of humans I wouldn't land fiddle around play hopscotch with the locals just figure out where the bases of power are and take them out. Remove the obstacles and let the survivors know you now work for us. Any resistance will be met with force.

Scenarios such as x files and V (visitors not vendetta) show a slow infiltration of a species and implies that they can't overwhelm humans which may be vanity on our part (plus it makes for good drama) But for me the scariest idea is that they may be more like the aliens in Aliens. Adaptive, quick, and darn near impossible to kill.

Regards,
Mabon.

And by the way Spock is a 'hawty'. The eyebrows, the haircut, the attitude and oh my! the ears! Don't forget the ears!

I'm going along with Rev here.

Then again, why would aliens want to visit here? The human race is an arrogent egotistical child violent species. ;P They're better off with Dolphins (ala SeaQuest *snickers*)

they want to visit us to study us, see how we change, adapt (...and destroy ourselves). much like we study animals all over the world, and how we have been for a long time

That’s a nice thought, but perhaps they are farming us for less or more savory purposes we can only guess.

Irish

only the clowns............

I can to the groovy I brow thing with both brows.

I would be guarded, I would listen to what they have to say and go think about it for a while. Can you imagine JW aliens marching up the walk.

Oh my! And if they had eight arms each, the insistent knocking would drive us insane. Perhaps that’s how they intend to take over the world.

Well, if the little grey ones aren't war mongering nut jobs (human-like in other words) I would wonder why they want contact in the first place. If I were an alien I would fly my ship on by until we grow up. So, if they did pop in and want to make our aquaintance I would be suspicious. I would observe which of our leaders they seemed to get along with and glean much information from that. For example, if they warmed to president Bush I would start planning for the coming invasion and assume my time on this fair planet is almost over.

I think they are looking for DNA. They seem to do nasty things to us when the catch us like what we do to animals when we are studying them. When the come knocking on my door it is time to run for it.

I would not believe a thing that was said to me. If it were done to me, then I would have no choice but believe it. Experience is the key.

Assuming that this scenario came to light, I would have a very limited trust of them, as I'm sure much like inter-country relationships, there would be one species with a hand of power and I'd be guessing if they had the technological means of reaching us it would be them.

They say that every cloud has a silver lining. If an alien race appeared on the scene in an aggressive and destructive manner, I believe mankind would put aside their political and religious differences very quickly and form a united front to protect the earth from invaders.

Irish

Or would they...might it not be possible that, the Americans or the Chinese or some other government might sell out mankind and form an alliance with the aliens on the contention that being the head slave was much better than being a common slave. We saw good examples of that during WWII in France, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc.

Sadly I think mankind would suspend fighting until the alien threat was done away with, and then go back to bopping each other on the head. We forget past lessons so quickly.

Harry Turtledove has a series of SciFi novels out, World at War I believe is the title of the Series, in which he proposes an alternate history. In 1941, a group of lizard-like aliens calling themselves "the Race" invade the Earth - an Earth that is embroiled in WWII. Instantly all the warring parties cease fighting each other (openly at least) and turn their attention to the "Lizards". The Lizards have existed as a civilized race for longer than mankind has existed as an intelligent species and has had a united Empire under the same dynasty of Emperors for longer than we have been civilized. Fortunately for us the Lizards think that all races progress as slowly as they and their subject races (also repilitan) do and came expecting to find mail-wearing barbarians, also fortunately for us, they ceased military testing and acquision of new weapon systems when they were at approximately the level we presently are. Consequently humanity is only about 60 years behind them and has a fighting chance. A very good series of novels, very thought provoking, especially how Turtledove points out the way mankind starts manuvering and trying to get a lead on each other after the war ends in a ceasefire (we never completely defeat the aliens). This is probably what would actually happen if hostile aliens attacked us. Alliance, victory and back to the old scrap!