Like any God-fearing American, it would be my duty to get panicky and kill what I do not understand. 
What if: ST-esque first contact for real, in our time
- Thread starter Deimos Anomaly
- Start date
with all the tv shows about aliens, you would think we'd be ready. however, saying that. there are more books about aliens trying to subjugate the people of earth than saying "hi, lets be friends." that's because we're a self serving bunch of idiots, as a race. if they did land, we'd want them to land in the UK, we're almost as reserved as they are.
As a TV news watcher, I think I'm being hoplessly optimistic. We're talking about the same people who debate whether Islam is compatable with democracy. We're what 60 years from internment and Jim Crow, in the US and far worse in Europe. If a HUMAN look too different, we get a little weird. So yes I do think humans are going to have a hard time with the pointy-eared freaks.
Hopefully we'll get a bit better once we're the ones making first contact. We'll see.
Dismembered Picard said:
Like any God-fearing American, it would be my duty to get panicky and kill what I do not understand.
And to add to Sci's point.
Trekkies/ers tend to be the most unaccepting and biggoted bunch of people pretending to mirror the "utopian" society.
If Vulcans came, I suspect the world's governments with either be suspicious or attempt to get an in with the new guys.
People will be torn. Some will be estatic, some terrified, some will be in religous strife and some wont give crap either way.
It seems pretty fair to say that all of us would have mixed reactions. Some scared and others not. Some angry and others not. Some happy and others not. Etc.
It depends more on the person, rather then the whole of humanity as well. Each of us are so different, that who can truly say how every single one of us would react? Also, it depends on what the alien's intentions are. If you mean peaceful Vulcans, I think we'd be calm once we realized they have no intention of hurting us. If anything, we'd probably ask them to help us with some of the woes that face the global community.
It depends more on the person, rather then the whole of humanity as well. Each of us are so different, that who can truly say how every single one of us would react? Also, it depends on what the alien's intentions are. If you mean peaceful Vulcans, I think we'd be calm once we realized they have no intention of hurting us. If anything, we'd probably ask them to help us with some of the woes that face the global community.
a person is intelligent. PEOPLE are dumb, panicky and you know it.
Hopefully, they like good beer. If that's the case, then the aliens can either camp out in my yard and share some suds, or I'll make a run to the store. I have a lot of cigars in my humidor, so we can all kick back over some suds and smokes.
more or less what i said.
A bit of paranoia would be warranted. A bunch of guys fall from the sky, present their vastly superior technology, and then insist that:
1. Our motives are entirely altruistic.
2. No, you can't have our technology.
There's cause for alarm, and I'd take a bit of alarm over blind faith anyday. They could be pulling our leg, manipulating us, maybe shafting us into a position of slave labour for their state, or food, or resources.
So, while I'd like the Star Trek outcome, I wouldn't count on it, and I don't think it's nuts for people to be suspicious of the newcomers.
1. Our motives are entirely altruistic.
2. No, you can't have our technology.
There's cause for alarm, and I'd take a bit of alarm over blind faith anyday. They could be pulling our leg, manipulating us, maybe shafting us into a position of slave labour for their state, or food, or resources.
So, while I'd like the Star Trek outcome, I wouldn't count on it, and I don't think it's nuts for people to be suspicious of the newcomers.
Hi.
I think that the point that Vulcans are cautious is correct.
I don't think they would land. Not at first. The US Government plan in such an event is to board the ship, capture the occupants and take them to a laboratory for study and examination for contaminants.
Surely the hypothetical Vulcans would be aware of this.
Logically it would behoove the Vulcans to make contact via radio, possibly while in Lunar orbit, safely out of range of most Earth-based weaponry.
I think it would therefore happen at first like the movie "Contact", followed by a possible landing at the U.N., as in the movie "V" - hopefully, avoiding a potential war, which would be a major concern for the Vulcans.
I think that the point that Vulcans are cautious is correct.
I don't think they would land. Not at first. The US Government plan in such an event is to board the ship, capture the occupants and take them to a laboratory for study and examination for contaminants.
Surely the hypothetical Vulcans would be aware of this.
Logically it would behoove the Vulcans to make contact via radio, possibly while in Lunar orbit, safely out of range of most Earth-based weaponry.
I think it would therefore happen at first like the movie "Contact", followed by a possible landing at the U.N., as in the movie "V" - hopefully, avoiding a potential war, which would be a major concern for the Vulcans.
I don't mean to be rude, but that article doesn't cite any of its sources. It makes a vague reference to "Presidential Executive Orders," but it doesn't say which Executive Orders outline the chain of events it claims will happen.
Further, the article doesn't address a very basic fact of Washington politics: In extraordinary situations, previously-established rules of operation for such emergencies are often not actually implemented, either because of ignorance or because of apathy towards those rules. During 9/11, for instance, the Vice President was issuing orders to the Armed Forces (according to the 9/11 Commission Report) even though the Vice President has absolutely no legal authority to do so! During the Hurricane Katrina mess, of course, the state and federal governments had extensive contingency plans for what to do in just such a situation.... that were not followed! At all.
To say nothing of the basic fact that this article claims these Executive Orders were signed decades ago (but doesn't say by whom) -- meaning that no one who's in the White House today was around when they were signed. And absolutely nothing in that article refers to a legally-sanctioned attempt to steal alien technology and reverse-engineer them -- the article makes it clear that alien craft would be taken to a nuclear research facility out of concern for public safety, not theivery.
I didn't mention thievery, Sci. 
Anyway, even if the article has it wrong...we are not a very nice species. The daily news (which goes out into space) makes that very clear. That factor would be very much on the minds of the aliens. Are you prepared to swear, up and down, that our government would NOT do a snatch and grab on an alien and haul him away to some secret lab? I'm not. And the aliens, who would be the snatched and grabbed, certainly would not.
So don't expect anybody to land on the White House lawn unannounced. I think if I were an alien I'd call first and ask for certain guarantees. Earth is far too violent and paranoid for us to expect anything less.
Anyway, even if the article has it wrong...we are not a very nice species. The daily news (which goes out into space) makes that very clear. That factor would be very much on the minds of the aliens. Are you prepared to swear, up and down, that our government would NOT do a snatch and grab on an alien and haul him away to some secret lab? I'm not. And the aliens, who would be the snatched and grabbed, certainly would not.
So don't expect anybody to land on the White House lawn unannounced. I think if I were an alien I'd call first and ask for certain guarantees. Earth is far too violent and paranoid for us to expect anything less.
Slider said:
I didn't mention thievery, Sci.
Anyway, even if the article has it wrong...we are not a very nice species.
Relative to what, exactly, are we not very nice? Our own ideals, perhaps. But, there again, we are the only species on Earth (so far as we know) that even has any idea that maybe we oughtn't be so violent to one-another. Chimps don't wish for world chimpanzee peace.
Not to be arrogant, but we are the nicest species around, because we're the only ones who think that we ought to be nice.
The daily news focuses on the worst parts of life. And of course if you look for the worst in people, you'll find it. But consider: There are six billion people on the face of this planet, but there certainly aren't six billion murders every year. Yes, there are bad and terrible things being perpetuated by horrible people -- but I think Anne Frank said it best when she insisted, "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart." And if a girl who had to hide away for years in an attic lest she be killed can still see make the effort to see the best in people, how can we, most of whom have never suffered so, not do the same? After all, for every Adolf Hitler, there are far more Meip Gieses.
No. By the same token, I'm not prepared to swear, up and down, that it would. Nor am I prepared to swear, up and down, that the government would even be unified in its responses. I can easily see a scenerio where the Congress has a wildly different reaction than the President. And on top of that, I'm not prepared to swear, up and down, that the Executive Branch would be unified in its action. For something this momentuous, I'd be thoroughly unsurprised if there was a lot of chaos and no one was on the same page. The President may well want to welcome them peacefully into the Oval Office, while the Secretary of Defense might advocate an attack and the National Security Advisor a cautious "Hello How Do You Do Please Leave."
Basically, I'm not prepared to swear that any particular reaction is likely or unlikely, because you're talking about a situation that is wholly without precedent in the entirety of human history.
Who's to say what they would be thinking? They're aliens. Their mental processes might be wholly incomprehensible to us. Perhaps they would be paranoid of us. Perhaps they'd be irrationally paranoid of us and decide to attack us pre-emptively -- you know, the sort of George-W-Bush-on-Iraq logic. Or maybe they'd be a race that never had or which gave up violent conflict long ago, and so don't understand the concept. Or maybe they'd be a race that's so technologically advanced that they'd be completely unconcerned about any attempted acts of violence on our part because they'd easily repell them. Or maybe they'd be dedicated pacifists who would be aware of the risk that humans would attack but who decide that the value of making peaceful contact is such that they'll accept that risk and not attack back. Who knows? They're aliens!
From you, perhaps. But, like I said, aliens may think in ways wholly different from that.
For instance, it's my opinion that the Vulcans, if they were to make contact today, would either land on the White House lawn or at United Nations Headquarters, and that they would probably do so unannounced, in order to make it clear both their technological supremacy (and, ergo, the futility of attacking them) and their benevolent intents in making contact. Whether they land on US soil or at the UN depends on whether the more realpolitick/isolationist factions represented by Vulcans like V'Las, or the more open and accepting factions represented by Syrran or Spock, are making contact. But that's just my take on the Vulcans.
or if they're vicious murdering bastards, they may start by launching a strike at the UN, White House, NORAD, Pentagon and other key military sites*, if they've done their homework.
*Offut for one. Maybe Barksdale, or Minot. Moscow. Beijing. Possibly London...
*Offut for one. Maybe Barksdale, or Minot. Moscow. Beijing. Possibly London...
I'd like to think we would respond positively or at least generally positive- ie the tv show Alien Nation- some hatred and fear, mostly tolerance, some genuine acceptance.
I actually think we would respond with violence and hatred. I think fear would rule out.
Anyone remember the twilight zone episodes " to serve man" and " the monsters are due on maple street", or the planet of the apes sequel- Escaoe from the Planet of the Apes-
I actually think we would respond with violence and hatred. I think fear would rule out.
Anyone remember the twilight zone episodes " to serve man" and " the monsters are due on maple street", or the planet of the apes sequel- Escaoe from the Planet of the Apes-