What if......

[karadan]

What if aliens decided to make contact with earth? If they actually wanted to help us mend our problems and turned out to be benevolent, how do you think all deeply religious people would act?

I'm guessing mass suicides.

Anyone?

[Abaddon]

Well, I guess that would relieve us of a lot of our problems if they did go with the mass suicide route.  I think I would be more worried about what the super paranoid people did though, the ones in the military and otherwise.  I suppose there would also be others that worshiped them as gods or deities of some form also...I suppose like all the alien movies (alien movies, not Alien as in the series, haha) rolled in to one, but it would be exciting.

I wonder how we would all deal with any new bacteria, diseases, viruses and other things they bring in too, and that would also go for them.  I doubt we'll ever find out, but it would indeed be exciting!

-Will

[rlrose328]

I really don't think there would be mass suicides... not in the US anyway.  I think our "benevolent" leader(s) would shoot them out of the sky before the newcomers had a chance to share anything with us.  Testerone-laden Hollywood has taught us that's the way to handle these things.  

[Kylyssa]

I think the religious zealots would go all end-of-the-world and make it very difficult to have a relationship with our Brothers from another place.  I'm guessing there would be rioting and attacks on scientists and those associated with the visitors.  It the extraterrestrials still decided to interact with us I think both sides would learn a great deal.

I could see ongoing, longterm difficulties from the zealot population.  For instance, I'd predict attacks on people who had utilized  developments made by the use of alien technology.  Let's say a few years down the road our guests figure out how to re-grow the lost limbs and damaged organs of humans.  Bob, the old, blind, double amputee goes off to a hospital and comes back home a week later with fully functioning limbs and perfect eyesight.  I could easily see some religious bigots "putting things back the way they was" by attacking old Bob, even killing him.  In a situation without a giant, outside trigger, we already can't keep the religious zealots from killing and destroying.

[SteveS]

I too doubt mass suicide.  I also doubt the government would instantly declare war and start blasting aliens out of the sky (provided they even could --- if aliens find a way to cross the vast interstellar distances and travel to our planet, they would probably have significantly advanced technology).  Afterall, don't the alien-conspiracy theorists claim the government is already in league with the aliens?

I would think a fair number of religious people would be troubled, but I envision a more missionary-type response: we must teach the "true word" to the aliens....

No doubt religious people might object to advanced bio-tech along the "its wrong to play god!" lines --- but I guess my view of humanity isn't so dim that I think there would be wide-spread war and destruction.

I'd love to talk to an alien!  To do so, would it have to learn english, or would I have to learn its language?  Is there even a common language we could form?  What if we speak/hear in different audible ranges?  I guess we could always rely on the written word ---- they would probably see in the same wavelengths as us, as these seem to be the most common wavelengths of star-light in the universe, but still they might not.  Could be a challenge....

[Will]

I'd ask them to come back in a few hundred years. And apologize for the mess. "Had we known you were coming, we would have spruced the place up a bit".

[karadan]

Well, my take on the situation is this:

An advanced space-faring civilisation would see us the way we see (and control) our natural environment. We have farms with cattle, managed wildlife populations etc. A cow could no more rebel against it's farm than a human could against an advanced civilisation with the drive to help us sort out our issues. Although this analogy only works for the ease in which aliens could control us - not imprison or 'harvest' us. I'm not talking about malicious aliens

Yes, the military would be paranoid but an alien species would know this. The missiles aimed at the alien ships would just disappear seconds after launch. Fighter plane's weapon systems would just stop working etc. If they took away our ability to retaliate without killing any of us, that would give a lot of credit to their mission.

If for instance, they showed us models of how our society could change for the better if a few of our social and ecological malfunctions were fixed, i think we'd be happy to oblige. Sure, many would carry on being suspicious but positive results would change many people's minds.

Q&A sessions would be important. We'd obviously get to the question 'is there a god?' This is where i believe the mass suicides would come to fruition. The aliens, in their wisdom would surely answer 'religion is a human based concept perpetuated through the misuse of fear and doctrine to hold a population within an ideology of conformity'. The shock of irrefutable proof of god's non-existence would push many over the edge.

Knowing this to be a highly volatile set of circumstances, they'd surely have prepared for it. Taliban furiously trying to cut peoples heads off because the end of the world has happened would find their weapons dissolve into thin air. Suicide bombers would find their detonation circuits fused. Christian nutters trying to burn stuff down would find their torches mysteriously extinguished.
With their ability to cause havoc eradicated, many would just take their own lives (this is something the aliens wouldn't want to stop as this would be seen as a necessary cleansing process). The most irretrievable people would do the dirty work for them.

Man, that would be so cool!

[Abaddon]

I always wondered, in terms of weapons and what not, how they would handle ours.  We're assuming they're extremely advanced because they could travel here, but what if they just stole the technology or ships from another more advanced culture than their own, and are on closer to our level of technology.  Not to mention if they are that advanced, perhaps their soldier class (or even caste) might be far beyond kinetic type weapons and would almost be more vulnerable from them.  If they always fight places with energy weapons, then they would probably more adapted to that.  This is all assuming that there are enough other lifeforms and what not out there to war with one another (and us not notice) but indulge me!  It's just something I've always wondered.  You would think that them being as advanced to get here would be all powerful, but perhaps not.  

-Will

[MommaSquid]

I wouldn't trust an alien civilization that just showed up one day without previous lengthy communication.  I would assume they wanted something we have here on Earth and, since they were willing to travel great distance to get it, were willing to take it by any means necessary.  

If said aliens didn't believe in god, I don't think that would prove anything to the believers.  They would probably try to convert the aliens rather than admit that they're wrong to believe in sky-daddy.

[rlrose328]

I'd ask them to come back in a few hundred years. And apologize for the mess. "Had we known you were coming, we would have spruced the place up a bit".

Can we also ask them to take us with them... assuming they are friendly, anyway?  

[karadan]

I wouldn't trust an alien civilization that just showed up one day without previous lengthy communication.  I would assume they wanted something we have here on Earth and, since they were willing to travel great distance to get it, were willing to take it by any means necessary.  

If said aliens didn't believe in god, I don't think that would prove anything to the believers.  They would probably try to convert the aliens rather than admit that they're wrong to believe in sky-daddy.

What would a space-faring species possibly want from earth that they couldn't already get elswhere in the cosmos? Being that technologically advanced would surely mean they had mastered efficiency to a point where they could be 100% self sufficient. To exploit a lesser species on a planet that can't defend it's self would denote a malevolent alien species. My daydream consitsts of benevolent aliens who want to see our little sector of the galaxy florish the same way a botanist wants to see his garden bloom.

Ok, consider this, (just me going off on one to try to demonstrate the difference in perception and scale between humans and techno-advanced species) they show everyone just what their civilisation looks like. Spanning most of a spiral arm of our galaxy, little dots showing the systems this species inhabits. Not on planets, but artificial habitats, orbitals, rings or even vast ships holding billions at a time. Once shown the myriad possibilities which lie out there, waiting for us, many humans would realise that there isn't really any room for god in their lives anymore. It is all about scale. i'm sure the aliens would be happy to wait for religion to crumble, but it surely would. Especially if thousands of willing people went with them to visit another world only to come back and tell everyone their tale. These aliens would certainly not convert to Christianity. If they did, it would be for a laugh so that when they got back, they could tell their mates in the pub that they prayed to god and had asked him for forgiveness for being green and having 3 cocks.

Because this is all grossly hypothetical i can make up any shit i want, .

[MommaSquid]

I wouldn't trust an alien civilization that just showed up one day without previous lengthy communication.  I would assume they wanted something we have here on Earth and, since they were willing to travel great distance to get it, were willing to take it by any means necessary....

What would a space-faring species possibly want from earth that they couldn't already get elswhere in the cosmos?

Maybe the only place in the universe to get a proper hedgehog is right here on Earth, and the aliens desperately need some.  Why?  Who the heck knows!    

[SteveS]

^^  Haha, nature's way of saying "Don't touch me"!

[karadan]

I wouldn't trust an alien civilization that just showed up one day without previous lengthy communication.  I would assume they wanted something we have here on Earth and, since they were willing to travel great distance to get it, were willing to take it by any means necessary....

What would a space-faring species possibly want from earth that they couldn't already get elswhere in the cosmos?

Maybe the only place in the universe to get a proper hedgehog is right here on Earth, and the aliens desperately need some.  Why?  Who the heck knows!