RE: When do you think we will have extraterrestrials visit us? visit us
June 8, 2012 at 1:34 pm
(This post was last modified: June 8, 2012 at 1:39 pm by Welsh cake.)
(June 8, 2012 at 12:33 pm)Chuck Wrote: That's a better question. I see no compelling reason why any technologically sophisticated alien must be interested in contacting us. The notion of intelligent aliends wants to "know we are not alone" seems horribly anthropocentric, and in any case, suppose all the aliens capable of visiting us have long ago known perfectly well they are not alone, why visit us in particular?Agreed.
I think we may be able to deduce what possible motivates said highly advanced alien race would have to visit us. Granted this is all speculation, but by simply drawing comparisons from history in human culture and civilisation we might surmise if the intentions of such races are benign or not.
1. Scientific curiosity. Granted this is diminished considerably somewhat as they'd easily be able to research us and observe us constantly via probes without ever having to set foot, or tentacle, or whatever, on Earth. Not to mention if they've already been studying thousands of Earth-like planets for potentially thousands of years or so, Earth would seem rather dull and remote in comparison.
2. Trade and Tourism. We may not have anything we think they might want. Could be, they find our crap, souvenirs, intellectual property and waste/junk absolutely fascinating.
3. Natural Resources. What if, for all their technological marvels, all their sources of renewable energy, simple consumables are precious and dwindling on their home world? They may have the need to mine and harvest Earth's materials far more than we currently do. This depends on point 1 really and how self-sustained these guys are.
4. Charity/Conservation. They could be far more empathic than us, and needless to say are disgusted that we're damaging our own diverse biosphere, killing off other species and allowing over two billion of our own to exist without basic sanitation requirements. They may be compelled to change that.
5. Immigration/Occupation. This may go under 'natural resources' but it could be that they simply want to colonise Earth for their own purposes. It could be our highly advanced neighbours have a startlingly high population and are rapidly running out of space. Then again, they may be waging war with another galactic race and seek to merely use Earth as an outpost or munitions dump.
What do you think?
