NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, now please don't laugh at me for this but... Imagine a race of Aliens would discover us tomorrow. They show no direct signs of hostility, just mild polite interest in us.
How would you react? Would you be scared? Would you welcome them? Would you try to learn from them? would you rather they left again and never came back?
How do you think the world's leaders would react? How would the religious leaders react? And the military? The mafia even?

The background to this is, I'm trying to write a story and I would like to get as many reactions and ideas as possible, from as many cultural and social backgrounds as possible, as I don't want my story to turn out as stupid as Independence Day :)

Thanks for helping me!

I would try to convince them to take me somewhere. The world's governments would probably bore them so much with all the beurocracy that they would leave and/or blow up the planet to prevent us from spreading.

I'd welcome them and try to learn as much from them as possible. At the same time I'd try to learn as much about them and their motives as possible. If I was in a position of power I would scan the rest of the solar system for other ships of theirs and then begin sending surveying equiptment throughout the solar systme to keep tabs of alien activity. I would then pour as much resources as possible into space technology and exploration and being to expand throughout the system with ships, dual use ships of course. I'd welcome them but be suspicious.

If I wasn;t in a position of power it likely wouldn't affect my daily life much, unless it turned into inter-species war.

The world's leaders would likely do something toughly the same as I just proposed, although some smaller difference depending on their country, resources, and culture. Some religious leaders would abandon their faith, but others would begin trying to convert the aliens. The military would gather as much intelligence as it could and would adapt as much technology as possible to military uses.

I would try to convince them to take me somewhere. The world's governments would probably bore them so much with all the beurocracy that they would leave and/or blow up the planet to prevent us from spreading.

*lol... Beurocracy is a good point. I'll have to take that into consideration. Thanks

mild polite interest? i'd probably be slightly worried, but as i'm a sci-fi fan it'd be like a dream come true :p
i'd most likely welcome them with mild apprehension, and wish them to stay... for a start just think of the things we could learn from them!

some of the world's leaders would share this disposition, i think; while others (*coughtheUSAcough*) would probably get paranoid and start shooting at them :(


good luck with the story! :)
if you have any good cures for writer's block please let me know - i've been trying to write a story but haven't been able to contribute anything in about 2 years now :(:(

I'd welcome them and try to learn as much from them as possible. At the same time I'd try to learn as much about them and their motives as possible. If I was in a position of power I would scan the rest of the solar system for other ships of theirs and then begin sending surveying equiptment throughout the solar systme to keep tabs of alien activity. I would then pour as much resources as possible into space technology and exploration and being to expand throughout the system with ships, dual use ships of course. I'd welcome them but be suspicious.

If I wasn;t in a position of power it likely wouldn't affect my daily life much, unless it turned into inter-species war.

The world's leaders would likely do something toughly the same as I just proposed, although some smaller difference depending on their country, resources, and culture. Some religious leaders would abandon their faith, but others would begin trying to convert the aliens. The military would gather as much intelligence as it could and would adapt as much technology as possible to military uses.

So you don't think it would be possible that some leaders of more influential countries and some military would start a campaign against the Aliens, based solely on suspicion and fear?

mild polite interest? i'd probably be slightly worried, but as i'm a sci-fi fan it'd be like a dream come true :p
i'd most likely welcome them with mild apprehension, and wish them to stay... for a start just think of the things we could learn from them!

some of the world's leaders would share this disposition, i think; while others (*coughtheUSAcough*) would probably get paranoid and start shooting at them :(


good luck with the story! :)
if you have any good cures for writer's block please let me know - i've been trying to write a story but haven't been able to contribute anything in about 2 years now :(:(

Thanks. It's my first larger project, so far I only wrote some poems and a short story, so I haven't encountered writer's block yet. I'll let you know when I do ;)

So you don't think it would be possible that some leaders of more influential countries and some military would start a campaign against the Aliens, based solely on suspicion and fear?
Look at all of the wars started between humans based on suspicion and fear.

Well, you say discovered us. Is that communication at a distance via radio waves etc. or have they come to visit.
If it's at a distance then it's all to do with the world realising we are not alone and how everyone copes with that. Then there's the communication aspect what we learn from each other. You've got there a story like that Jodie Foster Contact.

If they are here, you have to decide what their agenda is, but keep this secret in the story. Work out their tech level. They would probably be a lot more advanced than us, so we would eventually have to realise resistance is futile and come to terms with living with aliens. Then you've got something along the lines of Alien Nation or V if they turn into baddies.

Or they could have a long-term agenda of mentoring the human race, rather like baby-sitting until we learn to become a part of the interstellar society. I've just read Arthur C Clarkes Childhood's End which was to this effect.

On a personal level, if we discovered aliens I'd be a wee-bit scared but mostly excited and interested about what we could learn and what it would lead to.

So you don't think it would be possible that some leaders of more influential countries and some military would start a campaign against the Aliens, based solely on suspicion and fear?
Most likely not. If an alien race came from some unknown place with technology greatly superior to ours and didn't act overtly hostile I doubt there would be a military campaign.

First off, the aliens would scare the hell out of them.

Second, the aliens tech would be superior and this would be almost insurmountable until we managaed to catch up.

Third, we wouldn't know where they came from so we wouldn't be able to strike them at any place except earth or the immediate space around earth.

In other words we would not be able to fight them until at least we gained more intelligence about them and closed the tech gap. No sane leader would dare try to attack them. Some unstable regimes, autocracies, or theocracies might try but they wouldn't get very far.

I would suggest reading science fiction novels for ideas and to get the feel of this kind of story.

*lol... Beurocracy is a good point. I'll have to take that into consideration. Thanks

Unless the aliens like bureaucracy. :D


I have thought about this before. If they could prove they are an actual race and not demons (this would be the initial reaction of many orthodox religious people including myself) I would be in for some serious introspection about my beliefs.

How the governments would react? If there is one thing that people in power respect/envy it is people with more power. More than likely you would see a lot of brown noses on the faces of our politicians.

Unless the aliens like bureaucracy. :D


I have thought about this before. If they could prove they are an actual race and not demons (this would be the initial reaction of many orthodox religious people including myself) I would be in for some serious introspection about my beliefs.

How the governments would react? If there is one thing that people in power respect/envy it is people with more power. More than likely you would see a lot of brown noses on the faces of our politicians. I don't think daemons would use technology, or appear as aliens. Thanks to Cabra West for using a capital A in Aliens, now I imagine them as the Ridley Scott beasties… :rolleyes:
I'd be interested in them… by then I'd be in a position of power, and hopefully able to convince them we don't all want to blow them up.

Has anyone noticed how aliens in films hardly ever have hair unless they're humanish? Why is that?

Unless the aliens like bureaucracy. :D
Vogons :mad:
In that case, we could easily defeat them once they go on their lunch break. :)

Has anyone noticed how aliens in films hardly ever have hair unless they're humanish? Why is that?

Usually, in films, aliens are not mammals. Mammals have hair, other varieties of life usually don’t.

What about Chewbacca? He ain't humanish.:D

Usually, in films, aliens are not mammals. Mammals have hair, other varieties of life usually don’t.

What about Chewbacca? He ain't humanish.:D They always seem to be reptiles, probably because reptiles appear alien to us. There's no reason why aliens wouldn't resemble a werewolf in the process of morphing, or a tripedal otter, for instance.

Freak out. I don't give a damn about their motive, I just want them a million miles away from Earth.


Do we get to read your story afterwards?

Pure Metal, something I read on Stephen Donaldson's website about writer's block.
Basically he said he hardly ever get's it, and when he does he looks at it as a good thing. It means the story he was trying to write wasn't right, he needs to scrap it and start again. Maybe a different perspective etc. And he can't write at all unless he knows the whole story, how it ends. The details he fills in as he goes along.

They possibly wouldn't even be recognisable as creatures. Maybe their consciousnesses would be incorporated into their ship, or one large mother-creature would control everything, or whatever.

They possibly wouldn't even be recognisable as creatures. Maybe their consciousnesses would be incorporated into their ship, or one large mother-creature would control everything, or whatever.

Or they could be gas based, instead of solid. So different from us that we don’t recognize them as living, and they the same for us. That would make for a boring story, though…

Or they could be gas based, instead of solid. So different from us that we don’t recognize them as living, and they the same for us. That would make for a boring story, though…
Unless breathing them caused problems for both of our species and we had to figure out what was going on.

Pure Metal, something I read on Stephen Donaldson's website about writer's block.
Basically he said he hardly ever get's it, and when he does he looks at it as a good thing. It means the story he was trying to write wasn't right, he needs to scrap it and start again. Maybe a different perspective etc. And he can't write at all unless he knows the whole story, how it ends. The details he fills in as he goes along.
Usually it's a good idea to have a pretty clear idea of what you're trying to write. I get stuck if I don't.
My personal cure is to ignore my writing completely for a week, then watch as many - completely unrelated and preferrably really crappy - movies as humanly possible over a weekend. Real marathon style. The point is to watch so many movies so fast, you forget what they were about, but have a gazillion ideas for scenes you think you could have done better. Monday evening you should have a head full of good ideas on how to resolve the situation you're stuck in.
Failing that, skip ahead in the story. Pick up where it excites you.... Or trash the story.

I would try and discover their motives, and if they seemed even remotely hostile sneak on board one of their small ships, gun down the green freaks (assuming they're green) and steal their technology and ship. :p :mp5: .

I'd be both reasonably fearful and supicious of their motives AND ecstatic. I'd do everything in my power to meet and interact with at least one Alien on a repeated basis. I'd also be willing to move mouintains to see their Art, hear their Music, and read their Literature (or their equivalents) CULTURE. Don't forget that aspect. It would say a lot about them. Of course a lot of it would be well nigh incomprehensible, buit if they have eyesight similar to our own, we humans could definitely find enough common ground to appreciate their Art, the same goes for music, so long as its in frequencies we can hear (1000s of people love John Cage's music for christsake)

They are going to be vastly different from humans, though not unrecognisable as individuals. Their system of communication will be different, far more advanced (no telepathy, though)
Culture will be a huge aspect, as it would be interlinked with their communication, so you'll be sure to read something about that.
I might post some extracts here once I started writing, but at the moment I'm still brainstorming and creating in my head.

I personally would be scared but excited. My biggest fear, however, would be that the worlds governments would go "OMG!!1! N00k teh terr0r1st a1eins!!!11!!!oneone!!!" and start an inter-species war we could not win. Of course if the aliens were really advanced they may view human attempts at attacking them with interest, rather than concern, as a scientist would watching ants in a laboratory trying to bite him when hes wearing protective gloves...

Ok now I'm very curious. What could be considered more advanced than human communication? Unless it involves communicating through artificial means, of course...?

Personally I shink I'd crap my pants while I jumped for joy. But it's hard to say anything with so little knowledge of the aliens.
Do they initiate contact with us, or do they just respond with mild interest to our attempts at communication? Do they land in the middle of big cities in great spaceships or what?
Such things would influence my response greatly. Also, if they decided to land in America, I'd be a little worried if the neocon's were in office. because while it may be concievable aliens would leave us alone or at least not eliminate us if we act hostile, it's very hard to imagine we wouldn't be able to harm them. Nuclear missiles is a bitch unless you're from Mars and say "Nak-Nak!"

I agree on the culture thing. Culture and biology would be my primary concerns regardless of their reaction to us. Since there'd be no reason to trust them and no way to ascertain if we're able to judge their technology & numbers, understanding their biology and their culture would probably be the only ways to tell anything usefull about them.

Ok now I'm very curious. What could be considered more advanced than human communication? Unless it involves communicating through artificial means, of course...?

Personally I shink I'd crap my pants while I jumped for joy. But it's hard to say anything with so little knowledge of the aliens.
Do they initiate contact with us, or do they just respond with mild interest to our attempts at communication? Do they land in the middle of big cities in great spaceships or what?
Such things would influence my response greatly. Also, if they decided to land in America, I'd be a little worried if the neocon's were in office. because while it may be concievable aliens would leave us alone or at least not eliminate us if we act hostile, it's very hard to imagine we wouldn't be able to harm them. Nuclear missiles is a bitch unless you're from Mars and say "Nak-Nak!"

I agree on the culture thing. Culture and biology would be my primary concerns regardless of their reaction to us. Since there'd be no reason to trust them and no way to ascertain if we're able to judge their technology & numbers, understanding their biology and their culture would probably be the only ways to tell anything usefull about them.

Sorry, I'm not giving all that away just yet ;)
But no big ship would land in America, I never understood why they should actually do that when the biggest land mass is actually Russia and Asia...

Cabra West, you just made my day. And you ruined any chance of the thing ever becomming a movie

But no big ship would land in America, I never understood why they should actually do that when the biggest land mass is actually Russia and Asia...

Well, if they know anything about earth ahead of time, they would know that the US exacts the most influence on the world.

About the communication, I’m going to guess its through dance or some other form of sign language.

Well, if they know anything about earth ahead of time, they would know that the US exacts the most influence on the world.

About the communication, I’m going to guess its through dance or some other form of sign language.

It's not going to be one of those "take me to your leader" encounters.

And, no, no dancing involved. ;)
It's going to be a while before I've got something presentable, but I promiss you I'll post it here.

What would your reaction be?
I usually fart, whatever the question is.

So much depends on the circumstances, even the form and manner of the aliens. They would be met gravely, yet hospitably, and every effort at courtesy would be made. How do we not offend them? Perhaps touching one's nose would be an insult in their culture?

It would need to be a culturally neutral meeting designed to welcome, yet with curiousity (thinly veiled suspicion). Armed forces would be on alert, every intelligence agency would be monitoring transmissions and studying their craft from a distance. We must learn all we can of these aliens, yet not alarm them or offend them with our curiousity. We assume that they are equally curious about us, in fact it's assumed that they are acting as we act, that their motives are our motives.

After some consultation, once it is established that they intend no harm, every effort is made to understand them completely - from culture to technology, all aspects of who they are. We share our information willingly, always careful to hold back anything that may give them a potential advantage

We are slow to trust, but future meetings are arranged, and after repeat trips to earth we realize that thereis a basis for trust and we become more open. Peace treaties are signed and trade begins. The first human marries an alien, the entire world takes the day off to watch the ceremony on tv. A new era begins.

good luck with the story! :)
if you have any good cures for writer's block please let me know - i've been trying to write a story but haven't been able to contribute anything in about 2 years now :(:(

Get into a routine. When I wrote my first story, I would write for the first two to four hours every day, and then use the rest of the day to just chill out (It was during summer). I didn't write terribly fast, but doing that really helped me get it all down.

As to the topic, I think it would depend a lot on the aliens themselves. What numbers did they come in? What form of government did they have? What was their culture, and so on? Religion? All sorts of things would form my opinion of them.

From their lack of significant "OMGWTFBBQHUMANS!" interest, I would surmise that they have previously met more than a couple of races in their journeys through space.

I suspect worldwide it would create an upsurge in feeling unified along the bounds of a species, rather than national or ethnic lines. It would be a real and obvious 'us and them'. This'd be good from the persective that I don't like national bounderies, but bad because it could be exploited.

Ok, now please don't laugh at me for this but... Imagine a race of Aliens would discover us tomorrow. They show no direct signs of hostility, just mild polite interest in us.
How would you react? Would you be scared? Would you welcome them? Would you try to learn from them? would you rather they left again and never came back?
How do you think the world's leaders would react? How would the religious leaders react? And the military? The mafia even?

The background to this is, I'm trying to write a story and I would like to get as many reactions and ideas as possible, from as many cultural and social backgrounds as possible, as I don't want my story to turn out as stupid as Independence Day :)

Thanks for helping me!
Well:
(1) They'd have to find some means of communication w/ us, certainly they wouldn't speak English?
(2) I'd love to meet aliens. Aliens are cool. I'd assume.
(3) The existance of aliens totally brings Christian theology crashing down, if I understand correctly. That means that there could be some rioting and crap.
(4) The national leaders would be fighting over who gets to make this or that negotiation with this or that alien race, and the military would be like, "Who gives a shit? Let's exterminate them!" and would start firing, and then the aliens would be like, "FOOLISH HUMANS!" and they'd use their advanced weaponry to wipe us out before we even realized what happened.
(5) None of the other questions matter, 'cuz we'd all be dead.

I would be very suspicous of them. I would imagine the governments of the world would act hostile towards them eventually. Depends where they showed up. But im sure someone would try and kill them. Sad to say but we are after all human.

LOCK AND LOAD! LOCK AND LOAD!

Ok, now please don't laugh at me for this but... Imagine a race of Aliens would discover us tomorrow. They show no direct signs of hostility, just mild polite interest in us.
How would you react? Would you be scared? Would you welcome them? Would you try to learn from them? would you rather they left again and never came back?
How do you think the world's leaders would react? How would the religious leaders react? And the military? The mafia even?

The background to this is, I'm trying to write a story and I would like to get as many reactions and ideas as possible, from as many cultural and social backgrounds as possible, as I don't want my story to turn out as stupid as Independence Day :)

Thanks for helping me!
I don't know how I'd react. I'd be exceedingly nervous, maybe to the point of making myself sick, but at the same time I'd likely be giddy with excitement. I would do whatever I could to welcome them. Any species with the ability to travel between planets clearly has better technology than humans do. It would not do to piss them off. I would definately want to learn about their culture, and I'd like them to learn something of mine. Just imagine it, having intellectual discussions, playing Halo, and drinking coffee... all with an alien. I would like to have them stick around, unless of course, they had powerful enemies who would eliminate anyone nice enough to host these aliens. Then I would kindly ask them to leave. World leaders, I don't know. They'd probably all want to be the first to greet the aliens. Perhaps they'd cooperate and each country could send a delegation to greet. Religious leaders, I don't know. Some would welcome the aliens, some might rethink their ideas, others might try to convert the aliens, and the psycho Muslims (meaning jihadists and the so called radicals) would probably wage war on the despicable infidels. (As a side note, I do think that most Muslims are ok people and feel no hostility towards them as a generalized group). Militaries would be crapping their pants. This would be a very bad thing, especially if someone got scared enough to push the big red button or something. Hopefully government would keep the military under control. The mafia, they'd see if they could find any relatives among the aliens. If not, then they'd either cease to have interest or they'd look for a way to make money off the aliens. Then there are the masses. Some would riot, others would cheer. So yeah, I said waw more than I had planned to. Oh well. Hope it helps. Good luck!

Ask them how Elvis is doing.

Prepare for the worst. Not from the aliens, but from humankind's irrational reactions and such.

My first reaction?

:eek:!

Followed by nosey behavior (we are smart monkeys after all!) and hopefully :fluffle: between alien & earthling! :D

LOCK AND LOAD! LOCK AND LOAD!
And YOU stay at home, please!!!

My first reaction would be shock.
My second reaction would be an overwhelming feeling of horny. There are going to be a lot of desperate chicks out there...

If I see tiger stripes anywhere, challenge them to a game of tag. :D

Make sure they didn't have a copy of To Serve Man, that they weren't responsible for any of the probing, mutilation, or annoying crop circles, them introduce them to scaler marketing and pyramid schemes with me at the top and send them back out on the universe with girl scout cookies, low grade chocolate bars and brochures for get-rich quick schemes.

Sorry, I'm not giving all that away just yet ;)
But no big ship would land in America, I never understood why they should actually do that when the biggest land mass is actually Russia and Asia...
I think part of the reason's aliens are supposed to go to the U.S. first is that the U.S. has been the leader for a few decades (first nuclear crap, first extraplanetary travel, etc.). However, I always assumed that they would go to Germany. Afterall, the first "contact" that they would have is when they reached whatever point Hitler's broadcast of the Olympics have reached by now. It would be perfectly natural, then, to assume that Germany must be the top dog.
Anyway, as far as my reaction, I would be pleasantly suprised and immediatly begin looking for potential things to trade. After all, the aliens can only have created so much, which means that the need for Warcraft, Tetris, frisbees, and microwave popcorn may have managed to escape their attention.

Ok, now please don't laugh at me for this but... Imagine a race of Aliens would discover us tomorrow. They show no direct signs of hostility, just mild polite interest in us.

How would you react? That depends entirely on their biology. If I can get past the smell, then my main concern is "what cool toys/weapons do they have" and "how can I get plans/reverse engineer them".
Would you be scared? Why? You haven't given me reason to be scared. Advanced technology doesn't scare me.
Would you welcome them? Would you try to learn from them? Yes and Yes.
would you rather they left again and never came back? No, unless they took a cadre of Technophilic Misanthropes (like me) with them.
How do you think the world's leaders would react? How would the religious leaders react? And the military? The mafia even?Big problems all around. Aliens are status-quo breakers. All of the above exist for maintaining a status-quo under their control.
The background to this is, I'm trying to write a story and I would like to get as many reactions and ideas as possible, from as many cultural and social backgrounds as possible, as I don't want my story to turn out as stupid as Independence Day :) Thanks for helping me!
You're welcome.

Convert my Anti-Zombie bunker into an Anti-Alien bunker.

It needs more rocket launchers, anyways.

If I see tiger stripes anywhere, challenge them to a game of tag. :D
Taihen! :D