How can we as Humans say 'we come in peace' when there's no way we would?

[yllus]

We'd be extremely careful and peaceful towards alien life - first and foremost we as a species are all about survival, and we wouldn't mess with life forms we don't understand and could possibly be exterminated by.

 

[sandorski]

I'm reminded of the words of Jack Handey:

I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.

😀

 

[JTsyo]

By the time we're ready to colonize another planet hopefully we would have progressed socially to the point where we come from a mindset of tolerance and understanding instead of dominance.

Your entire proposition depends upon our past behavior. We have steadily made progress towards being more open-minded and tolerant(western cultures at least). To make any projections a hundred years down the road you have to take social change into account. Currently we live in fear of the unknown which makes us act aggressive. In the future hopefully we will not live in fear, but through understanding which makes us more tolerant.

There is of course the possibility that we crash and burn under our own hubris before we do anything meaningful in space.

This. Travel outside our solar system is not going to be done by just one country unless they discover something amazing in physics. By the time we can work together as world for a common purpose, we would be better overall I believe.
The chances that we find a world that humans can colonize without terraforming is low enough that we're more likely to just terraform other planets than try to find another Earth.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The human race's goal is obviously to colonize another planet.

We are a species that specializes in using and abusing resources.

How do we as a human race, like to fool ourselves in to thinking that if we were to find a new planet, habitable by our race, that has a small population of a species, that we would 'come in peace'?

we would go in there and eliminate them so as to allow us to harvest all valuable resources and inhabit the planet.

do we just LOVE lying?

(like Dems, Repubs, Libs, etc.)

Moved from P&N. Not sure how this is politics or news. -Admin DrPizza

Personally, I am OK if we don't come in peace.

 

[Jeeebus]

BigBarney has been watching the Agent Smith speech in the Matrix a few too many times.

 

[KaOTiK]

I already watched Avatar.

 

[Soccerman06]

I can honestly say, that with the distances between earth and even our nearest planet bearing star, baring any sort of wormhole instant teleportation, the fuel cost would far outway any gain we get from just resource gaining. Basing of course our current knowledge of elements and compounds.

 

[Geosurface]

If we encounter other life and we are technologically superior to them, our motives for being at their planet are more likely to be exploration, curiosity, etc than resource seeking. It could be both, of course.

I don't think we'll ever get to that point. I wish we would, I used to think so... but the more I observe demographic and societal trends on this planet, the more I think our future will be more like Idiocracy than Avatar.

I wouldn't be surprised if humans never set foot on another world again.

 

[Sulaco]

Some of you people...

 

[moonbogg]

By the time we were able to do that, we would all respect their sovereignty, just as other advanced civilizations might be respecting ours as we speak by not making us aware of the fact that we are not alone before we are ready to discover it ourselves.
There are other ways to harvest resources than taking the few planets that have life.
Also, if there was a god, I would expect it to respect our sovereignty in the same way by not making its existence known.

 

[Ichinisan]

What species does not use resources?

Why can't a colony be peaceful?

Why must you demonize your species?

 

[StrangerGuy]

If we encounter other life and we are technologically superior to them, our motives for being at their planet are more likely to be exploration, curiosity, etc than resource seeking. It could be both, of course.

I don't think we'll ever get to that point. I wish we would, I used to think so... but the more I observe demographic and societal trends on this planet, the more I think our future will be more like Idiocracy than Avatar.

I wouldn't be surprised if humans never set foot on another world again.

I rather have the stupid and stone agers finally get what they deserve for dragging down the rest of us under the asinine excuses of human rights than get worried about meeting some exotic alien race.

 

[Snock514]

 

[Ichinisan]

Sounds like someone watched the caricatures in Avatar and thinks it really does describe humans.

Humans are probably the only creatures on this planet that can comprehend enough to actually care about the environment at all.

Animals are not as noble as OP seems to think. They would surely exploit any advantage or resource until it was exhausted.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Sounds like someone watched the caricatures in Avatar and thinks it really does describe humans.

Humans are probably the only creatures on this planet that can comprehend enough to actually care about the environment at all.

Animals are not as noble as OP seems to think. They would surely exploit any advantage or resource until it was exhausted.

There is a video review of Avatar that says it the best: Primitive cultures can just be as savage as we do.

 

[Ichinisan]

I think you get my point.

Human, animal, or alien...how does ANYTHING thrive on a rock in space without consuming resources?

 

[Ichinisan]

you really need me to define this?

we use WATER, the most important thing on earth, to DISPOSE of CHEMICALS.

we take resources and don't replace them.

The chemicals and the water came from this earth. The chemicals and the water are still part of this earth.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sounds like someone watched the caricatures in Avatar and thinks it really does describe humans.

Humans are probably the only creatures on this planet that can comprehend enough to actually care about the environment at all.

Animals are not as noble as OP seems to think. They would surely exploit any advantage or resource until it was exhausted.

We are aware, but we don't care, because money comes first.

Look at all the damage we are doing to our planet. We are aware of it, but nobody wants to change it, it all revolves around money, greed, etc.

We are smart... yet stupid, at the same time. We set artificial limitations on our capabilities.

 

[Ichinisan]

We are aware, but we don't care, because money comes first.

Look at all the damage we are doing to our planet. We are aware of it, but nobody wants to change it, it all revolves around money, greed, etc.

We are smart... yet stupid, at the same time. We set artificial limitations on our capabilities.

What should we do? Live in huts?

 

[olds]

I think initially we come in peace.
Then we realize we can kill every motherfucker in the room.

 

[Fayd]

par·a·site
/ˈparəˌsīt/
Noun
An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.

the planet is not an organism. it's an inanimate ball of molten rock, with a thin crust where we live.

 

[RaistlinZ]

We wouldn't try to land on another planet unless we wanted its resources. And I'm sure the planet's inhabitants would have none of it.

If aliens were to come to Earth saing "We come in peace. We're just going to set up shop here in Antarctica, don't mind us" that world leaders would be o.k. with it? F*ck no. They'd call for war immediately.

 

[Braznor]

Ben Rich claimed that the US military possessed the technology for faster than light travel under various black projects. Nutty conspiracy stuff, but interesting. there must have been some truth to what he was saying.

 

[Retro Rob]

Human, animal, or alien...how does ANYTHING thrive on a rock in space without consuming resources?

Consming resources isn't a bad thing... over consumption (greed) is.

There's no mistaking the FACT that human greed and short-sightedness contributed to "deforestation" and "greenhouse" effects that we see on this planet.

The only reason, as was stated above, we'd visit another world is to see what we can TAKE from it. Sure, we're only curious as long as we can't get there, but if we could, that curiosity turns into full-fledge theivery and greed under the guise of benevolent discovery.

We're a smart, but dangerous race of beings. In no time, we're killing our own home here... we'd do the same to other beings' world if there are any out there.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Yeah instead of saying we come in peace, we should say we come in debt.