NationStates Jolt Archive

How do you think religious people would react? Would there be mass panic? How would you react and what would you do?

If you do or do not believe in other civilizations amoungst the stars please explain why you feel that way.

How do you think religious people would react? Would there be mass panic? How would you react and what would you do?

If you do or do not believe in other civilizations amoungst the stars please explain why you feel that way.

They'd be scrambling to work the aliens' existence into their respective religions as creations of their respective god(s). I am pretty sure widespread hysteria and paranoia would follow but as far as I am concerned I think it'd be pretty damn cool. Given the enormity of our galaxy and that it is only one of millions to say that there isn't at least one advanced civilization out there is typical human arrogance.

The surest sign that there is sentient life out there is the fact that they haven't tried to contact Earth. In all honesty, if you were an advanced civilization, zooming across the cosmos, why would you even bother looking at Earth?

Minerals: What the heck? If you can cross intergalactic space, why bother trading or fighting for it if you can just find a dead planet, set down a mining facility and bam. No fuss, no muss. Besides, building interstellar ships must be an expensive project. I bet they solved their resource woes long ago.

Saying hello: Could be. But would you say hello to a neighbor who has a large family and half of them want to blow you up? (Lets be honest, thats a very likely scenario. Humans like to destroy what they can't subjugate.)

Science observation: Rule 1 of any science experiment. Never ever interfere with it beyond acceptable parameters. It would contaminate the results.

But assuming that all that is ignored and aliens do end up saying hello, we'd get religious nuts saying their gods/devils and what have you. Others would be going 'how can I make your ship mine?'. And of course there would be those that would go 'cool'.

The White House will attempt to contact the aliens and show them goodwill...

... by showing them Independence Day.

They'd be scrambling to work the aliens' existence into their respective religions as creations of their respective god(s). I am pretty sure widespread hysteria and paranoia would follow but as far as I am concerned I think it'd be pretty damn cool. Given the enormity of our galaxy and that it is only one of millions to say that there isn't at least one advanced civilization out there is typical human arrogance.

I agree. Due to the ENORMOUS and constantly expanding and unkown nature of the universe, I would even say it is an IMPOSSIBILITY for Earth to be the only planet harboring advanced lifeforms in the entire Universe. If you don't agree, look at it this way:

We measure the distance inside solar systems with AU or Astronomical Unit, which is equal to the distance between The Earth and The Sun(93 million miles). Lightyears are used to measure distances outside of solar systems. Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per SECOND, and travels 5 trillion miles in 1 year. Even at such a great speed it takes 8 minutes for light to reach The Earth from The Sun. Pluto for instance is about 40 AU away from Earth, so that distance would be 93 million miles times 40(372 billion miles)! And that's just WITHIN our solar system!

The closest solar system to Earth is called Proxima Centauri which lies 4.35 lightyears away from Earth, meaning at the speed of light it would take a little over 4 years to reach. That's a shitload of a distance right there, and that's considered CLOSE. Our galaxy aka The Milky Way contains 200 billion stars, and in my eyes that equates to 200 billion chances for life. There are billions upon billions of other galaxies spread throughout the universe in clusters, so that kills any doubts in my mind about us being alone. Usually the people who say we are alone are the type of people who think our solar system IS the universe and it just makes me want to slap them.

that would be something...
what do u think our chances would be?
i say none:P

that would be something...
what do u think our chances would be?
i say none:P

The surest sign that there is sentient life out there is the fact that they haven't tried to contact Earth. In all honesty, if you were an advanced civilization, zooming across the cosmos, why would you even bother looking at Earth?

Minerals: What the heck? If you can cross intergalactic space, why bother trading or fighting for it if you can just find a dead planet, set down a mining facility and bam. No fuss, no muss. Besides, building interstellar ships must be an expensive project. I bet they solved their resource woes long ago.

Saying hello: Could be. But would you say hello to a neighbor who has a large family and half of them want to blow you up? (Lets be honest, thats a very likely scenario. Humans like to destroy what they can't subjugate.)

Science observation: Rule 1 of any science experiment. Never ever interfere with it beyond acceptable parameters. It would contaminate the results.

All assumes that the other civilization would be psychologically/sociologically/intellectually superior to Earth. Looking at us, that's pretty likely. But then again, they may not. In fact, they may be just like ourselves. They may even be just like us, but have more powerful technology and weaponry.

In which case, we're pretty much screwed.

On a less satirical note,

Alien Nation, both motion picture and television series dealt with the premise of aliens landing on Earth and the world dealing with it in a non-Space Invaders manner by simply assimilating them into their societies as a whole.

Quite an intriguing take on how alien physiology and culture met old human standbys such as prejudice.

shoot them on the spot. There only one type of good aliens. Dead ones.

shoot them on the spot. There only one type of good aliens. Dead ones.

What if they think the same about us, AND have bigger guns? :p

What if they think the same about us, AND have bigger guns? :p

Oh, we are building some big guns. Dont worry. Don't you think they would have attacked already? They are scared. Hell I would be if I was looking down on this place.

I think that our reaction will depend entirely on the size of their genitals.

"It doesn't take a historian or political science major to see the Bigger Dick Foreign Policy theory at work. It goes something like this, 'What? They have bigger dicks? Bomb them!'"-George Carlin

There would be some rioting and looting, many would disbelieve it, no matter who told them, and some religios factions will go nuts, probably resulting in some deaths.:(

There would be some rioting and looting, many would disbelieve it, no matter who told them, and some religios factions will go nuts, probably resulting in some deaths.:(

Mmmmh. The very knowledge that aliens exist could cause us to destroy our own civilization from the inside. An interesting possibility.

I think that our reaction will depend entirely on the size of their genitals.

"It doesn't take a historian or political science major to see the Bigger Dick Foreign Policy theory at work. It goes something like this, 'What? They have bigger dicks? Bomb them!'"-George Carlin
What if they HAVE no genitals and they reproduce asexually? Then what?

What if they HAVE no genitals and they reproduce asexually? Then what?

Then, obviously, they are no danger. Peaceful coexistence.

Then, obviously, they are no danger. Peaceful coexistence.
Well, if they are mammals and reproduce asexually, then their civilization could be paradise for Earth males, especially those on the north american continent.

Why?

They would ALL have boobs to feed the offspring! :D

Folks, in any case they would be totally genetically incompatible with humans. Even modern humans and Neanderthals were genetically incompatible - despite being closely related species. You have to stop thinking in that Star Trek manner. I'm sure that if we some day encounter of any kind, they will look radically different from us. :p

Oh, and they are also likely to have a different biochemistry, even if they are carbon-based, oxygen-breathing lifeforms.

If they had no genitalia then they would clearly be an aggressive and heavily armed race trying to compensate for their shortcomings with galactic conquest.

Folks, in any case they would be totally genetically incompatible with humans. Even modern humans and Neanderthals were genetically incompatible - despite being closely related species. You have to stop thinking in that Star Trek manner. I'm sure that if we some day encounter of any kind, they will look radically different from us. :p

Oh, and they are also likely to have a different biochemistry, even if they are carbon-based, oxygen-breathing lifeforms.

Perhaps they would be so radically different they would not recognize us as lifeforms at all? And perhaps decide to terraform Earth in order to sustain their organisms?

Folks, in any case they would be totally genetically incompatible with humans. Even modern humans and Neanderthals were genetically incompatible - despite being closely related species. You have to stop thinking in that Star Trek manner. I'm sure that if we some day encounter of any kind, they will look radically different from us. :p

Oh, and they are also likely to have a different biochemistry, even if they are carbon-based, oxygen-breathing lifeforms.

I'm not sure that's true about the Neanderthal thing, there's proof that we don't have Neanderthal DNA but that doesn't mean that we couldn't reproduce with them. As a mule is the sterile offspring of horses and donkeys maybe humans and neanderthals reproduced but their offspring could not.

Maybe Spock was a jaffa.

Also, I would not be surprised if aliens did look like us. The origins of life started with very simple replicators, simple compounds, I expect that our origins were the simplest possible and given the same conditions the same origin would be followed to a degree.

After that diversity would follow and alien natural history would look pretty different to ours, but I still see reptiles, eggs, mammals as probable outcomes.
I still see walking upright, dexterous hands, stereoscopic vision as probable outcomes.

So maybe Star Trek is right, aliens are just like us but with knobbly foreheads??

Also I don't think we'll see asexual aliens.

Asexuality has a big disadvantage when it comes to evolution and natural selection. The gene pool will not be mixed up with each reproduction as it is with sexual reproduction, so there will be less variety of genes for natural selection to work on. Species change would come from mutation alone.

Maybe a sexual alien that could also reproduce asexually, like insects do.

Or a multisexed alien with three or more sexes, which mixes up the gene pool no-end. If this were the case I think they would be peaceful, because knowing how hard it is to find a single partner, having to find two or more partners would take up most of their time.

Perhaps they would be so radically different they would not recognize us as lifeforms at all? And perhaps decide to terraform Earth in order to sustain their organisms?

Well... it's possible they would then want to terraform our planet (which would require wiping out the entire biosphere). But no matter how different they would be, i'm sure they would recognize us as lifeforms. Some kind of metabolism *check*, reproduction in any kind *check*, some kind of genetic code *check*.

Of course, curiously, if you would have a race of alien machines, this would hold true to them in a strange way, too. :p

Folks, in any case they would be totally genetically incompatible with humans. Even modern humans and Neanderthals were genetically incompatible - despite being closely related species. You have to stop thinking in that Star Trek manner. I'm sure that if we some day encounter of any kind, they will look radically different from us. :p

Oh, and they are also likely to have a different biochemistry, even if they are carbon-based, oxygen-breathing lifeforms.
I think you'll find there's been a lot of recent studies to suggest that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens were one and the same species, as were several other human "species". The "Hobbit man" is also likely to be Homo sapiens.

This is because many scientists are eager to get their name in the history books, so they will name a new discovery as an entirely new species of man, without analysing whether they are different enough from known species to actually be classed as one in their own right.

Back to the aliens, though, don't believe a word they tell you. Haven't you seen "V"?

Also, I would not be surprised if aliens did look like us. The origins of life started with very simple replicators, simple compounds, I expect that our origins were the simplest possible and given the same conditions the same origin would be followed to a degree.

After that diversity would follow and alien natural history would look pretty different to ours, but I still see reptiles, eggs, mammals as probable outcomes.
I still see walking upright, dexterous hands, stereoscopic vision as probable outcomes.

So maybe Star Trek is right, aliens are just like us but with knobbly foreheads??

I totally disagree. The evolution of humans (or tetrapodes in general) was a big coincidence. If you go back into the Cambrian period and see what a big variety of rather alien body plans existed which soon became extinct, then you'll see what i mean.

If the animal on the picture below (that's Opabinia from the famous Burgess Shale) would have become the ancestor of land animals, try to imagine what they would look like.

http://www.paleoweb.net/pal-ges/bilder/burgess_shale2.jpg

:D

I think you'll find there's been a lot of recent studies to suggest that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens were one and the same species, as were several other human "species". The "Hobbit man" is also likely to be Homo sapiens.


That 'Hobbit man' (Homo floresiensis) is a dwarf form of Homo erectus, not Homo sapiens. And the Neanderthal is a subspecies of Homo sapiens. That means we are closely related, but distant enough to be genetically incompatible. And this is, to my knowledge, based on rests of DNA found in Pleistocene bones.

(i have to dissapoint you about cloning Neanderthals or Pleistocene animals, though, those are just DNA fragments, not the complete DNA code)

Yes, I agree, there'll be a lot of completely different types of anatomy going around.
But my point it that we've succeeded at becoming the dominant species (intelectually) and that's not through chance. Our natural evolution will have followed the simplest path, and each simple success is likely to happen again under similar circumstances.

So I think convergence toward an anthropoid appearance is a good possibility.

For instance, maybe a tetrapod is more likely to be successful because it has enough limbs to be useful but not so many it needs to use all it's brain power and resources to control them all. Therefore it diversifies more etc.

Two eyes better than one, three may be better but requires more brainpower, less room for reasoning etc.

Bones rather than carapace, more flexible. Warm blooded, more adaptable.

Anthropoid anatomy has the minimum number of everything to be successful, and that's what I think will work in nature.

Oh, we are building some big guns. Dont worry. Don't you think they would have attacked already? They are scared. Hell I would be if I was looking down on this place.

If I was looking down on this place from the bridge of my interstellar spacecraft that was busily attaching a propulsion system to an asteroid the size of a small moon such that it might be dropped on the beligerent inhabitants of this place if they got all uppity... nope, I wouldn't be.

If I was looking down on this place from the bridge of my interstellar spacecraft that was busily attaching a propulsion system to an asteroid the size of a small moon such that it might be dropped on the beligerent inhabitants of this place if they got all uppity... nope, I wouldn't be.

How primitive. Just drop a small black hole through that silly 3rd rock from the uninteresting yellow star.

Neanderthal is a subspecies of Homo sapiens. That means we are closely related, but distant enough to be genetically incompatible.

If modern humans and neanderthals are genetically incompatable that means they are different speices.

How primitive. Just drop a small black hole through that silly 3rd rock from the uninteresting yellow star.

What a waste of planetary matter, there. I would use Khaki Goo in that case. ;)

If modern humans and neanderthals are genetically incompatable that means they are different speices.

Well yeah, i know that subspecies is rather cosmetic, only (it becomes even fuzzier if you have to decide where the to lay the border between a species and a genus). I sort of regret that i did take this example. To get back to the original debate, i just wanted to point the problems of genetic incompatibility. Maybe i should have taken... cows... and... squids... or something like that. :p

Peaceful intentions?!

Do you really think we came here for peace with you apes? We only want your ressources, your planet, and maybe your kids, cause they taste yummy.

Peaceful intentions?!

Do you really think we came here for peace with you apes? We only want your ressources, your planet, and maybe your kids, cause they taste yummy.

I know that they idea of man-eating aliens is very amusing, but even that is not very likely - thanks to their possibly different biochemistry. We might be either poisonous to them, or maybe they'd require some extra nutrients... ;)

Anyways, i gotta go for the day.

What a waste of planetary matter, there. I would use Khaki Goo in that case. ;)
Much easier just to place a loop of cosmic string between the sun and the planet, make a lense to burn them like ants; or deflect like from them to freeze them. Either way, it works and you don't have to get your hands dirty touching the apes.

Anyway, aliens will try to convert you to their religion. And you will convert, one way or another. Others will try to buy the planet a bit at a time with cheap technology, until it's overrun by aliens and you can't do anything. And then they'll convert you.

A lens or parasol between Earth and the Sun, I like those ideas (hyperthetically speaking) but the device would be easy to hit with nuclear weapons to destroy it.

Accelerating a few near-Earth-orbit comets into Earth's path with rockets would be more difficult to destroy but would take years to accomplish.

How about a H bomb in the Yellowstone super volcano?

Replicating machines that reconstruct the Earth's matter into their own likeness.

Engineering an air-borne virus similar to HIV.

Polluting our water supplies with homones what render us infirtile.

Any other good Earth busting ideas?

If you really do not like anything in this solar system, you can just blow up the sun, detonating a few dozen 150 megaton h-bombs on the surface, and causing a chain reaction.

If you really do not like anything in this solar system, you can just blow up the sun, detonating a few dozen 150 megaton h-bombs on the surface, and causing a chain reaction.

I don't think that'd do the trick, the Sun is a self sustaining H-bomb and a few dozen 150 megatons is probably negligible.

Something a bit simpler and elegant? For instance, how could you destroy the sun without using something comparably massive?

The Human race is an experiment, religion is part of that experiment, if the Aliens monitoring us made their presence clonclusively undeniable then it wouldn't be a 'natural experiment', a similar proccess happens when we monitor animals in a 'natural' environment without influencing what happens.

I could go on but i'll keep it short and sweet to avoid a pointless argument with closed minded, unintelligent, deluded individuals.

Ok, so we're an experiment in an Agar dish called the Earth.

You (an alien scientist) doesn't like the results and wants to start again. How would you simply remove all life from Earth (or maybe just us humans) as simply and cleanly as possible?

Ok, so we're an experiment in an Agar dish called the Earth.

You (an alien scientist) doesn't like the results and wants to start again. How would you simply remove all life from Earth (or maybe just us humans) as simply and cleanly as possible?
Why would aliens need to wipe humans out, when they can have religious books made that manipulate a large amount of humans to such an extent that they are willing to blow themselves up in a nuclear free for all.

Ok, so we're an experiment in an Agar dish called the Earth.

You (an alien scientist) doesn't like the results and wants to start again. How would you simply remove all life from Earth (or maybe just us humans) as simply and cleanly as possible?

For the former:

Irradiate the planet. Inundate it with high levels of radiation. Or if not feasible, melt the polar ice caps. The resulting increase in water moisture in the atmosphere will be sufficient to create a permanent greenhouse effect with near 100% efficiency. As more and more heat builds up, the seas will evaporate, making the earth even more heat efficient. Eventually, we'll have an atmosphere as thick as Venus, wherein the overal planetary surface will be hot enough to melt tin.

Wait several months.

After that, you need to strip the atmosphere. A large physical object impacting with the planet will do the trick, shooting much of the atmosphere into space.

Adjust according to level needed.

For the latter:

Most likely a tailor made virus, specifically targetted at human DNA. I'm assuming you want minimal damage to the planet and other life forms.

BTW, if evolution followed its path without interference we would all be reptilians right now...
Hey wait... Dinosaurs were a failed experiment by the alien scientists :p

Much easier just to place a loop of cosmic string between the sun and the planet, make a lense to burn them like ants; or deflect like from them to freeze them. Either way, it works and you don't have to get your hands dirty touching the apes.

Anyway, aliens will try to convert you to their religion. And you will convert, one way or another. Others will try to buy the planet a bit at a time with cheap technology, until it's overrun by aliens and you can't do anything. And then they'll convert you.

And put us in reservations.

Excellent ideas.

Maybe the dinosaurs were a failed experiment, an evolutionary dead end, so therefore our alien scientist chose the ol' comet ploy.

How would they irradiate the planet or melt the polar ice caps? A sun lens?
Or how about something that cancels out the Earths magnetosphere, which protects us from solar rays.

By self-destruction through religion, a few apparitions. A big Jesus in the US that gives his message and then dissapears, and a big Mohammad in the middle east. A few of these using unexplainable science (at the moment) and the religious nuts may go ballistic.

I'd take a double-barrel shotgun and blow the extraterrestrial sumbitches' heads off with it...then I'd mutter, "The whole world's gone crazy," and either shoot myself or commit myself to an insane asylum.

A lens or parasol between Earth and the Sun, I like those ideas (hyperthetically speaking) but the device would be easy to hit with nuclear weapons to destroy it.

Not if it's made of cosmic string. Too dense, too small, a bomb would do the trick, it would simply be absorbed. At most it would get the lens out of focus, but it would be a matter of refocusing it again.

A bunch of nuclear bombs would do the trick. Sprinkling the atmosphere with radioactive dust would also work nicely. Giving the apes some technology that is useful but with nocive by-products or social repercusions that they can't control could also work and has a ring of poetic justice in it.

How do you think religious people would react? Would there be mass panic? How would you react and what would you do?

If you do or do not believe in other civilizations amoungst the stars please explain why you feel that way.
We'd try to nuke them

Which reminds me:
http://www.gamespy.com/articles/595/595975p1.html

Iztatepopotla, what do you mean by Cosmic String? I've not heard of this.

You don't mean as in string theory do you? Because that's whats everywhere, it's just a geometrical method of trying to explain the universe.

Is it from some SF novel?

How do you think religious people would react? Would there be mass panic? How would you react and what would you do?

If you do or do not believe in other civilizations amoungst the stars please explain why you feel that way.

Why would a person's reaction be based on their religion? I don't know where in the bible (or the koran or the vedas or whatever, not that I've read them) it says
"And God made the world, and he didn't make any other worlds, and he made people, and put them on the world, and he definitely didn't put any people on the other worlds, no way."

Who says you can't be a christian and an abductee?

Iztatepopotla, what do you mean by Cosmic String? I've not heard of this.

You don't mean as in string theory do you? Because that's whats everywhere, it's just a geometrical method of trying to explain the universe.

Is it from some SF novel?
No, it's a hypothetical object, at least assuming s/he really does mean cosmic strings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_string

No, it's a hypothetical object, at least assuming s/he really does mean cosmic strings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_string

Wow, that sounds to me like a self sustaining, cosmic version of a tsunami.

No, it's a hypothetical object, at least assuming s/he really does mean cosmic strings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_string
Yup, that's what I was talking about. They're very hypothetical objects, but we're talking about very hypothetical things :)

I'm all for shooting them repeatedly and stealing their stuff!

If you think about it, Americans are as technologically advanced compared to some parts of the world as space aliens might be to the whole world.

So, if you hadn't heard of Americans before, and they landed in their Stealth bombers, and came out and said they had peaceful intentions, would you believe them?

If you think about it, Americans are as technologically advanced compared to some parts of the world as space aliens might be to the whole world.

So, if you hadn't heard of Americans before, and they landed in their Stealth bombers, and came out and said they had peaceful intentions, would you believe them?
Maybe I would.
But I have heard of them, so I wouldn't. They like to shoot their allies!

:upyours: shoot them on the spot. There only one type of good aliens. Dead ones.

Do you know Master Chief?
:D
All kidding aside, if Bush is the Prez when ET lands, he'll label the aliens
Terrorists and sic the Marines on 'em!
:sniper: :sniper: :mp5: :upyours: :mp5:
:D

:upyours:

Do you know Master Chief?
:D
All kidding aside, if Bush is the Prez when ET lands, he'll label the aliens
Terrorists and sic the Marines on 'em!
:sniper: :sniper: :mp5: :upyours: :mp5:
:D



LOL you read my mind ;)

that would be something...
what do u think our chances would be?
i say none:P
We'd probably be pretty screwed.

If I were a hostile alien, I'd just pull some sizeable bodies out of the asteroid belt and chuck them at us. Kill us with our own gravity well.

Larry Niven had this idea for attacking a planet from space. You move your ship up to some high fraction of c and then release a scattering of projectiles, which then hit the planet at relativistic speeds.

If aliens landed on Earth, I'd steal a ship and joyride the universe.

Now seriously, if any advanced civilization is out there, I'm fairly sure that they have not noticed us yet. We're emitting radio transmissions since circa 80-90 years or so. Hence nobody outside a radius of 80-90 light years will have noticed our existence yet. Considering it's very unlikely that there's an advanced civilization anywhere nearby (realistic distances to assume would be more like 1,000 or even 10,000 light years away), thus the immediate threat is nil. Even somebody would (coincidentially) be expanding into our direction, we would first pick up their earliest radio signals (because radio signals would always be ahead of their ships even if these travel with near-light speed). So this means that we will probably incounter them thousands (or even ten-thousands) of years in the future.

Didn't some people commit suicide when they thought that aliens were coming during the radio airing of War of the Worlds?

I'd like to think we're a bit more sophisticated than that now, but I'm not sure.

::lets out the longest sigh:: The government is trying to keep secret the exsistence of alien life forms, and they aren't doing to well. Where do you think all these new viruses come from? All the aliens are simply testing us to see if we're ready, what with the abductions and all.

Take 'smallpox.' Aliens sent it to earth with the Roswell incident, along with their alien aircraft. It spread, thus causing the 1947 empidemic. The government tried to cover it up, saying it was, in fact, Smallpox. But, it wasn't. It was what I call "47-VX" and it came directly from the stars. And since then, 'smallpox' has been an issue.

Personally, I would tell the aliens to take me with them. I often tell people that I wish to be abducted someday to just chill with them, and learn about them.
I do believe in aliens, though I am not sur eif they have been here or not, though I find it possible.
Hell no I would not panic, but I can imagine religious hicks loading up their shot guns and starting a mob, then the aliens decide to exterminate our planet or something.. or even worse.. the mob kills the aliens.

I would be very much pissed off. >=o

::sigh:: You don't 'hang out' with aliens when they abduct you. They do tests on you. Among them are: sticking a 6-inch long needle in your navel, and implanting a device deep, deep inside your ear..

Do your homework, rookie.

i feel they havent contacted us yet, as they're using our solar system like a wildlife preserve, maybe they've gone through similar issues to us, and not come out so well?

If they're greys then I'm willing to bet they're physically weak.
I'm also willing to bet that they have pretty neat stuff.

...

:D

::sigh:: You don't 'hang out' with aliens when they abduct you. They do tests on you. Among them are: sticking a 6-inch long needle in your navel, and implanting a device deep, deep inside your ear..

Do your homework, rookie.


I am not a rookie. I just look on the bright side of things. And if they did want to do tests on me, they would find that they couldn't do to my irresistable charm =P

I know that they idea of man-eating aliens is very amusing, but even that is not very likely - thanks to their possibly different biochemistry. We might be either poisonous to them, or maybe they'd require some extra nutrients... ;)

Anyways, i gotta go for the day.

I thought that that was one of the funniest parts of the movie Signs.

They travel across the stars to kidnap humanity, but they're severly allergic to the chemical that we're almost entierly made of and oozes out of our skins constantly.

If aliens landed on Earth, I'd steal a ship and joyride the universe.

Isn't that a feature in the next Grand Theft Auto game?

Well, back to the topic of melting the polar ice caps. Now what would create sufficient heat to melt it? Obviously the first few ideas come in the form of direct action i.e. thermonuclear weapons. But that would be obvious and most likely primitive. No, what would be simpler would be to allow humans to 'discover' coal based technology and other carbon manufacturing industries. Eventually, there will be enough carbon in the atmosphere to trap the heat. Increase it to a high enough level and you will have enough heat trapped to do the job. Slow granted, but if your an alien race that has enough patience to monitor evolution, you can wait a few hundred years for humans to do the job for you.

Now all you have to do is to make sure that no green industries replace what you've given and wait.

Or you can always use ozone depleting chemicals on the stratosphere above the ice caps.

Any aliens able to reach us would have to have FTL capabilities. Assuming its not some sort of Enders game type of transportation, the ship would just set a course toward our world, and unload some sort of kinetic munition while in FTL. The munition would obliterate the planet nice and easy.

I'd have to concede that maybe, just maybe 'anarchism' might work.

But only on the condition that the peaceful aliens eradicated hunger with their magic.

The White House will attempt to contact the aliens and show them goodwill...

... by showing them Independence Day.

Oh god....lol...hahahaahah. I laughed for about 3 minutes after reading that! :p

Certainly a butt load of people would kill themselves, as is evident with Hale-Bopp coment and other such occasions. I'd kill myself too, but not because of the aliens.


Either that or I'd attempt to seduce a female and start my very own hybrid. It'd be extra good looking and not so slimy.

Any aliens able to reach us would have to have FTL capabilities. Assuming its not some sort of Enders game type of transportation, the ship would just set a course toward our world, and unload some sort of kinetic munition while in FTL. The munition would obliterate the planet nice and easy.

I'm assuming the idea was to terminate life without losing the planet in the process.