Would you like to be the one that makes first contact?

[John Leister]

You bet

It is one of the dreams I would love to see come true
in my lifetime when we make contact with life outside
of Earth.

Of course in the ideal world I would love to be that
person that meets the aliens for that initial greeting,
even if they do blast me LOL

But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be
hostile. It's only in the movies and TV that we have
this idea of what aliens are going to be like.

[Manky Badger]

Post by John Leister
You bet
It is one of the dreams I would love to see come true
in my lifetime when we make contact with life outside
of Earth.
Of course in the ideal world I would love to be that
person that meets the aliens for that initial greeting,
even if they do blast me LOL
But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be
hostile. It's only in the movies and TV that we have
this idea of what aliens are going to be like.

Your bet would be an easy one to lose. The actual probabilities are that

an

aggressive expansionist race would be the first to reach us, specifically
because they're agressive and looking to expand. It is an unfortunate
reality that it does not take a pacifist society to reach for the stars,

and

that gettin to the stars does not mean you become peaceful.

Agree entirely. It's going to be so much hassle & expense to get to the
stars that any race is going to want some immediate return on their
investment.

MB

[David B.]

Post by John Leister
You bet
But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be
hostile. It's only in the movies and TV that we have
this idea of what aliens are going to be like.

I bet that the Native Americans thought that before the Europeans showed
up.

[Stephen Williams]

Post by John Leister
But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be
hostile. It's only in the movies and TV that we have
this idea of what aliens are going to be like.

Let's just hope they don't have any oil.

[Scott Lowther]

Post by John Leister
But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be
hostile.

Just hope the aliens don't have religion.

[Cory C. Albrecht]

Post by Scott Lowther

Post by John Leister
But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be
hostile.

Just hope the aliens don't have religion.

Personally, I'd rather hope that they do have some form of religion.
After all, it's was the Anabaptists of the 1500s that got the idea of
freedom of religion added to the concept of "basic rights", and the push
for women's suffrage and equal rights in the last half of the 1800s
sprang from the Christian Evangelical in the early half of that century.
The anti-slavery movement in the USA was also a child of the Evangelical
movement and the early push for desegregation grew out of church-based
movements in both the white and black communities. And in the modern
world organizations like Habitat for Humanity also came from chuch-based
origins.

Religion ain't all bad.

--
Go and rate all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!
http://www.sentex.net/~corya/PETW/
Cory C. Albrecht

[Joseph Nebus]

Post by Cory C. Albrecht
Personally, I'd rather hope that they do have some form of religion.
After all, it's was the Anabaptists of the 1500s that got the idea of
freedom of religion added to the concept of "basic rights", and the push
for women's suffrage and equal rights in the last half of the 1800s
sprang from the Christian Evangelical in the early half of that century.
The anti-slavery movement in the USA was also a child of the Evangelical
movement and the early push for desegregation grew out of church-based
movements in both the white and black communities. And in the modern
world organizations like Habitat for Humanity also came from chuch-based
origins.
Religion ain't all bad.

Oh, now, there you go again, bringing actual facts into debate
on Usenet, when we have our perfectly good stereotypes of the evils of
all organized religion to inform us. You should know better.

Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Cory C. Albrecht]

Post by Joseph Nebus

Post by Cory C. Albrecht
Religion ain't all bad.

Oh, now, there you go again, bringing actual facts into debate
on Usenet, when we have our perfectly good stereotypes of the evils of
all organized religion to inform us. You should know better.

Terribly sorry. I shall do my best to never do that again. Or at least
not until I find the reset button to let me do so. :-)

--
Go and rate all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!
http://www.sentex.net/~corya/PETW/
Cory C. Albrecht

[Zombie Elvis]

Post by John Leister
But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be
hostile. It's only in the movies and TV that we have
this idea of what aliens are going to be like.

Your bet would be an easy one to lose. The actual probabilities are that

an

aggressive expansionist race would be the first to reach us, specifically
because they're agressive and looking to expand. It is an unfortunate
reality that it does not take a pacifist society to reach for the stars,

and

that gettin to the stars does not mean you become peaceful.

The truth is that we simply don't know for sure. An aggressive race might
blow itself up long before achieving interstellar travel or it might
develop interstellar travel even faster so it can conquer other worlds.
Then there's always the Fermi Paradox which suggests that any space-faring
race (aggressive or otherwise) could colonize the entire galaxy so quickly
-- 10 million years at sublight speeds which is very quick compared to the
age of our galaxy -- that no other race would be able to catch up. So we
have to ask the question, if aliens exist then why aren't they here?

There are numerous answers to the Fermi Paradox including galaxy wide mass
extinctions and the idea that intelligent life is extremely rare and has
only developed on Earth so far. Another possibility is that the races that
do make it into space and colonize it in a big way are the types of
civilized races that the original poster wants to meet. In that case, they
are likely to go out of their way to avoid humans until they decide we are
ready and the types of aliens you do tend to meet will be juvenile
deliquents like Q or Trelane who'll torture you for fun.

[John Leister]

Similarly on the other hand what if Cochrane had shot the
Vulcans instead of meeting them on friendly terms prior to
Picard's revised entry into the timeline?

[Daniel]

Post by John Leister
You bet
It is one of the dreams I would love to see come true
in my lifetime when we make contact with life outside
of Earth.
Of course in the ideal world I would love to be that
person that meets the aliens for that initial greeting,
even if they do blast me LOL
But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be
hostile. It's only in the movies and TV that we have
this idea of what aliens are going to be like.

I am quite aware this is a dead post from over twenty years ago. It is
still an interesting question.

There was a period in my life where I had an opportunity to apply to the
astronaut corps. It was a serious contemplation until I found out that
they swallow their toothpaste while brushing their teeth. Yes, that was
my breaking point. As time went on, there were other things on the
realities of the job that doesn't appeal to me.

Then the question arises about dreams of first contact. Would I want to
be the one contacting an alien race? Nope, I'll be happy enough reading
about it in the paper.

What say yalls?

Daniel

[Daniel70]

Post by Daniel

Post by John Leister
You bet
It is one of the dreams I would love to see come true in my
lifetime when we make contact with life outside of Earth.

.... but haven't many, many people claimed they HAVE encounter ET's
previously?? ;-P

Post by Daniel

Post by John Leister
Of course in the ideal world I would love to be that person that
meets the aliens for that initial greeting, even if they do blast
me LOL
But I am betting any race that can reach us won't be hostile. It's
only in the movies and TV that we have this idea of what aliens
are going to be like.

I am quite aware this is a dead post from over twenty years ago. It
is still an interesting question.
There was a period in my life where I had an opportunity to apply to
the astronaut corps. It was a serious contemplation until I found
out that they swallow their toothpaste while brushing their teeth.

A couple of years ago I was advised by my Dentist to do this (swallow
used toothpaste). She may have been suggesting (politely!!) that I
should be using a mouth-wash!! ;-P

Post by Daniel
Yes, that was my breaking point. As time went on, there were other
things on the realities of the job that doesn't appeal to me.
Then the question arises about dreams of first contact. Would I want
to be the one contacting an alien race? Nope, I'll be happy enough
reading about it in the paper.
What say yalls?
Daniel

[Daniel70]

Post by Daniel70

Post by John Leister
You bet
It is one of the dreams I would love to see come true in my lifetime
when we make contact with life outside of Earth.

.... but haven't many, many people claimed they HAVE encounter ET's
previously?? ;-P

And, in one of my other newsgroups tonight ....

We are not alone!! ;-P

[superkuh]

No, definitely not. I don't think any possible first contact is going to
be pleasant for the humans.

Post by Daniel
What say yalls?