[ZzCrook]

On my Joelville website (it's not up yet), I'm adding a segment called "What would we really do?". It basicially an informative online documentary about what would really happen if say... aliens invaded, or an asteroid was coming, or if a volcano erupted in downtown LA. Things like that. Hollywood has warped our little minds into thinking their ideas are realistic. I want to see what the Mzx community thinks...

A lot of us here on Earth firmly believe we are the only intelligent life in the universe. Others, on the other hand, think the universe is filled with advanced space-travellers and interstellar beings. If this were true, what would happen if one of these space civilizations came across Earth.

There are five possibilities. One, they could completely disregard are little blue planet and keep travelling. Two, they could study us, as well as the planet from a distance. Three, they could secretly infiltrate and study us up close. Four, they could make first contact. Or five... invade.

Although, the fifth possibility is highly unlikely, what IF it actually happened. Ever since HG Wells published "War of the Worlds" over a hundred years ago, society has had the idea in the back of it's mind. In movies such as "ET", "K-Pax", and "Flight of the Navigator" aliens are portrayed as friendly beings, who see humans as equals. Then again, movies such as "Independence Day", "MIB", "The Faculty", or "Signs" heighten our fear of the possibility of an invasion.

If an invasion were likely to occur, would it happen like we think it would? My personal opinion is... no.

First, they would need a motive. Most authors and screenwriters use the motive "They're after Earth's resources". I think this is unlikely, simply because if a species has the ability to travel through space at such great velocities, they would also have the ability to reproduce anything they need by altering the structure of the atom. They wouldn't bother inslaving us, simply because we'd resist. Why go through the trouble when they could just build machines to do the required tasks.

If an alien race wanted the human species knocked out of existence (for some reason), they wouldn't waste their technology and resources starting an interstellar war and fighting us one on one (although if this were the case, we would undoubtably lose). The most effective method would be to use a virus. Some sort of disease that is fast spreading and very effective. Any intelligent alien species could easily manufacture something of this nature.

Anyway, these our my opinions on alien invasion. What are yours?
(And don't bother replying saying you don't believe in aliens, we've already discussed that, and we don't need to hear it).

[weasel]

I'd say that they would infiltrate, and then study. They might end up like the Morphs from Flashback, or the Snatcher menace...but eenh, not like that's ever going to happen...not in this generation anyway.

[Xeirxes]

I think that if they DID come across our planet, they wouldn't stop. Why stop if they have to get somewhere?
Unless they were exploring.
In that case, they'd probably come down, plant a flag and leave. Or they'd be like the pilgrims and the indians, and wipe most of us out so that they could live there.

[Jester]

i believe that there is life in other solar systems, but i don't think that their space travelling technology is more advanced than ours. they might also be looking at the same stars as we do and wonder if there's life in other solar systems...i mean it would be stupid to think that we are the only living thing in the galaxy.

[LogiCow]

I always thought of the school being invaded by hundreads of little tiny creatures and we had to arm ourselves with school material and beat the crap out of them

[Galladin]

Xerxes, on Dec 19 2003, 08:23 AM, said:

I think that if they DID come across our planet, they wouldn't stop. Why stop if they have to get somewhere?
Unless they were exploring.
In that case, they'd probably come down, plant a flag and leave.

Well maybe they stopped on every planet that has living creatures, and Earth's probably just one of them. Or, like Tommy said, maybe they are not more intelligent than we are, maybe their technology isn't more advanced than ours. Maybe they are just staring at the stars, or maybe they have already died because something weird happened...ice age? The same thing that killed the dinosaurs? Or maybe they were as violent as we are (or even worse), and in that case they might have killed each other. But would they be like us? Would there be racism in their culture? I mean, do they all look like those green, big eyed, slimy little men? Or do they have different kind of skin colour? BUH BAH...I gotta continue listening to the teacher-dude.

Quote

Or they'd be like the pilgrims and the indians, and wipe most of us out so that they could live there.

You mean the indians did that?

[Xeirxes]

Well, from what I've seen in history, even though some pilgrims made peace with the indians, we brought guns and sicknesses. Those that didn't get sick and die, we killed with guns, and took their land. I think it very unfair.

[Raistlin19]

It's highly unlikely they'd invaded. But i watch every alian documentery that comes on and i've came to this connclusion... before most of us are 60, Aleans will have visited earth publicly (Hate to brake it to you but they have been here secretly... just not like every one thinks...). But then again, wat do I know... I'm just a A average student with a slightly above average IQ and an adiction to studying space...

[Thunderdog]

Raistlin19, on Dec 19 2003, 04:22 PM, said:

I'm just a A average student with a slightly above average IQ and an adiction to studying space...

Thank you very much, I just bit a hole in my lip trying not to laugh at that.

As for aliens, As soon as "The war of the worlds" starts to repeat itself, I'm Going Postal.

This post has been edited by thunderdog: 19 December 2003 - 08:56 PM

[Raistlin19]

Glad i could help

[Pyro1588]

if aliens exist, then it is probable that there are millions of inhabited planets. out of these millions, earth would most likely be insignificant. if for some reason they actually wanted us dead, i'd guess that they'd do the Titan: AE method and blast earth into kibbles. Signs had an interesting take on the hand-to-hand (that is, if they were after our resources,) but we could just shoot, beat, bomb, and destroy them. as far as first contact goes, well, i can only think of Myst: The Book of D'ni, where Atrus and company made contact with distant relatives of the D'ni, who were very close in biological makeup to the D'ni. but after a few weeks, they all started dropping dead from a bacteria that was a normal part of D'ni physiology, but that the other race wasn't immune to. in the end, most of the other race was killed off (but that's all right since they were evil ) if aliens made first contact, chances are that we would get some disease from them or vise versa.

oh, and MIB didn't make me worry about aliens. it made me worry about throwing up because i was laughing so hard.

[Micah]

Rayne, just how bored were you?

I think if aliens came across the planet Earth, they would come down, mess with us for a while, then get bored and leave.

[Sai'ke]

Raistlin19, on Dec 19 2003, 08:22 PM, said:

It's highly unlikely they'd invaded. But i watch every alian documentery that comes on and i've came to this connclusion... before most of us are 60, Aleans will have visited earth publicly (Hate to brake it to you but they have been here secretly... just not like every one thinks...). But then again, wat do I know... I'm just a A average student with a slightly above average IQ and an adiction to studying space...

Documentaries or episodes of Men In Black??

[weasel]

Raistlin19, on Dec 19 2003, 01:22 PM, said:

(...) and an adiction to studying space...

You should meet my science teacher. He's about as addicted to space study as you can get without joining SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)...

[Xeirxes]

Raistlin, I would like PROOF that the statement you just made is true. You cannot prove something unless you have proof... that's a stupid thing to say, but it's true.

[ZzCrook]

pcmicah1, on Dec 19 2003, 08:39 PM, said:

Rayne, just how bored were you?

Why must I be bored in order to start a topic?

Well, let's just say, a hostile alien race invaded Earth. How would we react? It all depends on whether we seen it coming or not.

I'm sure in most cases there'd be the fanatics in the street holding up "The end has come" signs, while other scientists would race around saying "I can't believe it" or "I told you so", and on top of that there'd be mass religious hysteria, such as "Aliens can't exist with God", and "God's not real", etc.

Basically, there'd be a complete breakdown in worldwide social and civil services within hours after the discovery of alien life was confirmed. I'm sure the U.S. would go to Red Alert or upgrade the DefCon (Defense Condition) level to 3, or even 2, and recall all available troops that were on military leave.

In major cities, there would be riots and looting, as well as a fair percentage of citizens jamming the freeways trying to get away from major metropolitan areas.

All this... before they even attack. I've done a small ammount of research on this topic, and these are the conclusions I've come to. Believe it or not, if you watch the movie "Independence Day", that's pretty close to how the world would react (except for mankind winning, and Area-51, etc). Another movie that had it right was "Contact".

What would you do if hostile aliens arrived?

[weasel]

Rayne said:

What would you do if hostile aliens arrived?

Panic. And not any ordinary panic either...the Modified Stationary Panic, as perfected by Patrick McManus...

But seriously. If there was a full-scale invasion, I'd probably give my dad backup with one of the guns we own. He'd be out there fighting, probably with his shotgun, and I'd probably have one of the pistols (or maybe the .22 rifle or something). No, we're no rednecks, we just practice our right to keep and bear arms.

[Raistlin19]

Sai'ke, on Dec 20 2003, 12:46 AM, said:

Raistlin19, on Dec 19 2003, 08:22 PM, said:

It's highly unlikely they'd invaded. But i watch every alian documentery that comes on and i've came to this connclusion... before most of us are 60, Aleans will have visited earth publicly (Hate to brake it to you but they have been here secretly... just not like every one thinks...). But then again, wat do I know... I'm just a A average student with a slightly above average IQ and an adiction to studying space...

Documentaries or episodes of Men In Black??

lol. Documenterys... foolish girl. Every one knows tha MIB don't exist (hides mind blinker)...

[Xeirxes]

I think that if aliens came, alot of us would retreat into deserted areas. There are plenty of forests around where I live, we'd probably get out a tent and go nomad style. Eventually we'd have to do stuff such as build weapons to hunt, but that's how it would be.
I also would panic.
The good news is that I don't live near any metropolitan areas.

[commodorejohn]

Pyro1588, on Dec 19 2003, 09:27 PM, said:

as far as first contact goes, well, i can only think of Myst: The Book of D'ni, where Atrus and company made contact with distant relatives of the D'ni, who were very close in biological makeup to the D'ni. but after a few weeks, they all started dropping dead from a bacteria that was a normal part of D'ni physiology, but that the other race wasn't immune to. in the end, most of the other race was killed off (but that's all right since they were evil ) if aliens made first contact, chances are that we would get some disease from them or vise versa.

Actually, that also happened in War Of The Worlds (except for the part about similar biological makeup.)

If aliens invaded, I'd take my Gameboy, a generator, food, and water, and go live underground.

[Xeirxes]

War of the Worlds was pretty good, but pretty old. You still see remniscent thoughts of that era and stuff. It's sort of silly in the old horror sort of way.

[Pyro1588]

it was a good book, though. as was the book of d'ni.

[Mr. Apol]

Okay, I have to reply to this. Actually, IMHO, an invasion isn't the most unlikely scenario. See, in nature, the smartest animals are always the predators. Foxes are smarter than the rabbits and vice versa: they have to be. Well, if a civilization were to be smart enough to travel through space they would most likely be the top predators of their planet. If they got here, why wouldn't they use us as a food source? I mean, we eat cows, who aren't all that different from us, and think nothing about it. I guess our best chance would be that they would simply pass us by. I mean, when you walk down the street and see an anthill, you ignore it... maybe step on a few ants, or maybe destroy their home that they've spent countless hours making. I'm a firm believer that intelligent contact with extraterrestrial creatures is REALLY not a good idea...

[Dr Lancer-X]

[url="http://maddox.xmission.com/aliens.html"]http://maddox.xmission.com/aliens.html[/url]

Yep, sounds about right... =p

[Torte]

Even if they have high-tech space travel capabilities, maybe they don't have the weapon technology needed to defeat us.

[Raistlin19]

Were such a primative race yet were talking like we know everything....

[Torte]

Raistlin19, on Dec 28 2003, 08:49 PM, said:

Were such a primative race yet were talking like we know everything....

And what do you compare to? We are (as far as intelligence goes... and joy of destruction) top of the evolution on earth. And who knows? Maybe the only life in space is as big as a nail and as intelligent as the Dancing Banana.

Maybe they're just as advanced as us, only they found a way to travel very long distances in short time, or a way to effectively freeze down themselves for a long period of time... and what if they found it by chance?

We are, IMHO, NOT a primitive race.

[Raistlin19]

We will continue to be primative untill we learn to stop fighting and amongst ourselves (wars i mean). EWnding war is the first sighn of being a TRULY inteligant race.

[Torte]

If war makes us primitive, what would that make the possible alien invaders? Super high-tech because they crush an entire race? That would be even more primitive.

[Raistlin19]

i said fiting amongs OURSELVES. A family isn't a family if they are torn in two fighting. but a family can be a family if they are united but fighting another family. Think man.