# Are there contingency plans for contacts with extraterrestrial aliens?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-contingency-plans-for-contacts-with-extraterrestrial-aliens/636592>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 3, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-contingency-plans-for-contacts-with-extraterrestrial-aliens/636592 "2012-10-03T15:58:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-contingency-plans-for-contacts-with-extraterrestrial-aliens/636592/41 "2012-10-08T13:34:27Z")

</div>

> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> People are constantly saying that, but I disagree. Let’s say, for a second, that we’re the ones that mastered intergalactic travel and that we descended on another planet that A)had life and B) could support our life. In all likelihood, it would only be a few people and they’d be traveling so lightly that they’d be forced to leave the laser guided missiles and nuclear bazookas at home.

Doesn’t matter; their ship itself would be enough of a weapon to destroy us all with ease. The energy required to travel between stars is huge.

> [@Mijin](#):
>
> The way I see it is this: The universe has been around for billions of years.  
> Now, there are some limits on how early life could have started – probably only a second-generation star would have planets rich in heavy elements, for example. And who knows what is a “typical” amount of time for intelligent life to evolve (or the probability of it happening).
> 
> But still, given the billions of years timescales it is incredibly unlikely that an extraterrestrial species will happen to be within a few millenia of human technological progress. They will much more likely be unimaginably far ahead of us, or still in their stone age (or earlier).
> 
> If a given species can travel interstellar distances, then they will likely belong to the former group.

That’s what I’ve heard called the “Angels or Cavemen”, or “Apes or Angels”\* scenario; relative to one another, everyone is either hopelessly more primitive, or incomprehensibly more advanced.

- Arthur C. Clarke: “We will find apes or angels, but not men.”

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-contingency-plans-for-contacts-with-extraterrestrial-aliens/636592.md?page=2)