# Would space aliens be good or bad? Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175 "2007-10-10T03:30:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/61 "2007-10-12T13:09:28Z")
Given our propensity for violence I’d imagine that any aliens would be inclined to give us a wide berth. “Go visit Earth?” “Are you fucking looney or what?” “Whaddya mean, Oh mighty leader?” “Those earthlings are frigging dangerous is what I mean” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/62 "2007-10-12T16:16:53Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] But only an analogy. Just because there is a gulf of incomprehensibility between stone age technology and our own, doesn’t necessarily mean there is a similar gulf to be crossed in advance of our own (or rather, anything on the other side of that gulf). There may actually not be any possible technology that is to ours as ours is to the dugout canoe. [/QUOTE] I always liked this quote: "Everything that can be invented has been invented. " Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899 > [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Any civilization that could command such energies isn’t going to be running around in spandex tights zapping at each other with ray-guns and quantum torpedos, and they’re probably not going to have much interest in abducting people to stick probes up their bums or strip mine the Earth for resources more readily and bountifully available in space. Well, they may or may not be as gay as you describe. 😃 I think it’s niave to assume that advanced species would have any less propensity for violence than we do. For every advancement we make, we find a way to use it to kill or blow something up. Aliens may like the fact that plenty of resources are already available in one giant ball orbiting the sun. I think it’s also a mistake to assume aliens will be human scale and have lifespans in human timeframes. Aliens could be some sort of AI or biological/AI hibrid. If that were the case, I see no reason why they would be humanoid-sized creatures running about inside the shell of a larger ship like the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica or the Borg in Star Trek. They would probablty be closer to The Matrix where it’s just one big massive interconnecting network of hardware and/or biological parts. There would probably be smaller machines that take care of maintenance or sensoring, but for all practical purposes, such an entity would just be a massive, multi-celular organism that may be so large, it wouldn’t even pay attention that there are humans or other life on Earth. It might just perceive our planet as a big ball of resources covered with a weird luminescent growth of primitive organisms. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/63 "2007-10-12T18:42:45Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] I always liked this quote: "Everything that can be invented has been invented. " Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899 [/QUOTE] This probably deserves its own thread (if it hasn’t been done 27 times already), but other than telecommunications and computers, was there anything that hadn’t been invented then? ---
**Author:** ![anamnesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@anamnesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anamnesis)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/64 "2007-10-12T19:12:14Z")
I looked through the entire thread and so no mention of a metaphor that came to mind from one of my favorite films, Contact, so I thought I’d share it. When discussing the ramifications of building The Machine from the set of instructions sent to them from an extraterrestrial intelligence, the government officials responsible for approving the project state concerns over the device being a trojan horse sent to civilizations in the hope that they’ll build it, turn it on, and blow themselves up. Dr. Arroway, in the interest of science, says that such paranoia was ridiculous because we’d pose no threat to a superior intelligence, and compares it to us “going out of our way to destroy a few microbes on some anthill in Africa”. Her superior tells her that it’s an interesting analogy … because after all, “how guilty would we feel if we went and destroyed a few microbes on an ant hill in Africa?” Moral food for thought. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/65 "2007-10-12T20:27:58Z")
[Wormholes of a type may be possible after all (theory right now, but mathematicians say it is possible.](http://www.physorg.com/news111414146.html) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/66 "2007-10-12T20:44:58Z")
[QUOTE=msmith537] I always liked this quote: "Everything that can be invented has been invented. " Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. patent office, 1899 . [/QUOTE] Unlikely to have ever been said, though. [Cite](http://www.myoutbox.net/posass.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/67 "2007-10-12T21:00:17Z")
I have no idea what the answer is to this question, but I’d like to say that I initally read the title to this thread as “Would space aliens be good in bed? Why?”. Which is a lot funnier. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/68 "2007-10-13T04:47:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] This probably deserves its own thread (if it hasn’t been done 27 times already), but other than telecommunications and computers, was there anything that hadn’t been invented then? [/QUOTE] You’re kidding, right? Inventions since 1899? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/69 "2007-10-13T10:10:15Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] You’re kidding, right? Inventions since 1899? [/QUOTE] No, really. Any totally new inventions since? Not improvements or refinements of previously existing ideas. I am not sure about some biotech ideas, but other than telecommunications and computers, what is there that is new since? ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/70 "2007-10-13T10:19:47Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] No, really. Any totally new inventions since? Not improvements or refinements of previously existing ideas. I am not sure about some biotech ideas, but other than telecommunications and computers, what is there that is new since? [/QUOTE] Bacon Salt? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/71 "2007-10-13T13:25:06Z")
[QUOTE=bbs2k] Bacon Salt? [/QUOTE] That’s an improvement on coastal pigs. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/72 "2007-10-13T14:45:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] No, really. Any totally new inventions since? Not improvements or refinements of previously existing ideas. I am not sure about some biotech ideas, but other than telecommunications and computers, what is there that is new since? [/QUOTE] The airplane. Antibiotics. Nuclear weapons and reactors. Lasers. Space travel\*. Just to name a few. \*and don’t try to say that it was a previously existing idea just because science fiction writers had conceived of the notion. By that standard we’ve “invented” time travel, interstellar travel and teleportation. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/73 "2007-10-13T16:02:17Z")
The airplane, although I could plead for an extension since it was “invented” in 1903, was actually already invented long before 1899 (arguably since kites were invented). It hadn’t been a smashing success, but all the parts were already there and there had been serious research on it by then. Antibiotics, although not isolated as such, have been in use since ancient China and Egypt. Nuclear everything might be a good point. One could cite Henri Becquerel, but that is a bit of a stretch. Lasers are fancy lightbulbs. Space Travel is an iffy one. Rocketry has been around since forever. Ditto for ballistics. Same for life support and the will to go where nobody else has gone before. Putting all those together as space travel is hardly revolutionary. So I am adding nuclear energy to the short list of telecoms and computing. I hesitate on the internet as a new thing versus a refinement of telecoms and computing. Any thoughts on biotech? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/74 "2007-10-13T19:59:56Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] The airplane, although I could plead for an extension since it was “invented” in 1903, was actually already invented long before 1899 (arguably since kites were invented). It hadn’t been a smashing success, but all the parts were already there and there had been serious research on it by then. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sapo] Antibiotics, although not isolated as such, have been in use since ancient China and Egypt. [/QUOTE] Cite? [QUOTE=Sapo] Lasers are fancy lightbulbs. [/QUOTE] Wrong. Lasers are a synthetic form of light unknown in Nature. [QUOTE=Sapo] Space Travel is an iffy one. Rocketry has been around since forever. Ditto for ballistics. Same for life support and the will to go where nobody else has gone before. Putting all those together as space travel is hardly revolutionary. [/QUOTE] Wrong. Life support technologies are very new. If not, cite? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/75 "2007-10-13T20:22:48Z")
Using wiki as a one-stop shopping reference: airplanes: [Airplane - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroplane#History) antibiotics: [Antibiotic - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic#History) life support, you can find in the earliest diving bells (much earliear than I knew): [Diving bell - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_bell#History) As for lasers, lest we fall into splitting hairs, you could say the same about hundreds of other little components such as diodes, Continuously Variable Transmissions, flavoured condoms, Velcro, and micropipettes. They are all refinements and advancements specific to their fields. Not new things on themselves. Still, I will maintain that light generation has been around long since the discovery of fire. That this is a fancier, better light is certainly true. That we have uses for it different from what we normally use light for, is also true. Still, it is still generation of light. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/76 "2007-10-13T21:33:28Z")
Too many points to rebut; I’ll just say that I think **Sapo** ’s definition of “refinements of previously existing ideas” is overbroad. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/77 "2007-10-13T21:36:18Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Using wiki as a one-stop shopping reference: airplanes: [Airplane - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroplane#History) antibiotics: [Antibiotic - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotic#History) life support, you can find in the earliest diving bells (much earliear than I knew): [Diving bell - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_bell#History) [/QUOTE] [ol] [li]None of the pre-Wright brothers craft described in Wiki were airplanes. Gliders, hot-air balloons, yes. But none carried cargo. nor were they used for transport, nor were they powered & controlled. Calling these “early airplanes” is as exact as calling a pear an apple.[/li][li]The article in wiki cites another site, which cites nobody. This sound like New Age jabber to me. A better cite is requested, as Wiki is notoriously unreliable.[/li][li]A hose pumping air underwater bears no resemblence to a spacecraft’s air recirculation system. By **that** standard, holding your breath is “life support”.[/li][li]Lasers are _cohereant light_. Please locate a lightbulb that provides _that_, hhhhmmmm?[/li][/ol] :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/78 "2007-10-13T21:54:25Z")
I guess Lumpy’s post boils down the whole discussion. We would first have to agree on what is “new” and what is a “refinement” or an “improvement”. Enough for this hijack, I guess. Carry on. I would love to retake this one on its own thread if there is interest, though. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2007, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/79 "2007-10-14T05:31:36Z")
I think that space aliens who had the incredible technology to cross the vast gulfs of space and to accelerate and decelerete from and to billions of MPH in an instant would come to our planet and target the lonely,the underachievers and the mentally ill. These they would abduct at night and anally probe ,though sometimes they would mate with them to produce a race of slaves. They would have ways of overcoming the D.N.A. mismatch. Afterwards they would take them back home and hope that they wouldn’t tell anyone. Though sometimes they would send round humanoids dressed in black suits(to blend in)to reinforce the message but wouldn’t actually DO anything if the person blabbed their experiences to the whole world. Now this may all seem very fanciful to you but remember that these guys are ALIEN and so their thought processes may well seem totally illogical to you and I. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2007, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175/80 "2007-10-14T11:39:42Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Wrong. Lasers are a synthetic form of light unknown in Nature. [/QUOTE] Nope ! [Natural](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pasa/is_199508/ai_1671653129) lasers [do](http://laserstars.org/history/mars.html) exist, bizarre as it may seem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-space-aliens-be-good-or-bad-why/422175.md?page=5)