# How Desperately I Want To Meet An Extra-Terrestrial **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091 "2009-04-23T13:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/1 "2009-04-23T13:28:14Z")
Even if it meant the cruel enslavement of the entire human race, I’d _still_ want to encounter an extra-terrestrial. Because that’d be so freaking _awesome_. I bet they’d have a really cool _language_! ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/2 "2009-04-23T13:37:59Z")
Agreed. And think of the culture too. Generally aliens in films / TV are pretty dull and as a result often find humans “fascinating”. In reality, the fascination would be mutual and they’d have lots of cool stuff to show us. As well as, obviously, the more significant point of all the technological and scientific knowledge which a species capable of interstellar transport could bring to the table. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/3 "2009-04-23T13:39:26Z")
They speak English: with an American accent. I’ve seen the movies… Anyway it’ll never, ever happen. The distance is too great. But yeah, count me in as one who often thinks of these things and would love to participate. ---
**Author:** ![palindromemordnilap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/4 "2009-04-23T13:49:02Z")
The novelty would wear off after the first few years of making cuffs and flies and cutting velvet. [http://www.ibras.dk/comedy/allen.htm#SciFi](http://www.ibras.dk/comedy/allen.htm#SciFi) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/5 "2009-04-23T13:51:05Z")
There was a book called “The Alien Years” where aliens land, cause all sorts of damage by basically stepping on things, look around a bit, then a few years later take off again. They take utterly no notice of humans. That would be really annoying. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/6 "2009-04-23T14:42:25Z")
To give you some indication of how it might be to meet an alien, I would imagine meeting Michael Jackson would be about as odd and other-worldly. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/7 "2009-04-23T14:46:59Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > There was a book called “The Alien Years” where aliens land, cause all sorts of damage by basically stepping on things, look around a bit, then a few years later take off again. They take utterly no notice of humans. > > That would be really annoying. Are you sure that’s the right title? I looked it up on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Years-Robert-Silverberg/dp/006105111X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240497008&sr=8-1) and the book seems to be about an enslavement scenario, not one where the aliens simply ignore us. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/8 "2009-04-23T14:54:13Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Are you sure that’s the right title? I looked it up on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Years-Robert-Silverberg/dp/006105111X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240497008&sr=8-1) and the book seems to be about an enslavement scenario, not one where the aliens simply ignore us. That’s definitely the cover I remember. I had only skimmed it in the bookstore, however, so I might have gotten things wrong. I think the ‘utter indifference’ scenario is more likely that the ‘enslavement’ scenario. What chance is there that aliens will be sufficiently close to us in capabilities and goals that they would benefit from enslaving us, or have to actually _fight_ us to achieve their goals? More likely relations would be either indifference (if goals and requirements differ) or, much less likely, a pest-removal scenario if we get in the way. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/9 "2009-04-23T15:02:36Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > There was a book called “The Alien Years” where aliens land, cause all sorts of damage by basically stepping on things, look around a bit, then a few years later take off again. They take utterly no notice of humans. > > That would be really annoying. And yet, that is probably about what would happen. Even if alien life was some form that we could recognize, it is likely that their perception would be so different that we could not communicate at all except in the most facile and rudimentary sense, or that they would be so far advanced compared to humanity in every way that it would make as much sense for them to converse with us as it would for you to speak to a butterfly. Even being able to converse in a very literal sense–say, in mathematics–may not be possible if there is not a common set of shared concepts; for instance, if the alien race had no conception of integers or discrete set theory. Consider a race whose mathematics was all inherently statistical in basis, such that you can’t even start with a number set. How would you talk about a distribution function without starting with discrete numbers? Meeting an extraterrestrial race would be interesting in concept, but likely very frustrating in practice. We certainly wouldn’t be swapping literature and cultural customs _a la_ the unlikely humanoid-filled, mono-cultured universe of _Star Trek_. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/10 "2009-04-23T16:51:23Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Even if it meant the cruel enslavement of the entire human race, I’d _still_ want to encounter an extra-terrestrial. Who says the extra-terrestrial would be intelligent? It’d probably be some kind of space virus. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/11 "2009-04-23T17:01:27Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Consider a race whose mathematics was all inherently statistical in basis, such that you can’t even start with a number set. Can you tell me what it would mean for a mathematics to be inherently statistical in basis, such that the math would not start with a number set? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_Tightlips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@Joey\_Tightlips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_Tightlips)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/12 "2009-04-23T17:30:53Z")
Personally, I’d be happy just to see a picture of one. Just look how different all the life forms are that originated on our planet. I would expect something that originated in a different gravitational field and temperature may be something we could have never imagined. How laughable is it that movie aliens always have humanoid form, with two eyes, arms, legs, etc? Show some imagination people. Even crazy looking ones like in **Aliens** still basically have a humanoid head. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/13 "2009-04-24T07:31:08Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Can you tell me what it would mean for a mathematics to be inherently statistical in basis, such that the math would not start with a number set? Not really; that’s the whole point. But to give a taste of it, consider a system based not upon counting integers, but rather expanding the deviation of a statistical curve to encompass a progressively larger range. There is actually a branch of integral calculus that starts from this basis, but it is nothing intuitive to our brains. We just don’t think in terms of distributions; we think of one, two, and many. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/14 "2009-04-24T10:18:17Z")
Are you sure that you just dont want to be gang probed? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/15 "2009-04-24T18:49:27Z")
> [@Joey\_Tightlips](#): > > Personally, I’d be happy just to see a picture of one. Just look how different all the life forms are that originated on our planet. I would expect something that originated in a different gravitational field and temperature may be something we could have never imagined. How laughable is it that movie aliens always have humanoid form, with two eyes, arms, legs, etc? Show some imagination people. Even crazy looking ones like in **Aliens** still basically have a humanoid head. To be fair there are lots of different species here on Earth that have similar attributes. I don’t think it’s ridiculous to assume any intelligent life form might have similar attributes such as two arms two hands etc.. I’m pretty sure ET would need a set of hands to build a spaceship. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/16 "2009-04-24T19:38:47Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > To be fair there are lots of different species here on Earth that have similar attributes. I don’t think it’s ridiculous to assume any intelligent life form might have similar attributes such as two arms two hands etc.. That’s more plausible for features that have evolved on earth independently on more than one occasion. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/17 "2009-04-24T20:50:32Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > I think the ‘utter indifference’ scenario is more likely that the ‘enslavement’ scenario. What chance is there that aliens will be sufficiently close to us in capabilities and goals that they would benefit from enslaving us, or have to actually _fight_ us to achieve their goals? More likely relations would be either indifference (if goals and requirements differ) or, much less likely, a pest-removal scenario if we get in the way. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > And yet, that is probably about what would happen. Even if alien life was some form that we could recognize, it is likely that their perception would be so different that we could not communicate at all except in the most facile and rudimentary sense, or that they would be so far advanced compared to humanity in every way that it would make as much sense for them to converse with us as it would for you to speak to a butterfly.\ > > Meeting an extraterrestrial race would be interesting in concept, but likely very frustrating in practice. We certainly wouldn’t be swapping literature and cultural customs _a la_ the unlikely humanoid-filled, mono-cultured universe of _Star Trek_. > > Stranger What I’m getting from you both is essentially, “they’ll be so different it won’t matter.” I don’t think I agree with this, mainly because we’re talking about ETs coming to Earth, not us going to their planet. If they can conceive of such things as space, space ships, interstellar travel, propulsion, extraterrestrials etc, then we share those concepts and they _must_ not be so different or advanced the whole encounter is meaningless or overly frustrating. If they’re not more advanced, but simply just very, very different, then they’re probably never coming, because the concept of coming or going doesn’t exist for them. If they are more advanced, even super super advanced, if they still possess the inclination to visit another planet then I don’t think they’re so advanced they wouldn’t notice us or completely miss how it is we communicate. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/18 "2009-04-24T21:03:37Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > To be fair there are lots of different species here on Earth that have similar attributes. I don’t think it’s ridiculous to assume any intelligent life form might have similar attributes such as two arms two hands etc.. > > I’m pretty sure ET would need a set of hands to build a spaceship. Not necessarily. Perhaps they construct their technology biochemically by extruding and controlling with enzymes. Or maybe they change their own construction to be spacefaring without vessels. Maybe they are a collective amorphous entity, like a really sophisticated version of a jellyfish. Assuming that alien life would be even roughly analogous to life on Earth, much less bipedal humanoids, is self-centered and constrictive. Some of the most intelligent non-primates on Earth, such as cetaceans and cephalopods, have such vastly different means of locomotion, manipulation, and basic environment that it would be hard to have a shared perspective on anything but basic concepts. And intelligent life from another planet is virtually guaranteed to have a dramatically different evolutionary path. Pointy-eared humanoids with hemocyanin-based blood is just about the least likely possibility. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/19 "2009-04-24T21:12:45Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Are you sure that’s the right title? I looked it up on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Alien-Years-Robert-Silverberg/dp/006105111X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240497008&sr=8-1) and the book seems to be about an enslavement scenario, not one where the aliens simply ignore us. In the book, the aliens conquer us, but their motives and actions are incomprehensible. They wipe out huge numbers of humans, and IIRC perform cruel experiments, but no one knows what they’re getting at. In the endthey just leave. It wasn’t very good, and I don’t remember a lot of it. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091/20 "2009-04-24T21:56:41Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > What I’m getting from you both is essentially, “they’ll be so different it won’t matter.” > > I don’t think I agree with this, mainly because we’re talking about ETs coming to Earth, not us going to their planet. If they can conceive of such things as space, space ships, interstellar travel, propulsion, extraterrestrials etc, then we share those concepts and they _must_ not be so different or advanced the whole encounter is meaningless or overly frustrating. > > If they’re not more advanced, but simply just very, very different, then they’re probably never coming, because the concept of coming or going doesn’t exist for them. > > If they are more advanced, even super super advanced, if they still possess the inclination to visit another planet then I don’t think they’re so advanced they wouldn’t notice us or completely miss how it is we communicate. A rock has no concept of coming or going, but in the right storm, a rock sliding down a hill can come right down on top of my car, and keep going on about its merry way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-desperately-i-want-to-meet-an-extra-terrestrial/494091.md?page=2)