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Is proof of alien life a risk to society ?


Saru

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The possibilities and consequences of such a discovery have been discussed at the World Economic Forum.

"In 10 years' time, we may have evidence not only that Earth is not unique, but also that life exists elsewhere in the universe," states the WEF Global Risks report for 2013. "The discovery of even simple life would fuel speculation about the existence of other intelligent beings and challenge many assumptions that underpin human philosophy and religion."

Get used to the idea that the Earth is not unique and neither are people. The Universe is teaming with humanoid alien lifeforms with more advanced technology and space travel capabilities.

Edited by topsecretresearch
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Get used to the idea that the Earth is not unique and neither are people. The Universe is teaming with humanoid alien lifeforms with more advanced technology and space travel capabilities.

It's the same with fairies and dragons if you only go by what you read.

As far as a societal 'meltdown' if we are visited by aliens, I doubt it. There will of course be an initial shock however It certainly would not be on the scale of total anarchy. That of course depends on the intentions of said aliens. If the Vogons show up then sure, everybody will be scrambling to find their own Ford Prefect while madly clutching a towel and thumbs held high...

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And this is exactly the thinking of the powers that be... and hence why we will never be told of any discoveries.

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Get used to the idea that the Earth is not unique and neither are people. The Universe is teaming with humanoid alien lifeforms with more advanced technology and space travel capabilities.

Teeming is it?

I bet Enrico Fermi might have something to say about that.

Ohh, that's right, he did.

Frank Drake seems to have mentioned somthing there too.....

92df3d5260eaca523ca8bcfd474d3aaa.png

Do you feel these people have come up with reasoning, or do they have an anti alien agenda?

And this is exactly the thinking of the powers that be... and hence why we will never be told of any discoveries.

We are told about discoveries all the time, Try the papers.

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And this is exactly the thinking of the powers that be... and hence why we will never be told of any discoveries.

I'm not sure I follow. The first agency people will turn to if aliens decide to show up is the government. They'll want to know that the situation is being addressed by those in charge. That puts the government in quite a formidable position, as far as wielding power over it's citizens. If the government is as 'ebil' as some think then I'd think that disclosure would have already happened, if for no other reason than to hold that fact over it's citizen's heads as 'insurance'. Reveal the bogey man behind the curtain and then claim that the citizens have to do what they are told, for 'protection' of course. We've seen a similar scenario in the US since the War on Terror began. </end conspiracy simulation:>

Not that I think the government is evil, just mostly inept.

Edited by Slave2Fate
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And this is exactly the thinking of the powers that be... and hence why we will never be told of any discoveries.

Knowing what I have experienced with governments, that is not a secret that would be successfully kept.

I think the first contact is probably unlikely. While the universe is no doubt teeming with microscopic life, there seem to be good reasons to think that anything much beyond that is extremely rare -- probably so rare that we will never encounter it.

Maybe that is for the best; we would miss a lot if they are well-intentioned, but we could lose a lot if they are otherwise (consider the fates of the Native Americans and Tasmanians and so on).

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Well if the aliens we found are like the humans in power on earth, we are in for a fight and they will fight us for our planet. ie the Empire from Star Wars. But they might be like the aliens from Heavy Metal and just want to do do coke and fly a freighter. maybe they will be drug dealers like in Dark Angel. Maybe they will come here and want to trade with us and we just blow them out of the sky cause we have no idea what they are saying. pretty much if they are smart enough to make intersteller space ships they know that just coming out and saying they are here they will get shot. if they are here to kill us they better be good at it cause humans have been fighting wars for a long long time. if Ewoks can bring the Empire down there is no reason that Will Smith can't upload a virus into their comps and they crash.

Edited by TheOtherSide1945
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Well if the aliens we found are like the humans in power on earth, we are in for a fight and they will fight us for our planet. ie the Empire from Star Wars. But they might be like the aliens from Heavy Metal and just want to do do coke and fly a freighter. maybe they will be drug dealers like in Dark Angel. Maybe they will come here and want to trade with us and we just blow them out of the sky cause we have no idea what they are saying. pretty much if they are smart enough to make intersteller space ships they know that just coming out and saying they are here they will get shot. if they are here to kill us they better be good at it cause humans have been fighting wars for a long long time. if Ewoks can bring the Empire down there is no reason that Will Smith can't upload a virus into their comps and they crash.

Lets hope we get Greenpeace Aliens perhaps?

Maybe Little Green Man was not such a bad idea after all?

I am not sure it would be the case, it is certainly possible, but as we grow as a species, we start to give a damn. We saved the Condor, we have tried to clone back lost animals, and we have active societies that try to help struggling species. We dropped apartheid, have come to abhor slavery (on most places!) and have equal rights in a democratic society. I like to hope that as we mature that we relise that value of life, and with each decade we hold it dearer, and respect it more.

Of course, there is one in every crowd, but I think it does not hurt to hope. Benevolence may be a product of intelligence. Lets hope so.

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Well I've always thought that the moment you announce that aliens exist somewhere in the universe a lot of things will happen at once.

Religions (or at least the religious) will decry it as an offence to their beliefs. There will be violence.

Cults will spring up. There will be deaths (Heaven's Gate etc).

Panic buying etc will happen.

People will riot because "the government can't protect us" or "the government is covering it up" or "because we can".

I'm not so sure about that. Since you speak hypothetical here, i could do the same and state the contrary: Maybe the existence of an "outside species" , threat or not, makes people on earth sit closer together. A lot of inter-human conflicts might just play no role anymore. Of course there is the possibility of Cults popping up, but they do now as well. See how many people joined that 2012-apocalypse-bandwagon. And if a mass of people reconsiders their relationship to the organised mass-religion of their choice, it's (again) only for the better. Your scenario is TOTALLY possible, but i'm more optimistic about the whole thing...
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That would make them native, and not alien, would it not?

:tsu:

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they have already been here....maybe still are...government has known for a long time!! Disclosure coming soon!! They haven't been a risk so far !! I think we are a bigger risk than they are!!

Edited by harleyblueswoman
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they have already been here....maybe still are...government has known for a long time!! Disclosure coming soon!! They haven't been a risk so far !! I think we are a bigger risk than they are!!

Disclosure?

Yeah, any day now isn't it.

Been hearing that crap for over 20 years. You will forgive me if I do not hold my breath.

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Benevolence may be a product of intelligence. Lets hope so.

Or maybe it's a product of intelligence that lasts long enough to get into space.
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Teeming is it?

I bet Enrico Fermi might have something to say about that.

Ohh, that's right, he did.

Frank Drake seems to have mentioned somthing there too.....

92df3d5260eaca523ca8bcfd474d3aaa.png

Do you feel these people have come up with reasoning, or do they have an anti alien agenda?

I'm not sure that either of those men's opinions tell us much about the bigger question, beyond giving their individual opinions. If life has no other option then to come into existence through the natural paths of science (which I believe, as apposed to any divine question) then the lack of evidence to suggest such, against the sextrillions amounts of stars, only reminds us that we have merely peaked around the curtain so far, it doesn't tell us anything about the likely hood of finding such evidence. (drakes equation is even less convincing, it would have been easier if he had just written "my equation is a whole lot of if's, buts and maybe's" :P)

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It might be but also on the other way around, I'm not sure if they can adopt to Earth's natural condition. There are many living organisms here, a single cell organism can be a threat to them, a simple flu can be a threat to them. An alien is an alien, they are alien for us and so we are alien for them.

Edited by brainiac
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I'm shocked to have read sevral posters who still have the out-dated view that there would be extreme panic and disorder!

Seriously?!

Most of the educated world expects there to be life and wouldn't be at all shocked if it were discovered. Pleasantly surprised at the timing, yes, but panic? No.

Every new generation will have seen more sci-fi than the one before it and also will have more space exploration available to it....

What I am trying to say (badly) is that each next generation will be less shocked than the one before, if we find alien life....

Edited by Paxus
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.....if not disappointed if we DON'T! :D

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The fact that prominent business leaders have joined politicians for this debate just shows the way we`re going.......

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Besides the catholic church have already made a statement that the discovery of advanced life would NOT intefer with scripture or their beliefs

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Would they qualify for Obama care.

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I read an SF short story in a pulp magazine a long time ago about the first trip to Mars (before we knew the planet's harsh nature) where there were on board an atheist and a Jesuit. Much of the trip consisted of discussion between the two as to what would happen if they found anybody there, and the Jesuit's view was that first he would have to determine if they had souls, and, if so, if they were under original sin or not, and if they were, he would need to begin to convert them. The atheist, of course, rejected this as nonsense and that they should be left to whatever religion or non-religion they already had.

Well they arrived and walked into a dusty little village, and all the people gathered around as they went in, and soon a leader appeared and walked up to them and bowed and said, "There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his prophet."

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Besides the catholic church have already made a statement that the discovery of advanced life would NOT intefer with scripture or their beliefs

Oh but it would whether they say so or not. If all sorts of life forms were out there and none of them were Catholic, it would seem odd. If on the other hand they were all Catholic then the rest of us would have to do some rethinking.
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Teeming is it?

I bet Enrico Fermi might have something to say about that.

Ohh, that's right, he did.

Frank Drake seems to have mentioned somthing there too.....

92df3d5260eaca523ca8bcfd474d3aaa.png

Do you feel these people have come up with reasoning, or do they have an anti alien agenda?

We are told about discoveries all the time, Try the papers.

Criticism of the Drake equation follows mostly from the observation that several terms in the equation are largely or entirely based on conjecture. Thus the equation cannot be used to draw firm conclusions of any kind. As Michael Crichton, a science fiction author, stated in a 2003 lecture at Caltech:

The problem, of course, is that none of the terms can be known, and most cannot even be estimated. The only way to work the equation is to fill in with guesses. [...] As a result, the Drake equation can have any value from "billions and billions" to zero. An expression that can mean anything means nothing. Speaking precisely, the Drake equation is literally meaningless...

Another objection is that the very form of the Drake equation assumes that civilizations arise and then die out within their original solar systems. If interstellar colonization is possible, then this assumption is invalid, and the equations of population dynamics would apply instead.

One reply to such criticisms is that even though the Drake equation currently involves speculation about unmeasured parameters, it was not meant to be science, but intended as a way to stimulate dialogue on these topics. Then the focus becomes how to proceed experimentally. Indeed, Drake originally formulated the equation merely as an agenda for discussion at the Green Bank conference.

http://en.wikipedia..../Drake_equation

.

Edited by Abramelin
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It's nonsense and arrogance that make some people think that we are alone in te universe. Religions are based on the "fact" that we are unique in the universe. How this was determined probably gets back to the human race being "superior" to other life on Earth and elsewhere.

Finding life somewhere else is one thing. Having the life visit is another.

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