We detect an alien drone heading into our solar system

[brainhulk]

Nuke it before it reaches orbit. Only way to be sure

 

[gorcorps]

I imagine that's what would happen. It would also be a pretty good way of getting us obliterated. First contact with aliens and we met them with violence given no other information... I'd certainly try to get rid of such an overly aggressive species if I were them

 

[Paratus]

Why use one nuke when you can use thousands to make your ship go:

 

[purbeast0]

ummmm we already know what will happen. will smith and jeff goldblum will kick some alien ass.

welcome to ERF!

 

[JTsyo]

Nuke it before it reaches orbit. Only way to be sure

If they have the tech to make it to us, they have the tech to kill off most life on earth. He who holds the orbital, makes the rules.

 

[Grooveriding]

If they have the technology to get here, they have the technology to do deal with our silly toys. Of course our first action would be trying to kill them though.

 

[Fritzo]

I think there are more choices than that.

 

[TheSlamma]

Once they monitor our behavior they will follow it up with weapons, no one wants humans to get off of earth

 

[SlitheryDee]

Warn it that it's in our space and will be destroyed if it doesn't park in orbit and submit to inspection by astronauts. If it obeys then we can talk. If it doesn't then we kill it. Letting it into our atmosphere at all is a risk that's almost too great to take. Who knows what it's for. Could be a planet killing superweapon, or a terraforming virus dispenser that will turn us all to green goo. In any case, ignoring our requests should be seen as a hostile act until we know more about them.

 

[Ichigo]

Warn it that it's in our space and will be destroyed if it doesn't park in orbit and submit to inspection by astronauts. If it obeys then we can talk. If it doesn't then we kill it. Letting it into our atmosphere at all is a risk that's almost too great to take. Who knows what it's for. Could be a planet killing superweapon, or a terraforming virus dispenser that will turn us all to green goo. In any case, ignoring our requests should be seen as a hostile act until we know more about them.

Hopefully the people in charge of deploying countermeasures aren't this incredibly stupid.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Hopefully the people in charge of deploying countermeasures aren't this incredibly stupid.

What would you do? You can't just let it in when it's unresponsive to communication attempts. That's beyond idiotic. Any alien species worth their salt should know that. WE would account for that if we sent a probe to an alien planet, so you know an advanced alien species would as well. The assumption is that if you don't build some kind of ability to communicate into the probe then you're either hostile or you won't hold it against the aliens if it gets destroyed.

Imagine it's us sending the drone in. We didn't build any way to communicate into it, and it gets destroyed by the alien species in question. We see that attempts were made to communicate with it on every radio band before it was shot down. Our assumption would be that we were warned, and then fired upon. A completely reasonable response that we cannot hold against the alien species in any way. Time to kick ourselves for not putting an understandable message of peace in there and try again.

 

[Ruptga]

How do you know they use radio? How do you know they even talk? Even if they're just rubber forehead aliens from Star Trek, why would you assume a probe has the equipment to analyze all the things that could be communication and then reply intelligently? Learning a language from your own planet is hard enough, imagine trying to figure out one that evolved from a completely different biology.

There's also no reason to make any assumptions about how their thought process would go. They may have no concept of logic as we know it, they may respond purely on culture and instinct. Maybe them opening their weapons ports is a sign of respect, like a salute? You don't know.

 

[Schmide]

3 words: Trump Space Wall

 

[BurnItDwn]

If there is a probe headed here there is great risk and great opportunity. However, this is very hypothetical, as its more likely that the Chinese will send up a probe in secret that happens to be "discovered" as an alien probe. In which case, it probably will be generally harmless other than being made out of toxic materials, and lots of small parts (swallow hazard for small children.)

 

[SlitheryDee]

How do you know they use radio? How do you know they even talk? Even if they're just rubber forehead aliens from Star Trek, why would you assume a probe has the equipment to analyze all the things that could be communication and then reply intelligently? Learning a language from your own planet is hard enough, imagine trying to figure out one that evolved from a completely different biology.

There's also no reason to make any assumptions about how their thought process would go. They may have no concept of logic as we know it, they may respond purely on culture and instinct. Maybe them opening their weapons ports is a sign of respect, like a salute? You don't know.

Because you don't know, you just let everything in though? The fact that they built a drone and sent it our way at all already indicates they are similar to us in some ways. They are problem solvers capable of designing and constructing technology for a specific purpose. In a way, we would be the next problem they have to solve. Why do we keep shooting their drones down when they are sending messages on every subspace band? Perhaps we don't use subspace. Time to check the electromagnetic spectrum. Ahh, there it is.

See your problem is that you don't give a spacefaring alien race enough credit. You think that because they use some different mode of communication or way of thinking that they could never adapt to ours sufficiently to get a message across. It doesn't even have to be a message we understand. In fact, we almost certainly wouldn't understand it, but the attempt is enough. Knowing they want to talk at all should get our finger off the trigger. Of course we still don't know that they're not saying "Submit to your new masters. Present all your offspring so that we may eat them.", but at a certain point you have to have a little faith.

 

[Ichigo]

What would you do? You can't just let it in when it's unresponsive to communication attempts. That's beyond idiotic. Any alien species worth their salt should know that. WE would account for that if we sent a probe to an alien planet, so you know an advanced alien species would as well. The assumption is that if you don't build some kind of ability to communicate into the probe then you're either hostile or you won't hold it against the aliens if it gets destroyed.

Imagine it's us sending the drone in. We didn't build any way to communicate into it, and it gets destroyed by the alien species in question. We see that attempts were made to communicate with it on every radio band before it was shot down. Our assumption would be that we were warned, and then fired upon. A completely reasonable response that we cannot hold against the alien species in any way. Time to kick ourselves for not putting an understandable message of peace in there and try again.

When a pitbull bites you do you assume the barking beforehand was a reasonable warning and blame yourself or do you put that bitch down?

 

[SlitheryDee]

When a pitbull bites you do you assume the barking beforehand was a reasonable warning and blame yourself or do you put that bitch down?

I kinda do blame myself in that situation. It's been decades since a dog bit me. You know why? I pay attention to how they act. Anything but sheer enthusiasm at my presence is a sign for me to steer clear of them.

Now imagine if the dog was as smart as I am now, and I was many times smarter than that. Then I have to believe it's more than just a dog being a dog. There's a reason behind the attack that likely goes beyond pure instinct. One that I can discover and perhaps talk him out of. The fact that I'm approaching him at all means that I have sufficient interest to learn what that is and how to communicate it. Unless of course the reason was that he's standing in front of something I want to take from him. In that case he never had a chance anyway and was absolutely correct in lashing out at me.

 

[IronWing]

Nuke first, collect the wreckage for cool stuff later. There is an almost zero chance that aliens knowing about us would work out for us in the long run.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Would be ironic if we captured it only to find it about as technologically advanced as one of the deep space probes we launched in the 1970s.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Did anyone point out yet, that us detecting it entering the solar system, is a "Yeah right, as if!" probability?

And why does everyone always have the Klingons discovering us before the Vulcans? The way we always deal with more primitive cultures is a poor indication of how off world species handle it.

Basing everything on how life evolved here, is too small a sample size to base a conclusion on.

Surviving the adolescent destroy yourselves phase, may result in mature civilizations that guide and nurture, instead of loot and pillage.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

There's only one appropriate response to finding an unequivocal answer to one of mankind's greatest questions: are we alone?

That response, of course, is to begin looting.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

If they have the technology to get here, they have the technology to do deal with our silly toys. Of course our first action would be trying to kill them though.

Really? We've launched probes out into the galaxy, do we have the technology to do jack shit if they happen to pass a planet more advanced than ours and get shot down or captured? While we might be able to shoot down or capture an alien probe if given enough time and warning, it's highly unlikely we would have either. It's probable that we wouldn't notice it until it was too close for us to do anything except hope it was friendly.

 

[Grooveriding]

Really? We've launched probes out into the galaxy, do we have the technology to do jack shit if they happen to pass a planet more advanced than ours and get shot down or captured? While we might be able to shoot down or capture an alien probe if given enough time and warning, it's highly unlikely we would have either. It's probable that we wouldn't notice it until it was too close for us to do anything except hope it was friendly.

<br />
<br />
Our oldest probe has barely left our own solar system. A probe arriving here from wherever would indicate tens or hundreds of thousands of years ahead of where we are today technologically.

If we are just talking a probe I guess we could destroy it. But an actual craft arriving here... We know enough to know that anything capable of that has overcome distances with technology we cannot comprehend. They would likely view us the way we do squirrels or dogs. If they were hostile it would be game over for us.

 

[glenn1]

Would be ironic if we captured it only to find it about as technologically advanced as one of the deep space probes we launched in the 1970s.

Already the plot of a book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Not_Taken_(short_story)

 

[dr150]

Get Putin to ride it away.