‘I’d baptise an alien – but only if it asked,’ says Pope’s..

[pckizer]

Just from the headline, but even more so from the article:

‘I’d baptise an alien â€" but only if it asked,’ says Pope’s astronomer[/list]

My first thought on that was to wonder if that could mean they're going to stop baptizing babies since they're not capable of asking for the procedure.  Yeah, I know, silly of me to follow what should be a logical implication of the statement, since historical evidence makes it obvious they are unlikely to follow the logical implications of anything.  Never-the-less, it briefly amused me to ponder.

[DropLogic]

It's a purely political statement.  They obviously won't change their ways.  
This does create another discussion though...If ET do make contact with us, how will the religious world react?  How about governments?

[dloubet]

I just hope the aliens don't angrily invade us when the inevitable pedophilia scandal hits.

Or maybe I hope they will...

[DropLogic]

Hawking asserts that if an alien race was advanced enough to reach us in a reasonable amount of time, they would almost certainly be hostile.  I am inclined to agree.  We often paint alien races in movies and literature as kind and compassionate beings; like Smurfs I suppose.  I think the movies where we are attacked by vicious space faring bugs are also a tad far fetched.  If you look at the insect species on our planet, they all live in harmony with their environment...so there would be no need to develop FTL space travel, or space travel at all.
The whole alien form debate is victim to endless speculation though.

[Dretlin]

Hawking asserts that if an alien race was advanced enough to reach us in a reasonable amount of time, they would almost certainly be hostile.

Any hypothetical reason why?

[The Magic Pudding]

I just hope the aliens don't angrily invade us when the inevitable pedophilia scandal hits.

Or maybe I hope they will...

Based on the many indisputable reports of alien contact, detailing anal probes and such, I conclude aliens are into some weird stuff.
It is my guess they are already Catholic.

[Asmodean]

Hawking asserts that if an alien race was advanced enough to reach us in a reasonable amount of time, they would almost certainly be hostile.

Any hypothetical reason why?

Don't know about Hawking, but there are not many reasons to make an alien race far more advanced than we are visit this hole.

1. They want our resources. If we don't give, they just take.
2. They want our planet. Then we become a problem since there is barely enough planet for us as it is.
3. Curiosity
  3.1 They come and see us as we see insects
  3.2 They discover we taste good
  3.3 They recognise us as intelligent

Just naming these three reasons, one can determine that in most cases, they have no reason to be friendly to us. Even if they recognise us as intelligent life forms, that still does not mean they wouldn't think of us as parasites and try to exterminate us.

Now I'm not an expert on alien psychology, but I think the assumption that they wouldn't come in peace is the best one we can make

[Sophus]

There's always the off chance that their humanity has evolved past ours.  

[Asmodean]

There's always the off chance that their humanity has evolved past ours.  

If by humanity, you are refering to our ability to suck a planet dry, then I'm not sure I'd want to meet those aliens  

[Sophus]

There's always the off chance that their humanity has evolved past ours.  

If by humanity, you are refering to our ability to suck a planet dry, then I'm not sure I'd want to meet those aliens  
 

[DropLogic]

Although...you could possibly deduce that an alien race that had enough time to become advanced enough for interstellar travel, rather than annihilating itself, might be kinda friendly.  They might value life, especially "intelligent" life.  I Dr. Evil the intelligent because compared to them, we're just a virus with feelings.

[Dretlin]

Hawking asserts that if an alien race was advanced enough to reach us in a reasonable amount of time, they would almost certainly be hostile.

Any hypothetical reason why?

Don't know about Hawking, but there are not many reasons to make an alien race far more advanced than we are visit this hole.

1. They want our resources. If we don't give, they just take.
2. They want our planet. Then we become a problem since there is barely enough planet for us as it is.
3. Curiosity
  3.1 They come and see us as we see insects
  3.2 They discover we taste good
  3.3 They recognise us as intelligent

Just naming these three reasons, one can determine that in most cases, they have no reason to be friendly to us. Even if they recognise us as intelligent life forms, that still does not mean they wouldn't think of us as parasites and try to exterminate us.

Now I'm not an expert on alien psychology, but I think the assumption that they wouldn't come in peace is the best one we can make

Thank you! Probably best to prepare for the worst.  

[Tanker]

If you look at the insect species on our planet, they all live in harmony with their environment.

Thats not always true take locusts for example they don't stop eating everything including thier own until there is nothing left to eat. I would think insect living in harmony would be subjective. On a grand scale yes they do because nature as a whole has a way of eventually evening itself out. Look at it this way if aliens were like army ants then technicly it would be a part of a universal harmony if they invaded us the crikets and consummed our planet but that would be little comfort to us.


Why would a hyper advanced obviously intelligent species want to come to a backwards, extremly violent, xenophobic, ignorant, low tech, disease riddled, inconsiquntial panet in an unremakable solar system on the very edge of the galaxy? We offer very little insentive to be visted or interacted with...from thier perspective.

[The Magic Pudding]

Hawking asserts that if an alien race was advanced enough to reach us in a reasonable amount of time, they would almost certainly be hostile.

Any hypothetical reason why?

Don't know about Hawking, but there are not many reasons to make an alien race far more advanced than we are visit this hole.

1. They want our resources. If we don't give, they just take.
2. They want our planet. Then we become a problem since there is barely enough planet for us as it is.
3. Curiosity
  3.1 They come and see us as we see insects
  3.2 They discover we taste good
  3.3 They recognise us as intelligent

Just naming these three reasons, one can determine that in most cases, they have no reason to be friendly to us. Even if they recognise us as intelligent life forms, that still does not mean they wouldn't think of us as parasites and try to exterminate us.

Now I'm not an expert on alien psychology, but I think the assumption that they wouldn't come in peace is the best one we can make

It's probably not valid to extrapolate from Earth history but I'm not going to let that stop me.

Aliens will come to convert us to the ways of Snongdoofray and force us to work the mines or,
Aliens will come to convert us to the ways of Tromsnumboloon  and force us to work the mines or,
Aliens will come to convert us to the ways of Crabstumbulor  and force us to work the mines

A bit more seriously, aliens come to take our resources, what in particular?
There are a lot of other rocks floating about.
Maybe aliens consume solar systems, so if you start to see stars go missing, that would be interesting.
Aliens taking the long view see a negligible threat, so they might as well squash us just in case.
Some humans see value in insects, so there may be hope for us.

[Asmodean]

A bit more seriously, aliens come to take our resources, what in particular?

Water, atmospheric gases, possibly manpower for the Minesâ,,¢, complex organic compounds... You name it and they might want it.

There are a lot of other rocks floating about.

Not all of them have the abovementioned resources, and if getting rid of the primitive locals is not too troublesome... why not?

Maybe aliens consume solar systems, so if you start to see stars go missing, that would be interesting.

Black holes do that too. Maybe aliens make black hole generators from the stars like our Sun, too small to make a black hole by themselves.

Aliens taking the long view see a negligible threat, so they might as well squash us just in case.

Makes sense to me. Better safe than sorry when our intercontinental nukes become intergalactic...