# Real alien spacecraft observed- what would happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 17, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480 "2011-12-17T00:27:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/21 "2011-12-20T09:19:13Z")
> [@colonial](#): > > I have my doubts about that NASA moon stuff too, but it has nothing to do > with UFOs, so let’s not derail the tread, OK? > > All this would have been taken care of already if I had just had my i-Berry > with me just one of those times I experienced. It now dawns on me that > I might have to share royalites if anyone else gets any pictures which would > piss me off since I assuredly had the most recent sighting and deserve it all, > but what can you do? not sure if logic is of any use here, but anyhoo So, these inter stellar visitors, who have taken pains not to be detected generally, will be undone by a Blackberry? They won’t have the technology to detect and disable a crappy earth phone? I’m not disputing the strong possbility of extra terrestrial life _somewhere_ in the universe, but I’m not buying that they’re here and abducting. You want me to believe? Then let’s see some proof. I won’t hold my breath. In answer to the OP, incontrevertible proof of advanced alien life with the capability to reach us would surely be a game changer. Worrying about the colour/religion of your neighbour would become somewhat moot in the knowsedge of another sentient non terrestrial species. I think it would take a while before the speciesism?(what word would you use here) would die down. Also I wonder what scientific advances would be spawned just by being able to detect drive emissions etc from the observed craft. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/22 "2011-12-20T14:02:05Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > So, these inter stellar visitors, who have taken pains not to be detected generally, will be undone by a Blackberry? They won’t have the technology to detect and disable a crappy earth phone? Not to defend the story in general, but I don’t like these arguments for several reasons. One is that I’m sure any super advanced race isn’t immune to mistakes (didn’t notice it, forgot to follow protocol, “I thought YOU swiped his communicator… uh oh”), it’s possible they could slip up. Secondly, just because they’re masters of interstellar travel doesn’t mean they’re gods of electronics, there’s every possibility that their technology simply never dealt with anything like cell phones for various reasons (need never developed, so advanced that the technology is long forgotten and so is any means of jamming it, went down different technological path that led to space travel faster but left them behind on other things we find laughably simple). Finally there are other reasons they may not deal with it, such as assuming that any evidence will be dismissed by our authorities and not bothering, assuming we’re not that technologically advanced (i.e. they haven’t scoped us out enough to know our capabilities), or even thinking that our device is similar to their digital omnitools and using the same disabling techniques, despite the fact that they don’t work on our stuff (since it’s too primitive/not compatible). Anyway, I’m not sure what would come of it. I’m sure abduction stories would rise 10-fold, people looking for 15 minutes of fame. We’d probably blare out radio signals on every frequency in every direction for years afterwards. SETI and NASA would get tons of funding, and some cults would develop. Other than that, I don’t think much would come of it other than some mild philosophical changes would occur, mostly in the realm of arguments about aliens. Hell, if they never visited again, in 300 years you’d probably have people arguing about whether it was digital photo and video manipulation and extremely peculiar mass hysteria. I don’t think one visit would do it, we’d need either contact, to board/land on the ship, or have multiple visits for it to make RADICAL changes to daily life. ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/23 "2011-12-20T16:49:32Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Because in spite of having an extraordinary claim, you don’t seem to have any evidence, even though for the sort of claims you’re making, you _really should_ have evidence. > > You shouldn’t be at all surprised nobody takes you seriously (and I mean that in the most impassionate sense possible) I have already covered all this well enough and owned up to my mistakes, I think, as in mia cupola (Mio copula? Whatever). I was hoping all the delectable detail I had to offer about those female ETIs who abducted me would at least get some kind of publicity rolling, but it seems there is so much sex stuff available everywhere these days that even a great story about how these ETI dames aren’t pink but green as to a certain part of their anatomy did not seem to get anyone interested. Also, in mighty contrast to human females they are always willing to oblige, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I wish they had never turned me loose! > [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > not sure if logic is of any use here, but anyhoo > > So, these inter stellar visitors, who have taken pains not to be detected generally, will be undone by a Blackberry? They won’t have the technology to detect and disable a crappy earth phone? Logic is of plenteous use- to me! Your premise is that these ETIs could outsmart yours truly here once he has sat down and thought things out, and the premise is debatable that anything in the whole damn universe could do that! > [@One And Only Wanderers](#): > > I’m not disputing the strong possbility of extra terrestrial life somewhere in the universe, but I’m not buying that they’re here and abducting. You want me to believe? Then let’s see some proof. I won’t hold my breath. I’ve covered this. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/24 "2011-12-20T17:09:32Z")
Stories are ten a penny. How are we, the audience, supposed to tell the difference between your acvount and something Gene Roddenberry just made up? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/25 "2011-12-20T17:18:17Z")
It’s the “delectable detail I had to offer about those female ETIs” that convinces me. It’s an elaborate ruse. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/26 "2011-12-20T17:37:24Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Funny thing you mention digital photography, I have plenty of experience on it and to begin with, the previous discussion was relevant to the reliability of digital still images, the conclusion was that there is very little to rely on as anyone with experience with Photoshop could tell you. Even video. I mean heck I just watched a bunch of Federation ships engage a combined GemHadar and Cardassian fleet, luckily the Klingons arrived just in time. I have video, it REALLY HAPPENED! Unfortunately these guys stole the lightsabers I was going to use as proof of my visit to the Jedi Temple. [http://videosift.com/video/Best-home-made-lightsaber-duel-ever](http://videosift.com/video/Best-home-made-lightsaber-duel-ever) Or we could reference these great examples hundreds of witnesses each, how could we ever question one mans honor when there is sooo much evidence out there. https://www.youtube.com/embed/NTb9CVqtCDw?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque 😃 ---
**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/27 "2011-12-20T17:44:15Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Stories are ten a penny. How are we, the audience, supposed to tell the difference between your acvount and something Gene Roddenberry just made up? Rodenberry never went into the delectable details that I have to offer! [QUOTE=DrFidelius] It’s the “delectable detail I had to offer about those female ETIs” that convinces me. It’s an elaborate ruse. [/quote] Funny you should say that. Sometimes short words can be harder to understand than long words, and I have to admit I had to look up r-u-s-e at a net dictionary to get the drift. One good thing about the computer is that you don’t have to waste space by filling it up with junk such as books. I doesn’t bother me any more that honest souls like me are to be doubted. People hate to find out they have been played for chumps, so it is only au naturel that they should view stories about ET Amazons with green labials with a high degree of suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/28 "2011-12-20T17:49:17Z")
In the last century, UFOs and alien numbers have gone way up, but Succubae and Witch populations are in decline. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/29 "2011-12-20T18:08:20Z")
> [@colonial](#): > > Rodenberry never went into the delectable details that I have to offer! > . Piers Anthony then - but that’s not the point. The point is this: Talk is cheap - do you have anything that \*isn’t \* talk? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/30 "2011-12-20T18:56:44Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Not to defend the story in general, but I don’t like these arguments for several reasons. One is that I’m sure any super advanced race isn’t immune to mistakes (didn’t notice it, forgot to follow protocol, “I thought YOU swiped his communicator… uh oh”), it’s possible they could slip up. Secondly, just because they’re masters of interstellar travel doesn’t mean they’re gods of electronics, there’s every possibility that their technology simply never dealt with anything like cell phones for various reasons (need never developed, so advanced that the technology is long forgotten and so is any means of jamming it, went down different technological path that led to space travel faster but left them behind on other things we find laughably simple). Reminds me of a 1985 SNL sketch (I believe the host was Alex Karras) in which Earth gets visited by very arrogant, very overconfident aliens. From memory: [the humans have been reading a book the aliens gave them, describing the aliens’ history and with the full expectation that humanity will be awed by their greatness] Nora Dunn: Well, we’ve read their book carefully and our conclusion is they’re three to four hundred years behind us. Karras: What? That can’t be right. Dunn: Yep. We can see why they wanted this book back - it’s hand-printed. They don’t even have movable type. Karras: But they came here in a spaceship. Dunn: Our best guess is: they found it. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/31 "2011-12-20T20:09:53Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > In the last century, UFOs and alien numbers have gone way up, but Succubae and Witch populations are in decline. If you lived near area 51, had a mexican gardner, an ex wife and an ex mother in law you wouldn’t be saying that… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/32 "2011-12-20T21:20:03Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > You should also carry a mouth-organ. For protection, of course. No, the ETs have mouth organs. Lets them have sex without taking their clothes off. Very efficient. (Which TZ is that? Don’t remember it from the original.) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/33 "2011-12-20T21:21:14Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > The budgets of NASA and the Pentagon would be switched. No, they’d be merged. But it would be interesting to see if just the knowledge of ETs would lead to more unity on earth, or if it would take a threat to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/34 "2011-12-20T22:15:10Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > But it would be interesting to see if just the knowledge of ETs would lead to more unity on earth, Unlikely > [@](#): > > or if it would take a threat to do that. Possibly, but only temporarily. How well can we detect ET spacecraft within the solar system? Say they don’t come near Earth, but set up shop near Jupiter for example. ---
**Author:** ![Ennui](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ennui/32/3396_2.png) [@Ennui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ennui)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/35 "2011-12-21T00:28:56Z")
**colonial** , and I mean this with all respect, the OP asked a very interesting question and your experiences, as interesting as they may be, don’t really fit into the debate that was framed here. The OP asked how incontrovertible proof of extraterrestrial life being aware of our planet, and able to get here, would affect our world. You seem to be asking why no one gives enough attention to your claims. I’d invite you to open a separate thread if you feel the desire to discuss what’s happened to you but this isn’t really the thread to do that in. Back to the topic at hand, I guess the nature of the contact would shape some of the response. A giant space ship floating for hours over a city with enough people to photograph it widely would be startling but what does it do next? I’m sure aircraft, military and otherwise would be dispatched to investigate, what does the ET do when they get a close flyby from a pair of fighter jets? Absolute proof that we are not alone and someone else can get close enough perhaps to attack us would force us to stop competing with our rival humans over terrestrial resources and start looking for ways to work together to keep any other species from out competing us for those resources (and perhaps how to get our hands on the other species resources). That would of course be a total reorientation of our collective political psyches but it would be the inevitable direction we’d start heading. How quickly we got there would depend on the level of the perceived threat, if the ET’s just showed up now and again and say, only abducted a few random citizens (but returning them) we could probably go on our merry way for quite a while, if cities start getting vaporized from orbit I’d imagine a lot of mutual military cooperation by midnight. ---
**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:** [December 21, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/36 "2011-12-21T07:04:35Z")
Maybe it would generate a spirit of universal cooperation and harmony. But I think it’s slightly more likely it would set nations against one another - on paper, I’m sure the objective would be a united response, but there would be a fight over who gets to oversee and direct, and a fight over whose resources we can plunder and distribute to make it work. ---
**Author:** ![Consensus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@Consensus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Consensus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/37 "2011-12-21T13:53:53Z")
> [@Ennui](#): > > Absolute proof that we are not alone and someone else can get close enough perhaps to attack us would force us to stop competing with our rival humans over terrestrial resources and start looking for ways to work together to keep any other species from out competing us for those resources (and perhaps how to get our hands on the other species resources). I don’t see how ending the little league competition and entering the major league is going to do any good, but I guess if the majors want to play we have no choice in the matter. So it’s not that important what we’re going to do, it’s all about what their intentions are. > [@Ennui](#): > > if cities start getting vaporized from orbit I’d imagine a lot of mutual military cooperation by midnight. And more vapor at 12:01 ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/38 "2011-12-21T23:51:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [insert your own anal-probe joke here] …and so I said “if I could insert my _own_ anal-probe there, I wouldn’t need to see the doctor!” ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/39 "2011-12-28T00:08:39Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > …and so I said “if I could insert my _own_ anal-probe there, I wouldn’t need to see the doctor!” That’s what SHE said! (rim shot) Anyways, if we find that we are up against a species that has obviously solved faster than light travel and has city sized ships that can vaporize the entire city, we are fucked in all sorts of ways. I don’t know that our combined worldwide military might can do anything against that type of power… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480/40 "2011-12-28T01:34:52Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > That’s what SHE said! (rim shot) > > Anyways, if we find that we are up against a species that has obviously solved faster than light travel and has city sized ships that can vaporize the entire city, we are fucked in all sorts of ways. I don’t know that our combined worldwide military might can do anything against that type of power… History has proven that interplanetary invaders are astonishingly vulnerable to viruses, whether biological or digital. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-alien-spacecraft-observed-what-would-happen/606480.md?page=3)