# If I Were To Find A "Stargate" Complex - Should I Inform The Rest Of Humanity? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 22, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025 "2013-05-22T15:27:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHeinrich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@AHeinrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHeinrich)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/1 "2013-05-22T15:27:25Z")
Let’s say that I happened to stumble upon a nano-teleporter (it does not matter how) and it subsequently transported me to a massive protected complex (within the Earth’s Core) which housed several “stargate” like portals. I subsequently found that these portals led to hundreds of thousands of uninhabited habitable planets within the Universe (both known and undiscovered). Should I then inform the rest of the human race? Or what would you do? ---
**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:** [May 22, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/2 "2013-05-22T15:45:19Z")
I would not tell. Fuck that. That shit is mine. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/3 "2013-05-22T15:49:23Z")
Depends. Can you exercise control over the initial nano-transporter? If you can, the riches of the world are yours, because you can sell governments access to the perfect population control mechanism. You could sell the rights to entire planets to combines interested in colonization. The Human Diaspora is in your hands. If you can’t control it, get together a group, lay claim to a few planets, then tell the world. Step back and watch the chaos. It would knock every religion in the world for 6, that’s for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/4 "2013-05-22T16:50:33Z")
Depends, do you or do you not want to be a jerk? I’d tell the rest of humanity _(edited to specify that I’d make sure the information is widespread enough so that humanity in general is aware and so that one or a conglomerate of countries can’t have uncontested control of the Stargate)_. And that’s not taking into consideration that if you’re the only person who knows about it and something happens to you it may be a very long time, if ever, before the location is discovered again. _is personally hoping AHeinrich is building up to some sort of revelation with these threads_ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/5 "2013-05-22T17:20:16Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It would knock every religion in the world for 6, that’s for sure. Why? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/6 "2013-05-22T18:36:36Z")
“Special creation” and all that. If suddenly there are “hundreds of thousands” of habitable worlds available, Earth ceases to be the center of Creation. There are now quite a few “Edens” to inhabit. Methinks this is a bit beyond current dogma of any religion. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/7 "2013-05-22T18:57:45Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “Special creation” and all that. If suddenly there are “hundreds of thousands” of habitable worlds available, Earth ceases to be the center of Creation. There are now quite a few “Edens” to inhabit. Methinks this is a bit beyond current dogma of any religion. Except the OP specified that none of them were inhabited. I’d think it would actually strengthen some religions - “See, God made these worlds but only created man on one of them” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/8 "2013-05-22T19:05:56Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “Special creation” and all that. If suddenly there are “hundreds of thousands” of habitable worlds available, Earth ceases to be the center of Creation. There are now quite a few “Edens” to inhabit. Methinks this is a bit beyond current dogma of any religion. Not at all. Do you really think most religions believe Earth is at the center of Creation? In 2013? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/9 "2013-05-22T19:28:55Z")
You release the info…but lie just a bit. Tell others that you have the ability to ship people to _one_ habitable planet only, no return trip, and see how they handle that information. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/10 "2013-05-22T19:31:37Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Do you really think most religions believe Earth is at the center of Creation? In 2013? Yes I do. So do they. At least metaphorically, if not physically. But that is a subject for a different thread, one in GD. Here we are discussing Stargates, care and feeding of. One of the key questions is how big the gates are and how fast can they process mass to transport. Also, can they be set to “one way.” ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/11 "2013-05-23T18:08:40Z")
No, because if I found something like that I’d assume **Skald** would be back shortly and I worry about pissing him off. I’m already on some watch list somewhere for not liking Miranda Otto as Eowyn and can’t afford another strike. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/12 "2013-05-24T00:43:56Z")
As I said in another, similar thread, since I’m not an explorer myself, I won’t be using it personally. So, yes, I tell. I don’t know the exact pathway. I guess I’d probably start by showing it to a local physics professor, since I actually do happen to know one. From there on, it’s his problem. I would like to get a _little_ fame and fortune out of it, but would never dream of trying to maintain ownership or control. And I hope the first guys we meet are Vulcans, and not “Reticulan Parasites.” ---
**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 24, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/13 "2013-05-24T01:35:53Z")
I would bury the infernal thing underneath several tons of concrete and steel, because all we need is one dangerous species of whatever (or just some sort of pernicious phenomena living or non-) to come through the thing to doom either the human race or the planet. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/14 "2013-05-24T05:47:47Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > No, because if I found something like that I’d assume **Skald** would be back shortly and I worry about pissing him off. I’m already on some watch list somewhere for not liking Miranda Otto as Eowyn and can’t afford another strike. I’m relieved to see that I’m not the only one that immediately thought, ‘Hell No’ I’m not going to tell the world about one of Skald’s projects without his sayso. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/15 "2013-05-24T06:45:58Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I would bury the infernal thing underneath several tons of concrete and steel, because all we need is one dangerous species of whatever (or just some sort of pernicious phenomena living or non-) to come through the thing to doom either the human race or the planet. Oh come on, where’s your sense of adventure? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/16 "2013-05-24T19:38:38Z")
“Well, so much for anyone caring about global warming…” ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/17 "2013-05-24T20:28:24Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > No, because if I found something like that I’d assume **Skald** would be back shortly and I worry about pissing him off. I’m already on some watch list somewhere for not liking Miranda Otto as Eowyn and can’t afford another strike. Oh, you’re perfectly safe. The Rhymer rules forbid violence against women except in self-defense, the defense of a child or children, or of other women. The most anyone at Evil Enterprises can do to you is refuse to give you any of the cheesecake I made yesterday. Which was, incidentally, delicious. The above should not be misinterpreted as a promise not to send thousands of bees after Mr. Cake, however. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/18 "2013-05-24T20:38:54Z")
Absolutely. Cashing in on the discovery is a secondary concern. This planet is terribly overcrowded, and under great ecological stress. Getting most of our population off-world should alleviate this strain. Also, more land and more resources should spark an economic boom, and provide more opportunities for the world’s poor to achieve prosperity. I’ve wondered before: How many people alive today would be willing to start a homestead on a new planet? Assuming that it’s decent land, and free, and they’re equipped with a starter kit of tools and other supplies, I imagine that a great many people would jump at the opportunity. I doubt that this would be standard practice for establishing colonies, but among hundreds of thousands of worlds there would be room for people who would want to take that route. > [@Asimovian](#): > > “Well, so much for anyone caring about global warming…” Let’s all spread out so that there are at most a hundred million people per planet. Ecosystems should be able to cope with that. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/19 "2013-05-25T00:30:41Z")
Also, find some hell-planet somewhere – totally unliveable, hyper volcanic, nasty – worse than Venus – and dump all our radioactive waste there! Get rid of all our other really nasty pollutants. (Jack Vance did this in his story “Rumfuddle.” All our trash went into a duplicate of earth where nothing lived. We dumped everything in the “Apathetic Ocean.”) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025/20 "2013-05-25T00:59:19Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > I’ve wondered before: How many people alive today would be willing to start a homestead on a new planet? Screw “willing.” That’s why I said I’d sell access to various governments. China, India, Bangaladesh…there are a lot of countries that would pay well to be able to “dspose of” various segments of their populations. Not to mention the US. It would be an elegant solution to the “Death Penalty vs Life w/o parole” conundrum. Just ship them of to someplace far away, to survive or not. Removed from society, a one-way ticket to Coventry. Placed in “[Infinity Hold](http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Hold-ebook/dp/B004089GX0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369443520&sr=1-1&keywords=infinity+hold).” (Hmmm…there’s a book in there somewhere.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-i-were-to-find-a-stargate-complex-should-i-inform-the-rest-of-humanity/659025.md?page=2)