# If aliens became aware of us, would they conquer/enslave/exploit/displace/exterminate us? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 12, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124 "2010-05-12T00:52:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/21 "2010-05-12T04:54:56Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > Maybe our heavy metal content is way too high for them. > [@pedescribe](#): > > “How ironic…our best missiles and bombs did nothing, and yet a simple band was enough to kill them all.” Anthrax, right? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/22 "2010-05-12T05:03:59Z")
One thing to consider is that the aliens may want to _save us_. Picture a ship full of evangelical Christians. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/23 "2010-05-12T05:07:29Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I really don’t buy the argument, since most of the arguments for this don’t sound plausible > > 1. Either we or the aliens will all die due to some cross infection. > > I don’t believe that because any species advanced enough to traverse the galaxy will have the medical knowledge to avoid germs. Humans aren’t anywhere near the point of interstellar travel, but we have pretty much conquered all microbial infections (assuming people practice scientific knowledge like good sanitation, clean water, vaccinations, antibiotics, hand washing, etc). > > 1. The aliens will enslave us > > I don’t see this happening either. Humans are 20-50 years away from functional bipedal robots from what I have heard. As a result, any alien species will have robots capable of levels of stamina, flexibility, strength and problem solving far beyond anything humans can do. Humans gave up on enslaving horses once we developed machines that did the work better. There is no motive to enslave us, machines can do anything we can do much better. > > 1. They want our natural resources > > There are tons of asteroids and rocky planets in the galaxy. I have no idea why they’d want the resources in ours. > > Not only that but a species that can conquer interstellar travel can probably conquer fission. Not only would they get energy from the fission, but they would also be able to create industrial elements out of abundant hydrogen. > > 1. They want our living space > > It is unlikely that our planet has the perfect alien atmosphere. Something on our planet is likely toxic to them. > The only likely way they’d kill us is if they just didn’t give a damn for whatever reason. We really don’t have anything they’d want from what I can tell. Hardly anyone seems to think that aliens would be interested in our local flora and fauna. Frankly, if I was to travel to an alien civilization their biodiversity would be one of the most interesting things for me. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/24 "2010-05-12T05:17:52Z")
We will die of alien infection. Death by Reticulum Rot or Cygnus crotch decay. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/25 "2010-05-12T06:11:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > The best way to tell the “good” aliens from the “bad” ones is: If you find yourself abducted and in a vat of mildly burning liquid, you are in the hands of the good aliens, who are about to eat you. > > > > The bad ones are much worse. > > – [_Revelation X: The “Bob” Apocryphon_](http://www.amazon.com/Revelation-BobApocryphon-Hidden-Teachings-Deuterocanonical/dp/0671770063) That’s bullcrap. Good aliens look [like this](http://chockblock.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/seven-of-nine.jpg), and bad aliens look [like this](http://technabob.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/alien.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/26 "2010-05-12T08:11:38Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > NMaybe they are putting on winter gear when it dips below 100f. Given that humans live permanently and willingly in the high arctic and the hottest deserts. it is very doubtful if anything climatic will bother an alien race capable of interstellar travel. > [@](#): > > Maybe their star put out a LOT less UV, or had a much better ozone layer, and they fry in minutes. The problem with this is that ozone is a product of UV reacting with oxygen. It can’t vary a great deal unless the oxygen level in the atmosphere varies wildy, and that isn’t really possible for reasons I’ll detail below. > [@](#): > > Maybe their atmosphere has 10% oxygen, and ours is poisonous. Not really possible. Oxygen levels will always balance out at about the same level in any vaguely earth like system. Plants will produce oxygen until it reaches a level in the 20-30% range, whereupon the vegetation becomes so highly flammable that it ignites and consume the oxygen. It can’t remain excessively low or excessively high unless something is consuming it. Maybe these organisms evolved so rapidly that the minerals are still sucking oxygen out of the atmosphere, but that’s pretty unlikely. > [@](#): > > Maybe our heavy metal content is way too high for them. Unlikely given the way that terrestrial planets form. To be troublesome the hevay metals would need to be 10 times higher than what we have here on Earth. It’s hard to see how that could occur. > [@](#): > > There are thousands of things that could be major deal breakers for the planet. Not really. If we assume an humanlike lifeform then it’s going to be hard for the planet to be any less hospitable than some of the desert or arctic environments that humans have naturally and willingly occupied. > [@](#): > > Most definitely they would not be here for the food. Earth food would be pretty low in nutritional value for any alien. They may share a few of the more simple proteins, but most would be like you or I munching on grass, and some might be extremely poisonous. They might get some calories from sugars and fats, but few if any vitamins would be vitamins to them. So coming to grill up some human burgers is pretty damned unlikely(except perhaps for the novelty factor). This isn’t really a major objection, because if you can travel through interstellar space you certainly know enough t be able to convert biomass using microbes. Even us humans can readily convert toxic material such as pufferfish, or inedible material like wood or nutritionally deficient material like sugar into highly nutritious complete, safe food using microbial vats. A more realistically objection is that when you can hurl billion of people and arms across space you certainly have enough energy and technology to capture carbon directly form the atmosphere, and much more efificently. > [@](#): > > Resources.. This could be a reason. Not that earth is really special(at least we presume its not), but we have spent the better part of a couple of millenia digging up vast amounts of mineral wealth and concentrating it handily on the surface for our new alien overlords. Whether they kill us and unleash the minebots, or hold us for ransom and use us as slave labor, or just unleash the minebots and let them chew out the mineral resources in us, or purchase vast sums off of us for the equivalent of shiny beads, I cannot say. Once again, we have to ask what sort of technology would make it more efficient to hurl material across the universe at sizable fraction of lightspeed than to simply mine the neighbouring planet. Seriousuly, when would it ever be cheaper to go and pick up shopping carts from Alpha Centauri than to mine the metal from Mars? It may be more concentrated, but the time and energy involve din transporting it would be prohibitive unless we have a magic technology that makes travel free. And if we have a magic technology that makes space travel free then the depth we have to travel into a planet to get materials ceases to be an issue as well. ---
**Author:** ![Baboonanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f475e1/32.png) [@Baboonanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baboonanza)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/27 "2010-05-12T08:57:06Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > One thing to consider is that the aliens may want to _save us_. Picture a ship full of evangelical Christians. Oh the horror! In the end it’s pointless trying to ascribe motive to an unknowable and hypothetical alien race. However, I’d consider it fairly unlikely that a race capable of crossing intersteller space would turn up and try and enslave us (anything we could do could be more easily done my machines) or steal our planet (they could go and find a nice clean one instead). What I consider more likely is they either ignore us or just blow us up. Afterall, why would they share our moral code? And does a morale code even apply to a different sentient species? In a dangerous universe shouldn’t you just look after your own species by elliminating potential competition as early as possible? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/28 "2010-05-12T09:08:00Z")
If they have the capacity to visit us (which is really bloody unlikely), it’s unlikely they would need anything we have when they get here that they couldn’t get more easily somewhere else. The only reasons I can think of that they might exterminate or conquer us: [ul] [li]They have some pathological, but irrational need to conquer/assimilate (Klingons, or missionaries)[/li][li]They perceive us as a threat at imminent risk of expansion into their sphere of control (which we’re not, and not about to be)[/li][li]They do it out of some kind of (possibly misguided) altruism, as an attempt to uplift or improve us.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/29 "2010-05-12T09:37:54Z")
I’d be more worried about aliens drive-by bombing us for shits and giggles. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/30 "2010-05-12T09:44:40Z")
A friend of mine thinks we need the threat of an alien invasion to bring us humans together. Tbh, I’d be all for settling our petty squabbles and getting together to kick some alien ass, or whatever equivalent they may have. When your enemy has got tendrils instead of arms and a gaping maw for a mouth, that guy with the turban doesn’t seem so bad after all. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/31 "2010-05-12T09:45:45Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > A friend of mine thinks we need the threat of an alien invasion to bring us humans together. > > Tbh, I’d be all for settling our petty squabbles and getting together to kick some alien ass, or whatever equivalent they may have. Your friend doesn’t happen to love _The Watchmen_, does he? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/32 "2010-05-12T10:07:05Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Your friend doesn’t happen to love _The Watchmen_, does he? It’s a she, and she’s also an OAP who has never had an interest in action comics, so I doubt it. On second thoughts, there’s no doubt… I _know_ it. She’s more of a Steven Seagal fan - hey, we aren’t all perfect! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/33 "2010-05-12T12:22:16Z")
You are a desperate, desperate man. I can relate. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/34 "2010-05-12T12:44:51Z")
They’d probably just be really confused that we’re [made of meat](http://baetzler.de/humor/meat_beings.html). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/35 "2010-05-12T12:50:37Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > They’d probably just be really confused that we’re [made of meat](http://baetzler.de/humor/meat_beings.html). Thanks for the link, that was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/36 "2010-05-12T14:26:36Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Thanks for the link, that was hilarious. Not a bad solution to Fermi’s Paradox. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/37 "2010-05-12T15:01:52Z")
Would extra-terrestrials find us tasty? I always remember that old “Twilight Zone” episode…“To Serve Man”. Or are we probably unfit to eat? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/38 "2010-05-12T15:03:33Z")
Of course, their intentions toward us might be [even worse . . .](http://blog.cocoia.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/jabba-leia-throneroom.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/39 "2010-05-12T15:15:17Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > If they have the capacity to visit us (which is really bloody unlikely), it’s unlikely they would need anything we have when they get here that they couldn’t get more easily somewhere else. > > The only reasons I can think of that they might exterminate or conquer us: > [ul] > [li]They have some pathological, but irrational need to conquer/assimilate (Klingons, or missionaries)[/li][li]They perceive us as a threat at imminent risk of expansion into their sphere of control (which we’re not, and not about to be)[/li][li]They do it out of some kind of (possibly misguided) altruism, as an attempt to uplift or improve us.[/li][/ul] They very likely will be capable of thinking in terms of millenia-long time scales, or even longer (unlike our short-attention-span species which apparently cannot conceive of or worry about anything which might happen after c. 1 year), and, if they have developed the technology to get here from Far Far Away (which means it is possible), then we eventually will too, at which point we might become a threat to them. They may come to the very logical conclusion that we need to be nuked purely for that reason. This assumes that interstellar tech eventually will hit a wall, in the same manner in which jet transport hit a wall in the 60’s, and they worry that we will indeed catch up one day. If they are confident that they will always stay one step ahead of us, casually neutralizing our puny weapons at every turn, then we have less to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124/40 "2010-05-12T15:30:10Z")
Just in case, here is a handy tip sheet that we should all commit to memory or carry in our wallets: [If You Are The First Human Contacted By Aliens](http://www.laboiteverte.fr/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/first-contact-alien.png) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-aliens-became-aware-of-us-would-they-conquer-enslave-exploit-displace-exterminate-us/539124.md?page=3)