Hypothetical Situations: They are coming here.

[mathew101281]

What would you do if scientists discovered an alien craft coming to earth? How would society react? Would you prepare for the worst or hope for the best?

[DrNewGod]

Me? I'd.be even more addicted to my news feed, and just try to live my life thru the turmoil to follow. Not enough data to do much else until we know what they want.

Markets would go bezerk, maybe even crash the economy as speculators tried to get the best bet on what they might or might not do for or to us. As a minimum, uncertainty would be thru the roof.

Religious fundamentalists would lose their minds as there are very few faiths that can accommodate the idea of aliens.

Governments would probably be an absolute Clown Car of trying to talk to them first. I wouldn't be surprised if The UN actually has a protocol for this kind of thing, and I also wouldn't be surprised if The US, The Russians, The Chinese, and a dozen others all said "Stuff that! We're getting control of this!"

[MyriVerse]

I've got two conflicting thoughts...

I really, really want to be welcoming. I'm a "let's all get along" type of person, and I'd be really fascinated by them (their bodies, food, music, etc).

But I also sort of think the universe is too much of a vast desert-like thing, and they will be after precious resources and won't give a damn about taking ours.

[Carabas]

But I also sort of think the universe is too much of a vast desert-like thing, and they will be after precious resources and won't give a damn about taking ours.

There are more interesting places to mine for resources than earth just in our solar system. Earth is not special in composition compared to a random lifeless rock (unless you're into slavery of course).

[Tami]

What would you do if scientists discovered an alien craft coming to earth? How would society react? Would you prepare for the worst or hope for the best?

I would hope that they were coming to take Trump back with them. Maybe that Inane language he speaks is really some sort of alien mother tongue that doesn't translate well into English.

[AntJac]

Probably be following with caution. I'm in the camp of Stephen Hawking. If we can/do communicate with an advanced life form, advanced enough to communicate and understand us, there is no telling what their intentions would be.

[JackDaw]

There are more interesting places to mine for resources than earth just in our solar system. Earth is not special in composition compared to a random lifeless rock (unless you're into slavery of course).

Any aliens who needed water and air and a fairly stable temperature range who could get to Earth would find it a far more attractive proposition than anywhere else within light years of us.

IF bulk space travel across astronomical distances was a viable proposition, I’d be worried if any aliens made it here. By definition they would be more advanced than us, and there’s no reason at all to believe they would necessarily have our interests at heart.

But...not something that I lie awake at night worrying about, bulk travel from another planet in my lifetime seems unlikely.

[KOSLOX]

Considering the President hasn't displayed that he has a very strong "poker face", I'm starting to get concerned why he is so interested in Space Force.

Just sayin'. Someone better tell Rio to watch for falling debris.

[MyriVerse]

Considering the President hasn't displayed that he has a very strong "poker face", I'm starting to get concerned why he is so interested in Space Force.

Just sayin'. Someone better tell Rio to watch for falling debris.

Still convinced it's a cash grab, tbh.

[Starter Set]

In terms of greed and violence they just can't be worst than human right?

[KOSLOX]

Still convinced it's a cash grab, tbh.

Oh, I'm sure there is some sort of grift involved somewhere.

[mathew101281]

In terms of greed and violence they just can't be worst than human right?

It’s a concept of scale. Technological advancement is not necessarily linked to moral or ethical advancement. If you look at our own history you would find that quite often the most technologically advanced civilization in the world at any given time is also the one that is the most colonial or militaristic. Any alien civilization advanced enough to travel across interstellar space might be just as violent and greedy as us but on a scale we can’t comprehend.

[DrNewGod]

It’s a concept of scale. Technological advancement is not necessarily linked to moral or ethical advancement. If you look at our own history you would find that quite often the most technologically advanced civilization in the world at any given time is also the one that is the most colonial or militaristic. Any alien civilization advanced enough to travel across interstellar space might be just as violent and greedy as us but on a scale we can’t comprehend.

Of course, there's an old addage in scif that aliens likely won't only be stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we can imagine. That might apply to motives like colony-driving greed as well.

I guess it all depends on how much like us they are. The more their biology resembles ours, the quicker we'd probably better be to throw the nukes.

[Scott Taylor]

I'd welcome the prospect. We'd learn a pretty amazing amount of information from an event of that kind, even if they just flew by and ignored us.

[ed2962]

I hope they are peaceful space whales like in that 80's X-Men comic.