Even so, if they arrived here on a generation ship, they are capable of building a generation ship that can remain functional for a long time - that’s something that is at very least a little beyond us at the moment.
I guess they might be able to do it at our own level of technology if their physiology has dealt them some lucky cards, such as that they don’t need gravity and can voluntarily enter centuries-long hibernation.
I’ll echo the Culture scenario. It’s completely plausible that the effort it takes to create a generational ship is a lot easier to use if you’re devoting zero energy toward violent conflict, and that the aliens who come to us first have progressed, sociologically speaking, beyond war (consider how far our own species has already come from our own red in tooth and claw state). They may see such conflicts as savage, in the old sense of the word, and want to help us eliminate them, prime directive be damned.
Or there might be a galactic equivalent of paying it forward. Some billions-year-old civilization went around uplifting other species, and since then it’s become something of a galactic duty to do this for others.
The idea that “this means war” is depressingly likely, IMO. Unless they’re intent on enslaving or eradicating us–doing something as bad as, or worse than, death–the idea of us going to war against such aliens is about as reasonable as the idea of a stone age tribe going to war against the US military. Sure, your phalanx unit might get really really lucky and take out a tank, but on average it doesn’t happen, and any species capable of extra-orbital bombardment doesn’t need to worry about our puny nukes.
Yeah, our best chance of taking them out would be if a quirky YouTube prom date request video gets their attention.
I for one welcome our new alien overlords.
Best Case scenario: The aliens pop out of hyperspace, point out all the holes in our physics, lay a few beads and trinkets on us and leave. Those beads turn out to be the sum of intergalactic knowledge, and humans break free into the galaxy, no longer bound to one planet by our failure to really understand physics.
Oh, and they bring me a pony.
You think the human race, granted with the knowledge of how to travel between the stars, would keep from blowing itself up within a week? I think I have a new definition of “optimist”! 
Seriously, I think that any dramatic improvement in technology that doesn’t include some sort of cultural advancement is going to be extremely dangerous, as long as it’s something that can be weaponized by a bunch of bright monkeys.
I don’t think there is any precedent for giving any species other than human anything approaching human rights, so there is nothing in our laws protecting aliens from theft or mass killing. In fact, unless we declare these aliens to be officially “human”, I’m not sure any rights can be given to them by the courts. The process to change this would be so long and drawn out(due to opposition from various groups) that I’m not sure the damage done to any alien species that visit can be repaired.
Which is why we should begin talking about this now. The likelihood of non-human intelligences becoming part of our society is increasing, and aliens are the least likely possibility. Artificial beings or human/animal hybrids are fairly likely in the next 100 years.
Ask a whale what happens when a species with a modicum of intelligence blunders into your habitat. Or with a lot of intelligence finds some use for your habitat.
To give rights to an alien species without there being any precedent? All the talking in the world isn’t going to move the court system, so let’s set that precedent-we need to find a non human species here on Earth to give rights to that approach(if not equal) our own human rights. I can’t think of any other way legally to get this ball rolling.
Hey, legle eagles! Is there any way to grant “human” rights to a non-human species as the law now stands?
What a coincidence! Why, Animal Planet had Monster Week and brought up the idea of the existence of aquatic apes (mermaids) again just this month. And the Weekly World News says its real, so what more can you ask for? :dubious:
They will never be allowed to eat at Chik Fil A.
I could see the Supreme Court just ruling that certain beings are “persons”.
And the legal standard should be pretty easy: if a being is smart enough to sue for his rights, he is entitled to them.
If we can grant personhood to corporations, why not to Gleep from Equuleus Gamma?
Gleep can’t swing hundreds of thousands of votes and/or dollars to influence Congress.
Best plausible scenario?
Aliens land and say;
*“You guys are nuts, you know that right? I mean fuckin’ waco, real loony toons, what with the killing and the starving and the war and pollution…
Tell you what, take these books - here’s how you cure cancer and a bunch of other stuff, this one gives details on cheap unlimited power sources, this one here goes into detail on responsible planet husbandry – that’s good one by the way, follow it and no one will ever go hungry again and the planet will thrive – so anyway, we’re gonna go now. You guys are just too unpredictable and we really have a bad feeling for loose cannons.
So, good luck.
Try not to screw up.
Maybe we’ll stop back in a few thousand years and see how you’re getting on.”*
Corporations are persons because a) they are made up of persons and b) they are capable of acting as persons.
B) goes back to my logic, that any entity that can sue for its rights by definition has said rights.
Any person, maybe. I really don’t think that laws allow for non-human entities to sue.
You’re right, but I suspect that if a non-human did sue, the courts would have a decision to make and it wouldn’t be a sure thing.
I wonder how Dred Scott would apply as a precedent? As far as I know, Dred Scott still stands because the abolition of slavery made it moot. But since Dred Scott is the last decision to affect what was then considered a non-person suing, it’s probably the controlling precedent.