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If we discover alien society...who do we send?

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Posts

  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    HamHamJ wrote: »
    Pulling shit out of a gravity well is really fucking costly. Invading another planet for it's resources is never going to be economically viable.

    It is if you're denying someone else those resources. Didn't you watch Goldfinger?

    emnmnme on
  • HamHamJHamHamJ Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    emnmnme wrote: »
    HamHamJ wrote: »
    Pulling shit out of a gravity well is really fucking costly. Invading another planet for it's resources is never going to be economically viable.

    It is if you're denying someone else those resources. Didn't you watch Goldfinger?

    If you want to deny them the resources, you just nuke it from orbit with dirty bombs. Salt the earth IN SPACE.

    HamHamJ on
    While racing light mechs, your Urbanmech comes in second place, but only because it ran out of ammo.
  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    HamHamJ wrote: »
    emnmnme wrote: »
    HamHamJ wrote: »
    Pulling shit out of a gravity well is really fucking costly. Invading another planet for it's resources is never going to be economically viable.

    It is if you're denying someone else those resources. Didn't you watch Goldfinger?

    If you want to deny them the resources, you just nuke it from orbit with dirty bombs. Salt the earth IN SPACE.

    It's the only way to be sure.

    Darkewolfe on
    What is this I don't even.
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Chanus wrote: »
    It's amusing that we assume the world's current (at the time) most powerful military wouldn't be the first to act.

    Uh, being 'the most powerful' doesn't really mean much in a nuclear world.

    Leitner on
  • ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Leitner wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    It's amusing that we assume the world's current (at the time) most powerful military wouldn't be the first to act.

    Uh, being 'the most powerful' doesn't really mean much in a nuclear world.

    Well, I mean... The U.S. Military is currently regarded as the "most powerful". I'm sure if an alien ship parked in our backyard, they would be the ones to deal with it.

    Chanus on
    Allegedly a voice of reason.
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    You really think everyone would suddenly go "oh sure there's aliens here, Americans do what the hell you want". And if it came to war against a species that can traverse space, it wouldn't really matter who we sent against them.

    Leitner on
  • ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    No, I don't think the U.S. Military would ask permission.

    Chanus on
    Allegedly a voice of reason.
  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Chanus wrote: »
    Leitner wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    It's amusing that we assume the world's current (at the time) most powerful military wouldn't be the first to act.

    Uh, being 'the most powerful' doesn't really mean much in a nuclear world.

    Well, I mean... The U.S. Military is currently regarded as the "most powerful". I'm sure if an alien ship parked in our backyard, they would be the ones to deal with it.

    Does that imply if a spaceship hovered over Madagascar's airspace, the US would still butt in to negotiate and not consult whoever is running the country?

    "The US should not cross our borders to speak with these beings. They must respect our sover..."
    "Shut up, Mr Ambassador. This is important. Holy shit! Aliens!"

    emnmnme on
  • ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    Leitner wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    It's amusing that we assume the world's current (at the time) most powerful military wouldn't be the first to act.

    Uh, being 'the most powerful' doesn't really mean much in a nuclear world.

    Well, I mean... The U.S. Military is currently regarded as the "most powerful". I'm sure if an alien ship parked in our backyard, they would be the ones to deal with it.

    Does that imply if a spaceship hovered over Madagascar's airspace, the US would still butt in to negotiate and not consult whoever is running the country?

    "The US should not cross our borders to speak with these beings. They must respect our sover..."
    "Shut up, Mr Ambassador. This is important. Holy shit! Aliens!"

    I don't think the idea is far fetched.

    We attacked the Moon, for Pete's sake.

    Chanus on
    Allegedly a voice of reason.
  • LeitnerLeitner Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Russia, China, France, Britain etc all have over a hundred nuclear weapons. I find it unlikely that if they didn't want the Americans involved. Whether they'd be dumb enough to force their hand.

    Leitner on
  • Emissary42Emissary42 Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Another argument about what we're most likely to find is robots. If a species developed intelligent machines, it's very likely these machines would be able to outlast their biological creators from the virtue of simply being able to exist in more diverse environments (for example, intelligent machines developed on Earth could colonize just about every planet [possibly even the gas giants], every moon moon, and every large asteroid/comet in the solar system and be successful there). The whole "machines don't die" thing also works in their favor for interstellar travel.

    Emissary42 on
  • Donkey KongDonkey Kong Putting Nintendo out of business with AI nips Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    Leitner wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    It's amusing that we assume the world's current (at the time) most powerful military wouldn't be the first to act.

    Uh, being 'the most powerful' doesn't really mean much in a nuclear world.

    Well, I mean... The U.S. Military is currently regarded as the "most powerful". I'm sure if an alien ship parked in our backyard, they would be the ones to deal with it.

    Does that imply if a spaceship hovered over Madagascar's airspace, the US would still butt in to negotiate and not consult whoever is running the country?

    "The US should not cross our borders to speak with these beings. They must respect our sover..."
    "Shut up, Mr Ambassador. This is important. Holy shit! Aliens!"

    We've all seen District 9. We cannot allow aliens anywhere near Africa.

    You know, because of the Nigerians.

    Donkey Kong on
    Thousands of hot, local singles are waiting to play at bubbulon.com.
  • InterjectionInterjection Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Ject wrote: »
    Send a team composed of the world's best negotiator, linguist, mathematician, biologist, anthropologist, and astrophysicist. That should pretty much cover the bases.

    And a poet.

    I considered putting some sort of artist on the list, but for a first contact scenario I honestly don't see the point. Aliens are unlikely to even perceive the universe in the same subset of any of the various spectra we do. If they have hearing it's likely to be effective over a different register of frequencies. If they have vision it probably won't be the visible spectrum as we consider it. If we are able to achieve contextual, linguistic communication at all rather than communicating purely via mathematical logic statements I cannot imagine a case where, at first meeting, either side will be capable of appreciating the poetry of the other. Their music or visual arts may be aesthetically pleasing but they're just as likely to be completely meaningless. Consider a painting done by an artist whose visual range overlaps with yours only for 20% of the visual spectrum and whose vision is a composite formed by three eyes with prismatic rather than focal lenses. It would look like a red (or blue) mess. Consider a poem written by a person with linguistic aphasia who speaks a language you've never heard but with the auditory register of a bat. Honestly, what use would a poet serve?

    I am pretty sure it's just so that all those smart guys don't say "They should have sent a poet."

    EDIT: I just realized that this was pretty far back...but nobody mentioned this at the time.

    Interjection on
    aka kcMasterpiece
  • FallingmanFallingman Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    I think that the first encounter is more symbolic.
    You send representatives from different countries/areas and a solid scientific/anthropological backup team.

    Fallingman on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • CycloneRangerCycloneRanger Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Well, anyone we send had better go with the understanding that he/she is representing the whole Earth and not one nation or region.

    Also, if aliens landed anywhere on Earth, you'd better believe we in the US would go stick our wangs into the matter. It's kind of our thing.

    CycloneRanger on
  • ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited November 2009
    Well, anyone we send had better go with the understanding that he/she is representing the whole Earth and not one nation or region.

    Also, if aliens landed anywhere on Earth, you'd better believe we in the US would go stick our wangs into the matter. It's kind of our thing.

    Unless it's in Israel, in which case we call everybody up and tell them to not move a muscle.

    Scalfin on
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    The rest of you, I fucking hate you for the fact that I now have a blue dot on this god awful thread.
  • CycloneRangerCycloneRanger Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Scalfin wrote: »
    Well, anyone we send had better go with the understanding that he/she is representing the whole Earth and not one nation or region.

    Also, if aliens landed anywhere on Earth, you'd better believe we in the US would go stick our wangs into the matter. It's kind of our thing.

    Unless it's in Israel, in which case we call everybody up and tell them to not move a muscle.
    I'm sure there's a plan in place to attach cables to Israel and physically tow it back to the Gulf of Mexico if something like this happens. You didn't really think all those carrier groups were for battling terrorists, did you?

    Really, though, I guess it would screw with things if the aliens picked Mecca or Jerusalem instead of New York City or wherever, wouldn't it? That'd be a powder keg of huge proportions.

    CycloneRanger on
  • Donkey KongDonkey Kong Putting Nintendo out of business with AI nips Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    If the aliens were smart, they'd hit up the Cleve.

    Donkey Kong on
    Thousands of hot, local singles are waiting to play at bubbulon.com.
  • BlueDestinyBlueDestiny Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    John Henry Eden

    He's the president of our hearts. And a robot to boot.

    BlueDestiny on
  • TaramoorTaramoor Storyteller Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    Leitner wrote: »
    Chanus wrote: »
    It's amusing that we assume the world's current (at the time) most powerful military wouldn't be the first to act.

    Uh, being 'the most powerful' doesn't really mean much in a nuclear world.

    Well, I mean... The U.S. Military is currently regarded as the "most powerful". I'm sure if an alien ship parked in our backyard, they would be the ones to deal with it.

    Does that imply if a spaceship hovered over Madagascar's airspace, the US would still butt in to negotiate and not consult whoever is running the country?

    "The US should not cross our borders to speak with these beings. They must respect our sover..."
    "Shut up, Mr Ambassador. This is important. Holy shit! Aliens!"

    Well, yeah, until the threat of alien plague emerged.

    Then Madagascar would just shut down everything.

    Taramoor on
  • HappylilElfHappylilElf Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Scalfin wrote: »
    Well, anyone we send had better go with the understanding that he/she is representing the whole Earth and not one nation or region.

    Also, if aliens landed anywhere on Earth, you'd better believe we in the US would go stick our wangs into the matter. It's kind of our thing.

    Unless it's in Israel, in which case we call everybody up and tell them to not move a muscle.

    While sending a couple of carrier groups to "consult"

    HappylilElf on
  • DarkewolfeDarkewolfe Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Has anyone suggested Ban Ki-moon yet?

    Darkewolfe on
    What is this I don't even.
  • ChanusChanus Harbinger of the Spicy Rooster Apocalypse The Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Maybe if want the aliens to know Global Warming will kill us all in the next 15 minutes...

    Chanus on
    Allegedly a voice of reason.
  • tbloxhamtbloxham Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    It wouldn't matter who we 'sent' officially. If the aliens have ftl then they'll have done this hundreds of times and will be used to all our crazy foibles. If they don't, they will likely announce themselves a decade before they arrive and scientists and linguists will have been communicating for all that time about everything.

    The person we send will be like the celebrity who 'turns on' a power station or the LHC. They push a button which does nothing but switch a dial from off to on. Heck, yhe aliens will likely send some diplomat or celebrity to meet our diplomat or celebrity and then behind the scenes scientists, mathematicians and engineers will do all the real work.

    tbloxham on
    "That is cool" - Abraham Lincoln
  • widowsonwidowson Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    mxmarks wrote: »
    Let's say we've discovered a planet like Earth, with all these people living on it. These aliens look close enough to human that we could blend right in. We're going to say "hello" for the very first time, as Earth. Not the United States. Not England. Not China. But as Earth we've all decided to open dialogue and try to make this new planet - that is totally unaware of us - our friends.

    Who do we send to give the first impression? What factors into that decision?

    To answer those questions in order:
    spacemarine_banner.jpg

    This Galaxy belongs to the Emperor. Anyone who opposes that is an enemy you must destroy.

    But seriously, if in the future there *is* an interstellar Earth Space Navy, it would probably fall to the Captain of whatever ship happens along this Class M planet. Star Trek isn't that nuts, in the age of sail ship captains did double as diplomats since they could go over a year without seeing home.

    Once we've had our First Contact, whatever political entity that controlls these starships (democratic Earth Alliance, Empire of Man, whatever) would very quickly institute first contact protocols that would be presided over by the newly created "Ministry for Extraterrestrial affairs" or State Department which would have a crash-course in training buerocrats as interstellar diplomats.

    So after the first first contact, it might be a pretty dull routine handled by highly trained buerocrats advised by xenobiologists, if we're talking about peaceful species.

    widowson on
    -I owe nothing to Women's Lib.

    Margaret Thatcher
  • RobmanRobman Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    We'd invade the shit out of any alien species that we thought we could win against

    Robman on
  • Donkey KongDonkey Kong Putting Nintendo out of business with AI nips Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Robman wrote: »
    We'd invade the shit out of any alien species that we thought we could win against

    We stopped doing this on earth. Why would we do this in space where it's even less convenient?

    Donkey Kong on
    Thousands of hot, local singles are waiting to play at bubbulon.com.
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Robman wrote: »
    We'd invade the shit out of any alien species that we thought we could win against

    We stopped doing this on earth. Why would we do this in space where it's even less convenient?

    It would make more sense to start hocking our shit off as authentic human art/chairs/widgets on them while sucking up to them in order to get access to their markets.

    Couscous on
  • MuddBuddMuddBudd Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    We send Al Gore. He'll fix everything.

    MuddBudd on
    There's no plan, there's no race to be run
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  • ZombiemamboZombiemambo Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Couscous wrote: »
    Carl Sagan if he weren't dead.

    Absolutely.

    Zombiemambo on
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  • SkyCaptainSkyCaptain IndianaRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    HamHamJ wrote: »
    Pulling shit out of a gravity well is really fucking costly. Invading another planet for it's resources is never going to be economically viable.

    That's why you blow it up in a controlled explosion and harvest the materials from the rubble produced.

    SkyCaptain on
    The RPG Bestiary - Dangerous foes and legendary monsters for D&D 4th Edition
  • Bionic MonkeyBionic Monkey Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited November 2009
    Robman wrote: »
    We'd invade the shit out of any alien species that we thought we could have sex with

    Bionic Monkey on
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  • L|amaL|ama Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    has anyone said palin yet?

    L|ama on
  • theSquidtheSquid Sydney, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited November 2009
    L|ama wrote: »
    has anyone said palin yet?

    I mentioned Jenna Jameson. Same difference, right?

    theSquid on
  • Donkey KongDonkey Kong Putting Nintendo out of business with AI nips Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    L|ama wrote: »
    has anyone said palin yet?

    Yes. I believe there was a crack about her knowing everything she needed to because she can see outer-space from her house.

    Donkey Kong on
    Thousands of hot, local singles are waiting to play at bubbulon.com.
  • King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    Assuming they know enough of our culture from our TV and Radio waves I would send Patrick Stewart.

    They see Jean Luc and thinks will go smooth.

    God help us if they read the internet and ask to speak to 4chan though.

    King Riptor on
    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
  • nervenerve Registered User regular
    edited November 2009
    L|ama wrote: »
    has anyone said palin yet?

    Yes. I believe there was a crack about her knowing everything she needed to because she can see outer-space from her house.

    haha, nice

    nerve on
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