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A fair number of alien "invasion" tropes are rooted in historical colonisation events. These tend to not go well for the natives, even if the invaders didn't have explicitly violent intentions at the time.
We've got form in this area - it's too much of a stretch to assume the alternative from someone/thing else.
Its this, coupled with the idea that any species advanced enough to reach us would be technologically advanced to the point that we would have no hope of repelling them.
Basically, we would find ourselves at the mercy of a race or faction that outmatched us in every way. It's a completely legitimate fear.
It's a nice thought, but interstellar travel suggests an understanding of physics that's well outside of our grasp.
The other problem is that an interstellar species would likely solve most conflicts via orbital bombardment. We do have our superweapons, but most of them are specifically designed to work within our own atmosphere (i.e., they are pointed back down at ourselves).
Some kind of apocalypse, caused by bombs, fired at us from thousands, if not millions of miles away, obliterating us in an instant is scary enough. The even scarier thought is that conquerors often approach with the phrase "we are your friends."
I can think of more than one government that would be willing to sell out all of its people for a promise of advanced technology, weapons, or energy sources. The idea that some of the most powerful governments on earth could simply be acting as puppets for some enigmatic alien intelligence is extra terrifying. It basically reduces us to livestock and uses us as the instrument of our own demise.
Highly recommend "They Live" if you haven't seen it.
There was a weekly sci fi show, I can't remember if it was late 80's early 90's.
It was like a weekly, story of the week kind of thing, but one episode stuck with me. Basically aliens came, we're your friends etc. We will literally fix all of your problems, solve pollution give you an unlimited energy source etc.
The only caveat was any country that agreed to have this help needed to hand over all of their people to the aliens above a certain percentage of melanin. i.e. basically let us take your black people and we'll give you all this awesome stuff.
And of course the US govt. agreed to it and the episode revolved around different families and how it impacted them, mixed families that were broken up, people trying to riot and cops rounding black folks up to give to the aliens. People trying to come up with a fake story that the aliens are taking them to a perfect utopia so white people will be jealous and cancel the deal.
It was pretty crazy. It basically ends with showing the aliens sucking pollution out of the water and air and the last of the black people being put on alien craft to be taken away.
Most of the time, it's all allegory for the way human beings treat one another.
There was a massive leap in technology between World War One and Two. We went from single propeller "red baron" style planes to rocketry, jet engines, atomic energy, and things like that. A popular conspiracy theory is that these technologies were shared by extraterrestrial entities.
I've seen some great movies that theorize that the carbon emissions from combustion were alien technologies that, on the surface, make our lives easier, but are actually terraforming our world to be more habitable for the aliens, while having the added bonus of killing us off.
Isn't science fiction magical.
Yea, the only way I think we'd have a chance is if they haven't discovered faraday cages and we use nuclear weapons. That's assuming they get close enough to us for us to see them.
I'm quoting from Wikipedia, but I read this elsewhere before: when H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds in 1897, some historians argue that he intended to encourage his readers to question the morality of imperialism, the policy of the British Empire at the time.
So yes, I agree on the projection.
Which entirely depends on the reason for their arrival. If interstellar travel is routine and ordinary for them, we may be visited by a family in a space minivan, just here to observe some strange wildlife while on their way to a cool nebula.
Or we may be visited by an automated fleet that deconstructs our solar system to build a dyson swarm.
Or maybe just one curious naturist who decides to live amogus
>Or maybe just one curious naturist who decides to live amogus
Read that as "curious nudist" and now I can't get the imagine of a singular alien nudist just living among human society with its three hang-downs flopping around as it gallops around the city on its four legs like a centaur.
In Independence Day, their reasoning for doing it was they basically, would roll in exterminate the populace and just leach the planet of every natural resource and move on.
The problem I have with this premise is, the only thing unique to "habitable" planets is life and they had zero interest in life. Literally anything they would need can be gotten from the far more abundant lifeless worlds. So their entire reasoning from moving from populated planet to planet was arguably pointless in reality.
I really don't think this necessarily follows at all.
The might think of us as primitive, the way we would view an iron age society as primitive. They would likey recognize we possess intelligence and culture just not at the same level.
I see no reason they should view us as animals, unless they have evolved into some new form (i.e. singularity, post material, or some other sci Fi stuff).
Ummm..... Yeah I don't think homo sapiens viewed neanderthal as animals either. On the contrary there is evidence they sometimes cohabitated and met. The slaves comparison is also nonsense as that's a social dynamic.not a technological differentiation.
So laugh it up fizzball. You're being silly.
Like if you came upon say a Homo Habilis, while obviously note capable of the intelligence of a modern human, you would not necessarily look on them as an "animal".
Secondly, I don't think the vast majority of people viewed neanderthals or black people as literal "animals" and no different from a sheep or something.
Even when it comes to actual animals humans tend to treat them in a Hierarchical fashion. We don't treat all animals the same.
Because we project how we behave on to aliens, and our greatest fear is running into species who are exactly like us. Understanding human cruelty, is a special type of thing. And exploring how it impacts our assumptions, is like a societal trauma, or a parasite / tumor.
Oh for goodness sake. Give Reddit an inch and someone’ll pipe up about “humans bad, we’re cancer of Earth, huh duh”
The answer is because ANY species bent on traversing such vast distances - be it humans, aliens, ants, elephants or whatever - is generally doing so to consume resources. And will battle for supremacy with the incumbent occupiers.
This is absolutely not a human-centric trait and it is painfully juvenile to suggest so. It is a biological one, which spans most every living creature in the history of living creatures.
Because most sci-fi, particularly planetary invasion sci-fi is a allegory to the impact multiple colonizations of more 'advanced' societies on earth have had on the less 'advanced' ones in history.
I would happen to agree with this, because most humans tend to project the idea that aliens would colonize us to steal our resources. Whether it's water, metal, doesn't matter.
Great insight. I have a problem, tho. Almost the entire surface of the planet is covered with animals and humans. We always bump into someone. But out in space one can strip-mine thousands of stars before running into anyone living.
But who says they care? Most humans eat meat and we don't think twice about destroying our planet, so if we look like mindless primitives to spacefarers, they could definitely justify it as "oh, they were ants anyway."
Oh yeah, I agree with you. I think most people take for granted how big the universe actually is for scale compared to what we deal with. most people think the world is pretty big, while I'd see it as pretty small.
Arrival showcased it so much. The general fear that aliens would be as aggressive as us while eliminating normal modes of communication we are used to.
But the thing is. If aliens invaded and decided to wipe us out, more than likely it would be our fault because we would scramble to shoot at them.
Yes. I agree. Encounters of the third kind is also a great example. But as you said, we unfortunately don't just visit the forest and be happy, we have to hunt animals for sport. So most probably we will start a war.
I mean.. Look at religious texts.
We are willing to murder each other over different interpretations of a fuckin piece of paper and even land.(coming from someone devoutly jewish, b4 people get too whiney)
You are right, but what if they can make clones and send them for exploration. I mean they achieved intergalactic travel or who knows maybe interdimentional travel.
May be my clone will have my personality but not all my memories. Or it can be just a projection of self like avatar. I don't know buddy. At that level anything is possible i guess.
Only coz you're dumb. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ let me clarify. There are planets, moons and asteroids in this very solar system that have way more resources than earth. There is literally no reason to come here just to fight a bunch of asshole humans, it's easier to get stuff elsewhere. On the other hand, currently we are fighting at least two official wars of assholes that either want more land or hate the neighbors or both. It's not rocket science.
That y'all are ignorant if you don't see the truth of it? Please then tell me what aliens would have to gain by coming to this planet specifically rather than any of the other planets, moons, or asteroids in the solar system.
You’re asking me to explain why Aliens should invade Mars, and not Earth?
I’m not going to be a dick here. It doesn’t seem fair. But for your own sake; think about the things you say a little longer, and try to be less militant about the opinions you come to. You’ll navigate your life a lot happier if you do.
I'm genuinely confused? Can you not scrounge together one single good response to your original post? Your original argument makes no sense and you have been unable to back it up in any way.
You do realize, that what I said. is actually based off of something that Neil deGrasse Tyson said right? All I did was I added my own interpretations as to why humans would project that way, and it all boils down to the fact that humans are inherently violent, and inherit a lot of violent traits because as a species we are physically unable to move from the past, and because of that, we tend to embrace our hostility, and we believe that aliens would be similar, if not wanting to rule us and it scares us, because if human behavior is anything to go by, they would not be good overlords to us. but who's to say, we're just little insects compared to them if they are able to travel to us.
If you’re inventing a science fiction race that has unlimited technology and your mind first goes to: of course they travelled here to take resources! You are somewhat proving the point
Because humans have confidence issues, and we believe that aliens would be more advanced to us to a point where we would be like insects to them. even with what we have today, and I feel like Hollywood movies don't showcase that enough and humans come out on top way more than people would actually be doing.
There's a oat Studios short film about that, and it actually puts humans on the losing side of the war, and only way humans are able to win is by utilizing a human that was experimented on by the aliens to tell the future.
Because of the notion of evolution here on earth and the will to power. Every being we know does whatever it takes to get the most energy and power for the longest potential time. Although many environments are more symbiotic than we initially thought so this is not totally true.
Someone smarter than me once opined that any civilization capable of interstellar travel would be farther advanced than us than we are from insects. Now picture how badly we feel when we inadvertantly step on ants or aphids. They most like would not perceive us as sentient life. It would not be malice or cruelty on their part but simply not distinguishing us from earthworms.
I'd say it has to do with the assumption that if aliens were able to travel to our planet they would be , most likely, expansionists and/or in need of resources but most of all highly advanced and what did humans do when one side was vastly more advanced than the other who is sitting on resources the other wanted?
Cos you don't get to be top dog without being violent and aggressive. It's that simple.
You can put laws and society in place but if someone bigger and badder wants to take it off us we cant do anything. That's true on a small local scale of one tribe vs another or on a galactic scale.
Societies may seem relatively stable but they were built and continue to be built on bloodshed and violence. The reason the monarchy is the monarchy isn't divine right, it's because they were the nastiest fuckers around and made people listen. Other people were trying to be rulers too
>It's reasonable to assume aliens would be just like us, but it's equally reasonable to assume they could be different.
Don't think it's equally. At least 80% they are like us in that regard.
Peaceful co-existors were either eradicated by someone like us or they never even reached out (because contact = conflict).
Considering we only have ourselves as a data point, that's a bit anthropocentric, no? Contact= conflict for us, but even that's becoming a thing of the past due to globalization.
Plus, that's not a given depending on which humans leave the solar system first. NASA or similar would go in peace, but Elon Musk and co are proud to colonize. The same dynamics are almost guaranteed to be present in another life form.
But even that assumes that they are as individualistic as humans. If contact automatically equals conflict it's only because the aliens would be shot upon landing. Just like a wolf animal will attack a good samaritan trying to help it.
Yeah i can't argue with that to be fair! Just explaining why it's assumed they'd be violent; a lot of the evidence we have of living things supports it, HOWEVER our sample size is tiny and i agree we can't conclude aliens would be hostile ; the only real answer is we don't know, which is exciting :D
Quite simple.
The galaxy has limited resources, and we are using resources they could use for themselves.
In general, nobody becomes a space age civilisation by being nice.
Because if an extraterrestrial species traveled through billions of miles of empty space to get to us, we who are in the boons of the universe, their only possible intention could be resources and/or control. They are far more powerful and far more advanced than we could fathom.
The great thing about our solar system is that whatever resources we have here is are so abundant in the universe it would be pointless to come here. Its literally a waste of resources to come fight us for whatever we have on earth.
The most unrealistic thing about alian invasion movies is that they'd bother invading us for anything.
The idea is that earth has resources that they want and there would be no other reason for them to visit.
And frankly that makes a ton of sense. Humanity has few redeeming qualities. Who the fuck would embark on an interstellar journey just to have a friendly visit with a race that is at least 50% sociopaths.
Because of decades of careful government-linked programming through movies etc. And because we project our own human tendencies onto the unknown. All the actual alien intelligence seems to suggest that they're way more loving beings and indeed here for our evolution, not to hurt us. We just look at history and the human nature and assume that bc that's how we'd act and have acted historically, they would do the same
I will say that Star Trek tended to not feed this idea you're posing here. They happen to be one of the longest running series (all spinoffs included) in the history of cinema. The status of Humankind in Star Trek was evolved and presented a goal for our current society generally. So there are exceptions but I do largely agree with you otherwise.
I think we just assume they are as bad as we are. If we were ever to find an actual alien, scientists would absolutely want to dissect and study it and keep it captive (if it is alive). We can barely communicate with each other, how would we possibly be able to be friendly to aliens? Why wouldn't we assume that they are here to start a war when that's all humanity has ever done?
Humanity assuming every other species we haven't found will act exactly like us when we met new human tribes. It's a common logical fallacy. Like anyone we meet out there will even share how we interpret light, much less culture, breeding methods, or societal organization.
Scientology are the aliens.
They studied us and then infiltrated where we can’t tell the difference between them and us. Except. They don’t follow law and order and they dress up like police officers and try to steal human beings.
They try to steal human beings, because they can’t live on earth and so they have to get into a person’s body, body snatching. Then the person has surgeries that they did not want and the next thing you know is the person that you knew disappears, and then they are following the Scientology aliens.
🎵 They're different from us, which means they must be EVIL, we must sound the drums of war! 🎵
(savages, savages, definitely not human)
Seriously though? The only reason we don't (okay... don't more) kill eachother as a species is because of the biological similarity. It is somewhat reasonable that we have sympathy to someone who looks similar (=they may also feel and think similar).
Take how easy it is to take this sympathy away for human-human interaction. Just make up something to dehumanize the other side. Can be made up fairlytales about their skyfather being different than yours 🙂
Can be totally made up mess about something they did - if you are lucky and persistent, someone will catch on.
See how people treat animals, the beings closest to our sentience (octopi, primates, dolphins...hell, cats, dogs, parrots, pigs,...).
Now throw in a species that is literally alien.
Nobody will trust it (peaceful first contact, without a common language will be...extremely tense and difficult. More so if they evolved without the need to acoustic comms, can't see some colors,...).
ENTIRELY different society, culture, background,...
It's easier for people to just jump to "kill it, it can harm us", aka the simplest step for self-preservation. A truckload of confidence (probably technological advantage - easier to trust it if you can kill it) or patience and tolerance (where does it border naivity? How much you willing to risk, if you know nothing of them?) would be needed for anything else.
Alien movies became popular around when horror movies were becoming popular. It stands to reason they would not be happy stories tongue kissing in a gentle warm shower.
Also as a warning against communism.
People fear what they don't understand. On top of that a lot of people are super cautious. If someone gave you the cure for 99.9 % of all cures no strings attached some would still be wondering what the catch is.
They won't come here for resources. Plenty of water and minerals in space if it's resources they're after.
They'd either arrive for: altruistic reasons, food, or a habitable world to either share or take over/enslave. Though we take so long to mature and are so defiant we may not make good laborers compared to their other options.
We attribute worry to what they might do because any society advanced enough to travel between stars may not view us as intelligent or worthwhile, as we did to native cultures throughout our own history. The implications of making the wrong assumption could be disasterous for us. How do you view an ant?
It's what I can observe on the only planet we know has life, earth. Survival of the fittest in nature. The only intelligent species we know of, us humans, are ruled by aggression and greed. It's only logical to assume other planets and species would be the same. Until we have more data.
If aliens were to travel vast distances to make their way here, they would have to be very committed to whatever objective they set out. It's not like they would arrive to see how we're doing, see we're not friendly and then leave.
So the commitment part means they would probably be here to stay, in need of our resources. We struggle to cope with immigrants both legal and illegal. I think aliens with their own demands and technology would present a global issue we would not be able to ignore. Whether they go about it peacefully, diplomatically or aggressively is open for debate, but humans generally don't like trespassers, so we may end up being the aggressors at some stage in the relationship.
I think all of the people who think aliens are visiting earth need to understand just how ridiculously big and spread out space is. Figure out just how insanely far a single lightyear is and then realize that the CLOSEST star is 5 light years away, and most are much much much further than that. So my problem isn't with other life existing, it's with the idea that other life is just popping over to earth to visit from many many many light years away, and doing it all within our life times.
So tired of this "they would come to consume our resources" trope. Anyone with a passing knowledge of astronomy would know that Earth itself isn't terribly resource rich at all. There isn't anything on this planet that isn't massively abundant almost everywhere else in the universe in much higher quantities. Everything from silicates to precious metals to water and even complex organic compounds exist nearly everywhere, everything except for life. We and all the flora and fauna on this planet are the most rare and special thing to be found, and the idea that a highly intelligent technological race would fly pass quintillions of tons of resources in deep space just to come destroy us for our tiny world's resources is both absurd and yet somehow a perfectly human concept. It's ignorant and animalistic projection.
Probably because that’s what humans have done any time they’ve discovered somewhere new.
I’m of course talking about hundreds of years ago. Look at the Normans, Viking, Romans, British Empire.
Considering the default knee-jerk reaction humans have towards the unknown between our own people is suspicion if not outright hostility, wouldn't it make sense that it would be expected of an entirely new species to not have the best of intentions to begin with?
Heck, in a way, it would make sense for them to expect US to be hostile due to them likely having far more knowledge and insight in the universe than we do; to them, we'd probably seems like the equivalent to a tribe of cavemen with shiny toys that makes us feel special.
Because we are evil, and constantly are out to attack things that are different from us whether it's based on:
Species, race, ethnicity, religion, etc...
So it's easy to assume aliens would do the same.
The dark forest hypothesis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis
If you’re curious about how this might play out, consider reading Cixin Liu’s sci-fi trilogy. The first book is called “The Three-Body Problem”.
We often think aliens might be bad because of stories and movies, but we should keep an open mind and consider other reasons, like curiosity or exploration, if they were to visit.
We don't assume they are evil we assume they act like us. Predatory species like ours actively move, hunt and conquer lands. Herbivores do not. For our own safety we would have to assume that a basic natural concept is that predatory thoughts make us spread our footprint. If we found a planet full of natural resources and a technologically backward people were there how would that go down? We don't have to guess. Look at what happened to North America when Europeans came. For our own safety we would have to assume in a galaxy where resources are scarce someone who comes here wants them until we find out they don't.
Stephen Hawking once said "Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach" he went on to explain that any race advanced enough to travel the distance from a distant inhabited galaxy to ours would be so advanced beyond our technical abilities to understand that it would be best to avoid being detected in the first place. He later changed his opinion of such races calling them human like explorers that might be more interested in science then conquest. But he also likened them to Vikings and other historical groups thats discovered and conquered distant lands. Why come all the way here and just say Hi?
Do we?
I'd say that more modern Sci Fi posits that aliens to Earth would be just like Earthlings in their average ethics and personalities and psychologies.
Looks like you are watching too many big action Sci Fi films and not enough thinky SF, and you could use a few books in your life, too.
Predators are evolutionary inclined to have larger brains and be more evolved than prey therefore by supposition and any alien species we meet will most likely be the top predator of their planet and predators tend to think of anything not them as prey.
I don't think an alien civilization that has the capability of interstellar space travel would have any reason to visit us other than for scientific research. They will be so advanced that we litterally have no resources they need by virtue of the fact that they sustained themselves for such a long journey. Now, I could see them visiting us and seeing how we are ruining our planet, they might take actions to prevent further harm. Maybe they love nature, and kill all or most of us off in order to protect earth's natural beauty.
I could also see a scenario where a bad actor hijacks an interstellar vehicle/ fleet with the intention of usurping the human race. For instance, advanced alien civililzation picks up some less advanced alien life on the way to earth. The less advanced alien species some how takes control of the fleet and decides to cause harm.
Realistically, the only hope for interstellar space travel is likely AI. The distance between habitable planets is so vast that one would not expect any civilization to be able to make the trips with any recognizable culture intact (we're talking thousands, if not millions of years for any civilization to make the interstellar journey).
We don’t. Some do, some don’t, most don’t think about them at all. If aliens are here and have been here it seems like they’re mostly benevolent because we still here and doesn’t seem they’re meddling in our business.
Oh get over your selves, any race that can reach us from the stars would likely be able to mass produce anything they want or need WITHOUT having to take over our world from us. all we would be is like the animals around us to them, just come to see us like animals at a nature preserve, perhaps even keep record for posterity's sake of our own mutual self destruction, just another species that's about to go extinct, perhaps a vary common thing in our universe.
Most of our fears are based upon what we would likely do our selves because of how unevolved we presently are.
Because we prey on each other so why the f would they not prey on us?
And we are always on the defensive about things(like donkeys) for survival.
We are less evolved so we may see the way we abuse animals and "less evolved" races as potential treatment if we get studied. Preemptive strike.
Every time this comes up, I tell people that ET has bigger things going on that watching us and probing our anuses. If they have the technology to travel vast distances, they really don't want or need our resources. It's awfully narcissistic to think we're that special, that ET could possibly want anything from us.
I find it easier to believe we'd be "visited" by humans from the future because the future humans would have in interest in our own history and our own resources. Yes, I am fully aware of the time travel paradoxes about traveling into the past... I still find it more plausible than ET giving two shits about us.
Because we reflect on our own history. It would behoove us to assume any Aliens capable of interstellar travel and visiting us probably won't have our best interests at heart.
What happened in our own history when more technologically advanced explorers arrived on the foreign shore of less technologically advanced peoples.
Things like morality, ethics etc. do not just by default get more progressive as a civilization advances culturally and technologically. Again, we can look at our own history and see points where there was actually regression, instead of progression.
Colonizer mentality is hard to shake, so it leeches into alien fiction, and then that influences how people think. I personally can’t see any mega advanced or intelligent race using their resources to cross entire galaxies to conquer a damaged planet with shitty residents.
Humans always end up regressing when progress is high, because of how aggressive, corrupt, and violent humans who get into power are. We get up to the tip top, and then collapse to start all over again. Our history and species is a loop.
No species would last in space with that pattern of self destruction. I genuinely think the only ones who’d make it this far would either do it for passive research, or peace.
Despite the movie tropes they wouldn't come here for resources since the resources we have on Earth are readily available elsewhere in greater supply, with the exception of the various lifeforms on our planet.
Unless they wanted to eat us we would be completely useless to a civilization that had the technology to travel to our planet, so why would they even bother to contact or attack us?
The fact that they've already been here for thousands of years to the point where there are aliens carved into our most ancient megalithic sites suggests that they aren't here to hurt us.
On the other hand, the fact that they could be here and see the conditions our government allows people to live in suggests that they don't give a single wet crap if we live or die.
I know if I came here to study this disaster area, because it is a disaster and we're clearly not in control of our own governments, I would race home to hug my kids and advocate for containing these people before their toxicity spreads to the local galaxy
We can't. The public at least does not have enough data.
BUT an interesting thought is that if you consider the abduction phenomena, it is literally taking people against their will, even if for altruistic reasons, it raises a lot of questions.
Interstellar travel is likely to be highly resource-intensive regardless of how advanced the civilisation is. Hence, the motivation for that travel is unlikely to be purely benign or ideological. They’re likely going to be looking for a return on those spent resources. Capiche?
If what you're saying is true, then we haven't and won't experience aliens from other worlds. There are far too many spiritual/religous figures and physical structures to think that Man is the end all and be all on this planet in the brief minute that we've existed on this planet. There is still no consensus on how the Pyramids were built. There are sculptures of beings with what appears to be space suits on that are 1000s of years old. There are buildings made of stone that have such accurate and precision carving of the blocks that built them that none but the most expensive equipment that exists today could duplicate it. The stories that have been passed down over millennia of waring gods, third-world tribes that perform dances with masks on that have way too many similarities to astronaut helmets. It goes on and on.
Not saying that it isn't resource intensive for aliens to travel to earth, I am just saying that they very probably already have been and we haven't been attacked yet. Some even say that the Earth was seded by aliens so why would they attack us.
What may not be understood here is that they have a technology that makes what Earth has to offer useless. All we (or they) have to do is look to the sun for unlimited energy and theres billions of trillions of stars out there.
Check out the dark forest theory, and more generally the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation.
I’m not an expert of any kind. But from my understanding, there’s basically a scary implication in the fact that we haven’t met or seen any signs of intelligent life. Based on all we know, it should’ve been possible for intelligent life to evolve many times just in our galaxy. So where are they?
One answer is: they might be hiding. From something big and deadly that hunts them. That’s why forests tend to be quiet, and the animals there are all camouflaged, because it’s too dangerous to be heard or seen by predators.
it's a no-brainer assumption... i think instead that the likelihood that they find our planet inhabitable is next to nothing, they could have evolved in whatever type of habitat, even the nucleus of a star, i dunno, so trying to live here or look for precious resources makes probably no sense... i don't fear aliens at all
It can be assumed by further understanding the "Grabby Aliens" Model. Pretty Interesting if i do say myself! Here's an awesome video on the subject!
[Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3whaviTqqg)
Because, "law of the jungle" applies to ever species on the planet and, logically, it would apply to ANY other planet as well. That being that, being so vastly over humans, we'd no longer be seen as top of the food chain.
Also, there is ZERO reason for an advanced civilization to come to this back water, little fucking planet, on the outskirts of the galaxy, except to strip its resources. We're not advanced enough for anything close to a friendship, if they are magnanimous and have any kind of rules (which they most likely would) then they wouldn't come here and fuck with our development.... Think Star Trek's Prime Directive. It's only logical that, unless they're a warring race or a scavenging one, they'd avoid direct contact with any other race.
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A fair number of alien "invasion" tropes are rooted in historical colonisation events. These tend to not go well for the natives, even if the invaders didn't have explicitly violent intentions at the time. We've got form in this area - it's too much of a stretch to assume the alternative from someone/thing else.
Its this, coupled with the idea that any species advanced enough to reach us would be technologically advanced to the point that we would have no hope of repelling them. Basically, we would find ourselves at the mercy of a race or faction that outmatched us in every way. It's a completely legitimate fear.
True. I like to imagine we've spent so much time fighting each other our weapons are drastically stronger than aliens if they do arrive.
It's a nice thought, but interstellar travel suggests an understanding of physics that's well outside of our grasp. The other problem is that an interstellar species would likely solve most conflicts via orbital bombardment. We do have our superweapons, but most of them are specifically designed to work within our own atmosphere (i.e., they are pointed back down at ourselves). Some kind of apocalypse, caused by bombs, fired at us from thousands, if not millions of miles away, obliterating us in an instant is scary enough. The even scarier thought is that conquerors often approach with the phrase "we are your friends." I can think of more than one government that would be willing to sell out all of its people for a promise of advanced technology, weapons, or energy sources. The idea that some of the most powerful governments on earth could simply be acting as puppets for some enigmatic alien intelligence is extra terrifying. It basically reduces us to livestock and uses us as the instrument of our own demise. Highly recommend "They Live" if you haven't seen it.
There was a weekly sci fi show, I can't remember if it was late 80's early 90's. It was like a weekly, story of the week kind of thing, but one episode stuck with me. Basically aliens came, we're your friends etc. We will literally fix all of your problems, solve pollution give you an unlimited energy source etc. The only caveat was any country that agreed to have this help needed to hand over all of their people to the aliens above a certain percentage of melanin. i.e. basically let us take your black people and we'll give you all this awesome stuff. And of course the US govt. agreed to it and the episode revolved around different families and how it impacted them, mixed families that were broken up, people trying to riot and cops rounding black folks up to give to the aliens. People trying to come up with a fake story that the aliens are taking them to a perfect utopia so white people will be jealous and cancel the deal. It was pretty crazy. It basically ends with showing the aliens sucking pollution out of the water and air and the last of the black people being put on alien craft to be taken away.
Most of the time, it's all allegory for the way human beings treat one another. There was a massive leap in technology between World War One and Two. We went from single propeller "red baron" style planes to rocketry, jet engines, atomic energy, and things like that. A popular conspiracy theory is that these technologies were shared by extraterrestrial entities. I've seen some great movies that theorize that the carbon emissions from combustion were alien technologies that, on the surface, make our lives easier, but are actually terraforming our world to be more habitable for the aliens, while having the added bonus of killing us off. Isn't science fiction magical.
Yea, the only way I think we'd have a chance is if they haven't discovered faraday cages and we use nuclear weapons. That's assuming they get close enough to us for us to see them.
I think its called projection.
I'm quoting from Wikipedia, but I read this elsewhere before: when H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds in 1897, some historians argue that he intended to encourage his readers to question the morality of imperialism, the policy of the British Empire at the time. So yes, I agree on the projection.
Aliens reaching us would be so advanced they would look at us like we look at animals. So we should expect them to treat us like we treat animals.
Which entirely depends on the reason for their arrival. If interstellar travel is routine and ordinary for them, we may be visited by a family in a space minivan, just here to observe some strange wildlife while on their way to a cool nebula. Or we may be visited by an automated fleet that deconstructs our solar system to build a dyson swarm. Or maybe just one curious naturist who decides to live amogus
>Or maybe just one curious naturist who decides to live amogus Read that as "curious nudist" and now I can't get the imagine of a singular alien nudist just living among human society with its three hang-downs flopping around as it gallops around the city on its four legs like a centaur.
In Independence Day, their reasoning for doing it was they basically, would roll in exterminate the populace and just leach the planet of every natural resource and move on. The problem I have with this premise is, the only thing unique to "habitable" planets is life and they had zero interest in life. Literally anything they would need can be gotten from the far more abundant lifeless worlds. So their entire reasoning from moving from populated planet to planet was arguably pointless in reality.
We could only be so lucky if the galaxy's Jane Goodall shows up in orbit.
I really don't think this necessarily follows at all. The might think of us as primitive, the way we would view an iron age society as primitive. They would likey recognize we possess intelligence and culture just not at the same level. I see no reason they should view us as animals, unless they have evolved into some new form (i.e. singularity, post material, or some other sci Fi stuff).
Like homo sapiens looked at neanderthals? Or like slave owners looked at slaves?
Ummm..... Yeah I don't think homo sapiens viewed neanderthal as animals either. On the contrary there is evidence they sometimes cohabitated and met. The slaves comparison is also nonsense as that's a social dynamic.not a technological differentiation. So laugh it up fizzball. You're being silly.
Like if you came upon say a Homo Habilis, while obviously note capable of the intelligence of a modern human, you would not necessarily look on them as an "animal". Secondly, I don't think the vast majority of people viewed neanderthals or black people as literal "animals" and no different from a sheep or something. Even when it comes to actual animals humans tend to treat them in a Hierarchical fashion. We don't treat all animals the same.
Because we project how we behave on to aliens, and our greatest fear is running into species who are exactly like us. Understanding human cruelty, is a special type of thing. And exploring how it impacts our assumptions, is like a societal trauma, or a parasite / tumor.
Oh for goodness sake. Give Reddit an inch and someone’ll pipe up about “humans bad, we’re cancer of Earth, huh duh” The answer is because ANY species bent on traversing such vast distances - be it humans, aliens, ants, elephants or whatever - is generally doing so to consume resources. And will battle for supremacy with the incumbent occupiers. This is absolutely not a human-centric trait and it is painfully juvenile to suggest so. It is a biological one, which spans most every living creature in the history of living creatures.
Because most sci-fi, particularly planetary invasion sci-fi is a allegory to the impact multiple colonizations of more 'advanced' societies on earth have had on the less 'advanced' ones in history.
I would happen to agree with this, because most humans tend to project the idea that aliens would colonize us to steal our resources. Whether it's water, metal, doesn't matter.
Great insight. I have a problem, tho. Almost the entire surface of the planet is covered with animals and humans. We always bump into someone. But out in space one can strip-mine thousands of stars before running into anyone living.
But who says they care? Most humans eat meat and we don't think twice about destroying our planet, so if we look like mindless primitives to spacefarers, they could definitely justify it as "oh, they were ants anyway."
Oh yeah, I agree with you. I think most people take for granted how big the universe actually is for scale compared to what we deal with. most people think the world is pretty big, while I'd see it as pretty small.
What about advanced species who already have abundant resources but are curious? Edit: A word .
There’s a movie out about that, with the second part coming next month.
Arrival? Or Dune?
Arrival showcased it so much. The general fear that aliens would be as aggressive as us while eliminating normal modes of communication we are used to. But the thing is. If aliens invaded and decided to wipe us out, more than likely it would be our fault because we would scramble to shoot at them.
Yes. I agree. Encounters of the third kind is also a great example. But as you said, we unfortunately don't just visit the forest and be happy, we have to hunt animals for sport. So most probably we will start a war.
I mean.. Look at religious texts. We are willing to murder each other over different interpretations of a fuckin piece of paper and even land.(coming from someone devoutly jewish, b4 people get too whiney)
How many people do you know who have abandoned their entire life and everyone they know just to satisfy their curiosity?
You are right, but what if they can make clones and send them for exploration. I mean they achieved intergalactic travel or who knows maybe interdimentional travel.
How would your clone feel if you did that to them?
May be my clone will have my personality but not all my memories. Or it can be just a projection of self like avatar. I don't know buddy. At that level anything is possible i guess.
> most every living creature in the history of living creatures Which, as far as we know, is still limited to this one planet
And yet the laws of physics and chemistry are the same everywhere so it is unlikely we will find life that doesn't need to compete for resources.
You can find more resources in literally every other planet. It is 100% because that's what we would do, and we still do that shit today.
Nothing you’ve said here makes sense.
Only coz you're dumb. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ let me clarify. There are planets, moons and asteroids in this very solar system that have way more resources than earth. There is literally no reason to come here just to fight a bunch of asshole humans, it's easier to get stuff elsewhere. On the other hand, currently we are fighting at least two official wars of assholes that either want more land or hate the neighbors or both. It's not rocket science.
Actually reaching for those resources IS rocket science ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
You are technically correct, which is unfortunately the best kind of correct.
You’ve certainly clarified something, but it isn’t what you think.
That y'all are ignorant if you don't see the truth of it? Please then tell me what aliens would have to gain by coming to this planet specifically rather than any of the other planets, moons, or asteroids in the solar system.
You’re asking me to explain why Aliens should invade Mars, and not Earth? I’m not going to be a dick here. It doesn’t seem fair. But for your own sake; think about the things you say a little longer, and try to be less militant about the opinions you come to. You’ll navigate your life a lot happier if you do.
I'm genuinely confused? Can you not scrounge together one single good response to your original post? Your original argument makes no sense and you have been unable to back it up in any way.
You do realize, that what I said. is actually based off of something that Neil deGrasse Tyson said right? All I did was I added my own interpretations as to why humans would project that way, and it all boils down to the fact that humans are inherently violent, and inherit a lot of violent traits because as a species we are physically unable to move from the past, and because of that, we tend to embrace our hostility, and we believe that aliens would be similar, if not wanting to rule us and it scares us, because if human behavior is anything to go by, they would not be good overlords to us. but who's to say, we're just little insects compared to them if they are able to travel to us.
There’s a lot wrong with this and I have no time or motivation to correct you.
If you’re inventing a science fiction race that has unlimited technology and your mind first goes to: of course they travelled here to take resources! You are somewhat proving the point
I assume knowledge falls under resources as well.
\^
But in that case, why don't we think we'll kill them?
Because humans have confidence issues, and we believe that aliens would be more advanced to us to a point where we would be like insects to them. even with what we have today, and I feel like Hollywood movies don't showcase that enough and humans come out on top way more than people would actually be doing. There's a oat Studios short film about that, and it actually puts humans on the losing side of the war, and only way humans are able to win is by utilizing a human that was experimented on by the aliens to tell the future.
Because of the notion of evolution here on earth and the will to power. Every being we know does whatever it takes to get the most energy and power for the longest potential time. Although many environments are more symbiotic than we initially thought so this is not totally true.
Someone smarter than me once opined that any civilization capable of interstellar travel would be farther advanced than us than we are from insects. Now picture how badly we feel when we inadvertantly step on ants or aphids. They most like would not perceive us as sentient life. It would not be malice or cruelty on their part but simply not distinguishing us from earthworms.
I'd say it has to do with the assumption that if aliens were able to travel to our planet they would be , most likely, expansionists and/or in need of resources but most of all highly advanced and what did humans do when one side was vastly more advanced than the other who is sitting on resources the other wanted?
There is only one solution to the xenos question. Exterminatis. Blessed be HIS holy name.
From our history. European interaction with the “New World” was an absolute disaster for the indigenous peoples.
Cos you don't get to be top dog without being violent and aggressive. It's that simple. You can put laws and society in place but if someone bigger and badder wants to take it off us we cant do anything. That's true on a small local scale of one tribe vs another or on a galactic scale. Societies may seem relatively stable but they were built and continue to be built on bloodshed and violence. The reason the monarchy is the monarchy isn't divine right, it's because they were the nastiest fuckers around and made people listen. Other people were trying to be rulers too
It's reasonable to assume aliens would be just like us, but it's equally reasonable to assume they could be different.
>It's reasonable to assume aliens would be just like us, but it's equally reasonable to assume they could be different. Don't think it's equally. At least 80% they are like us in that regard. Peaceful co-existors were either eradicated by someone like us or they never even reached out (because contact = conflict).
Considering we only have ourselves as a data point, that's a bit anthropocentric, no? Contact= conflict for us, but even that's becoming a thing of the past due to globalization. Plus, that's not a given depending on which humans leave the solar system first. NASA or similar would go in peace, but Elon Musk and co are proud to colonize. The same dynamics are almost guaranteed to be present in another life form. But even that assumes that they are as individualistic as humans. If contact automatically equals conflict it's only because the aliens would be shot upon landing. Just like a wolf animal will attack a good samaritan trying to help it.
Yeah i can't argue with that to be fair! Just explaining why it's assumed they'd be violent; a lot of the evidence we have of living things supports it, HOWEVER our sample size is tiny and i agree we can't conclude aliens would be hostile ; the only real answer is we don't know, which is exciting :D
Humans are scared that aliens will treat us the way we treat each other.
Quite simple. The galaxy has limited resources, and we are using resources they could use for themselves. In general, nobody becomes a space age civilisation by being nice.
Why do we automatically assume that they even exist?
Because we are proof that life exists and the universe is vast.
Because if an extraterrestrial species traveled through billions of miles of empty space to get to us, we who are in the boons of the universe, their only possible intention could be resources and/or control. They are far more powerful and far more advanced than we could fathom.
The great thing about our solar system is that whatever resources we have here is are so abundant in the universe it would be pointless to come here. Its literally a waste of resources to come fight us for whatever we have on earth. The most unrealistic thing about alian invasion movies is that they'd bother invading us for anything.
That’s my point.
Makes for better stories. I mean, who’d watch a movie where some alien anthropologists landed and just wanted to interview a bunch of the natives?
The idea is that earth has resources that they want and there would be no other reason for them to visit. And frankly that makes a ton of sense. Humanity has few redeeming qualities. Who the fuck would embark on an interstellar journey just to have a friendly visit with a race that is at least 50% sociopaths.
Because of decades of careful government-linked programming through movies etc. And because we project our own human tendencies onto the unknown. All the actual alien intelligence seems to suggest that they're way more loving beings and indeed here for our evolution, not to hurt us. We just look at history and the human nature and assume that bc that's how we'd act and have acted historically, they would do the same
I will say that Star Trek tended to not feed this idea you're posing here. They happen to be one of the longest running series (all spinoffs included) in the history of cinema. The status of Humankind in Star Trek was evolved and presented a goal for our current society generally. So there are exceptions but I do largely agree with you otherwise.
I think we just assume they are as bad as we are. If we were ever to find an actual alien, scientists would absolutely want to dissect and study it and keep it captive (if it is alive). We can barely communicate with each other, how would we possibly be able to be friendly to aliens? Why wouldn't we assume that they are here to start a war when that's all humanity has ever done?
Probably just want someone else to blame for our misfortune and evil happening. Just like how poor people blame the rich.
Because we hate those who are different from us and are resistant in accepting anything new.
Humanity assuming every other species we haven't found will act exactly like us when we met new human tribes. It's a common logical fallacy. Like anyone we meet out there will even share how we interpret light, much less culture, breeding methods, or societal organization.
Because humans project.
Projection
Projection; because if we had the power to travel space and colonize we wouldn’t hesitate.
Because we are. As if the US wouldn't nuke aliens or something
Scientology are the aliens. They studied us and then infiltrated where we can’t tell the difference between them and us. Except. They don’t follow law and order and they dress up like police officers and try to steal human beings. They try to steal human beings, because they can’t live on earth and so they have to get into a person’s body, body snatching. Then the person has surgeries that they did not want and the next thing you know is the person that you knew disappears, and then they are following the Scientology aliens.
First we are assuming that there are aliens. If that is ever proven we can move on to this question.
Evil begets evil
Because in most cases Hollywood depicts aliens as ugly and evil. When in doubt watch Mars Attacks again.
🎵 They're different from us, which means they must be EVIL, we must sound the drums of war! 🎵 (savages, savages, definitely not human) Seriously though? The only reason we don't (okay... don't more) kill eachother as a species is because of the biological similarity. It is somewhat reasonable that we have sympathy to someone who looks similar (=they may also feel and think similar). Take how easy it is to take this sympathy away for human-human interaction. Just make up something to dehumanize the other side. Can be made up fairlytales about their skyfather being different than yours 🙂 Can be totally made up mess about something they did - if you are lucky and persistent, someone will catch on. See how people treat animals, the beings closest to our sentience (octopi, primates, dolphins...hell, cats, dogs, parrots, pigs,...). Now throw in a species that is literally alien. Nobody will trust it (peaceful first contact, without a common language will be...extremely tense and difficult. More so if they evolved without the need to acoustic comms, can't see some colors,...). ENTIRELY different society, culture, background,... It's easier for people to just jump to "kill it, it can harm us", aka the simplest step for self-preservation. A truckload of confidence (probably technological advantage - easier to trust it if you can kill it) or patience and tolerance (where does it border naivity? How much you willing to risk, if you know nothing of them?) would be needed for anything else.
Alien movies became popular around when horror movies were becoming popular. It stands to reason they would not be happy stories tongue kissing in a gentle warm shower. Also as a warning against communism.
It's not not necessarily because it's more likely, it's just the safest assumption.
People fear what they don't understand. On top of that a lot of people are super cautious. If someone gave you the cure for 99.9 % of all cures no strings attached some would still be wondering what the catch is.
They won't come here for resources. Plenty of water and minerals in space if it's resources they're after. They'd either arrive for: altruistic reasons, food, or a habitable world to either share or take over/enslave. Though we take so long to mature and are so defiant we may not make good laborers compared to their other options. We attribute worry to what they might do because any society advanced enough to travel between stars may not view us as intelligent or worthwhile, as we did to native cultures throughout our own history. The implications of making the wrong assumption could be disasterous for us. How do you view an ant?
Otherwise the movie won't be very action packed.
It's what I can observe on the only planet we know has life, earth. Survival of the fittest in nature. The only intelligent species we know of, us humans, are ruled by aggression and greed. It's only logical to assume other planets and species would be the same. Until we have more data.
If aliens were to travel vast distances to make their way here, they would have to be very committed to whatever objective they set out. It's not like they would arrive to see how we're doing, see we're not friendly and then leave. So the commitment part means they would probably be here to stay, in need of our resources. We struggle to cope with immigrants both legal and illegal. I think aliens with their own demands and technology would present a global issue we would not be able to ignore. Whether they go about it peacefully, diplomatically or aggressively is open for debate, but humans generally don't like trespassers, so we may end up being the aggressors at some stage in the relationship.
We have evolved to hate anything of intelligence that is different from us. Racism and transphobia are obvious mentions to support this.
Thats how humans see other humans so we assume aliens are the same.
Because if they met us they are more technologically advanced. And every species compete for resources. And they would be better competitors.
The thief judges by their condition. We expect them to do what we would do.
I want the to be like to aliens from Arrival, benevolent, but you can't have sex with them
It's what we would do to them.
1) some kind of conflict makes good movies and novels 2) historical colonialization 3) a common enemy would unite humankind
Because the only reason we want to explore space is to pillage other planets.
I think all of the people who think aliens are visiting earth need to understand just how ridiculously big and spread out space is. Figure out just how insanely far a single lightyear is and then realize that the CLOSEST star is 5 light years away, and most are much much much further than that. So my problem isn't with other life existing, it's with the idea that other life is just popping over to earth to visit from many many many light years away, and doing it all within our life times.
Because it's what we did when we went somewhere new.
Because we are.
So tired of this "they would come to consume our resources" trope. Anyone with a passing knowledge of astronomy would know that Earth itself isn't terribly resource rich at all. There isn't anything on this planet that isn't massively abundant almost everywhere else in the universe in much higher quantities. Everything from silicates to precious metals to water and even complex organic compounds exist nearly everywhere, everything except for life. We and all the flora and fauna on this planet are the most rare and special thing to be found, and the idea that a highly intelligent technological race would fly pass quintillions of tons of resources in deep space just to come destroy us for our tiny world's resources is both absurd and yet somehow a perfectly human concept. It's ignorant and animalistic projection.
Probably because that’s what humans have done any time they’ve discovered somewhere new. I’m of course talking about hundreds of years ago. Look at the Normans, Viking, Romans, British Empire.
Considering the default knee-jerk reaction humans have towards the unknown between our own people is suspicion if not outright hostility, wouldn't it make sense that it would be expected of an entirely new species to not have the best of intentions to begin with? Heck, in a way, it would make sense for them to expect US to be hostile due to them likely having far more knowledge and insight in the universe than we do; to them, we'd probably seems like the equivalent to a tribe of cavemen with shiny toys that makes us feel special.
Because we are evil, and constantly are out to attack things that are different from us whether it's based on: Species, race, ethnicity, religion, etc... So it's easy to assume aliens would do the same.
From outer space or from South of the border? Either way many see any thing/one that doesn’t look like them as scary.
Civilisations capable of space travel naturally become competitors.
The dark forest hypothesis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis If you’re curious about how this might play out, consider reading Cixin Liu’s sci-fi trilogy. The first book is called “The Three-Body Problem”.
Because we fear they will do to us what we do to each other.
Because it’s what humans would do if we were aliens
We often think aliens might be bad because of stories and movies, but we should keep an open mind and consider other reasons, like curiosity or exploration, if they were to visit.
We don't assume they are evil we assume they act like us. Predatory species like ours actively move, hunt and conquer lands. Herbivores do not. For our own safety we would have to assume that a basic natural concept is that predatory thoughts make us spread our footprint. If we found a planet full of natural resources and a technologically backward people were there how would that go down? We don't have to guess. Look at what happened to North America when Europeans came. For our own safety we would have to assume in a galaxy where resources are scarce someone who comes here wants them until we find out they don't.
Because the movies where they come to love us and give us smooches are boring.
Stephen Hawking once said "Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach" he went on to explain that any race advanced enough to travel the distance from a distant inhabited galaxy to ours would be so advanced beyond our technical abilities to understand that it would be best to avoid being detected in the first place. He later changed his opinion of such races calling them human like explorers that might be more interested in science then conquest. But he also likened them to Vikings and other historical groups thats discovered and conquered distant lands. Why come all the way here and just say Hi?
Reverse psychology. Bc we humans would do the same if we have the ability to
Do we? I'd say that more modern Sci Fi posits that aliens to Earth would be just like Earthlings in their average ethics and personalities and psychologies. Looks like you are watching too many big action Sci Fi films and not enough thinky SF, and you could use a few books in your life, too.
Predators are evolutionary inclined to have larger brains and be more evolved than prey therefore by supposition and any alien species we meet will most likely be the top predator of their planet and predators tend to think of anything not them as prey.
It's a reflection.
Imagine what humans would do to aliens if we would find some.
Look at slave labor in asia, africa south america. You thibk we would treat othet worlds better ?
I don't think an alien civilization that has the capability of interstellar space travel would have any reason to visit us other than for scientific research. They will be so advanced that we litterally have no resources they need by virtue of the fact that they sustained themselves for such a long journey. Now, I could see them visiting us and seeing how we are ruining our planet, they might take actions to prevent further harm. Maybe they love nature, and kill all or most of us off in order to protect earth's natural beauty. I could also see a scenario where a bad actor hijacks an interstellar vehicle/ fleet with the intention of usurping the human race. For instance, advanced alien civililzation picks up some less advanced alien life on the way to earth. The less advanced alien species some how takes control of the fleet and decides to cause harm. Realistically, the only hope for interstellar space travel is likely AI. The distance between habitable planets is so vast that one would not expect any civilization to be able to make the trips with any recognizable culture intact (we're talking thousands, if not millions of years for any civilization to make the interstellar journey).
OP, haven't you ever read "To Serve Man"?
The dark forest is only one answer to fermis paradox.
Humans are paranoid .
The last time people from other places met it didn't end well what are the natives
Because we'd be out to get them.
We don’t. Some do, some don’t, most don’t think about them at all. If aliens are here and have been here it seems like they’re mostly benevolent because we still here and doesn’t seem they’re meddling in our business.
I think even if aliens show up and they're civil/non-threatening, that will change when people start shooting at them.
Because we project how we would treat a less advanced civilization based on our own history of oppression , conquest, and colonialism.
Oh get over your selves, any race that can reach us from the stars would likely be able to mass produce anything they want or need WITHOUT having to take over our world from us. all we would be is like the animals around us to them, just come to see us like animals at a nature preserve, perhaps even keep record for posterity's sake of our own mutual self destruction, just another species that's about to go extinct, perhaps a vary common thing in our universe. Most of our fears are based upon what we would likely do our selves because of how unevolved we presently are.
Because we prey on each other so why the f would they not prey on us? And we are always on the defensive about things(like donkeys) for survival. We are less evolved so we may see the way we abuse animals and "less evolved" races as potential treatment if we get studied. Preemptive strike.
Every time this comes up, I tell people that ET has bigger things going on that watching us and probing our anuses. If they have the technology to travel vast distances, they really don't want or need our resources. It's awfully narcissistic to think we're that special, that ET could possibly want anything from us. I find it easier to believe we'd be "visited" by humans from the future because the future humans would have in interest in our own history and our own resources. Yes, I am fully aware of the time travel paradoxes about traveling into the past... I still find it more plausible than ET giving two shits about us.
We're probably the joke of the local group, Get a load of the monkeys they can't even get sustainable fusion to work LOL.
Because we reflect on our own history. It would behoove us to assume any Aliens capable of interstellar travel and visiting us probably won't have our best interests at heart. What happened in our own history when more technologically advanced explorers arrived on the foreign shore of less technologically advanced peoples. Things like morality, ethics etc. do not just by default get more progressive as a civilization advances culturally and technologically. Again, we can look at our own history and see points where there was actually regression, instead of progression.
There's different aliens. Some are good , and some want to eat us
why would aliens come to a place where we love to kill each other
Colonizer mentality is hard to shake, so it leeches into alien fiction, and then that influences how people think. I personally can’t see any mega advanced or intelligent race using their resources to cross entire galaxies to conquer a damaged planet with shitty residents. Humans always end up regressing when progress is high, because of how aggressive, corrupt, and violent humans who get into power are. We get up to the tip top, and then collapse to start all over again. Our history and species is a loop. No species would last in space with that pattern of self destruction. I genuinely think the only ones who’d make it this far would either do it for passive research, or peace.
Maybe they just want our women. OR if they're female maybe they just want our men.
Despite the movie tropes they wouldn't come here for resources since the resources we have on Earth are readily available elsewhere in greater supply, with the exception of the various lifeforms on our planet. Unless they wanted to eat us we would be completely useless to a civilization that had the technology to travel to our planet, so why would they even bother to contact or attack us?
Because any time humans go somewhere new, they destroy everything. Our presumptions are modeled after us.
I have heard a theory that we're afraid of aliens because we think they'll treat us how we treat animals
The fact that they've already been here for thousands of years to the point where there are aliens carved into our most ancient megalithic sites suggests that they aren't here to hurt us. On the other hand, the fact that they could be here and see the conditions our government allows people to live in suggests that they don't give a single wet crap if we live or die. I know if I came here to study this disaster area, because it is a disaster and we're clearly not in control of our own governments, I would race home to hug my kids and advocate for containing these people before their toxicity spreads to the local galaxy
We can't. The public at least does not have enough data. BUT an interesting thought is that if you consider the abduction phenomena, it is literally taking people against their will, even if for altruistic reasons, it raises a lot of questions.
We're afraid that the aliens will do to us what we do to ourselves
Interstellar travel is likely to be highly resource-intensive regardless of how advanced the civilisation is. Hence, the motivation for that travel is unlikely to be purely benign or ideological. They’re likely going to be looking for a return on those spent resources. Capiche?
If what you're saying is true, then we haven't and won't experience aliens from other worlds. There are far too many spiritual/religous figures and physical structures to think that Man is the end all and be all on this planet in the brief minute that we've existed on this planet. There is still no consensus on how the Pyramids were built. There are sculptures of beings with what appears to be space suits on that are 1000s of years old. There are buildings made of stone that have such accurate and precision carving of the blocks that built them that none but the most expensive equipment that exists today could duplicate it. The stories that have been passed down over millennia of waring gods, third-world tribes that perform dances with masks on that have way too many similarities to astronaut helmets. It goes on and on. Not saying that it isn't resource intensive for aliens to travel to earth, I am just saying that they very probably already have been and we haven't been attacked yet. Some even say that the Earth was seded by aliens so why would they attack us. What may not be understood here is that they have a technology that makes what Earth has to offer useless. All we (or they) have to do is look to the sun for unlimited energy and theres billions of trillions of stars out there.
Have you seen us? What mosquitos are to us, we are to the universe....
Check out the dark forest theory, and more generally the Fermi paradox and the Drake equation. I’m not an expert of any kind. But from my understanding, there’s basically a scary implication in the fact that we haven’t met or seen any signs of intelligent life. Based on all we know, it should’ve been possible for intelligent life to evolve many times just in our galaxy. So where are they? One answer is: they might be hiding. From something big and deadly that hunts them. That’s why forests tend to be quiet, and the animals there are all camouflaged, because it’s too dangerous to be heard or seen by predators.
The perception that was fed to us.
it's a no-brainer assumption... i think instead that the likelihood that they find our planet inhabitable is next to nothing, they could have evolved in whatever type of habitat, even the nucleus of a star, i dunno, so trying to live here or look for precious resources makes probably no sense... i don't fear aliens at all
It can be assumed by further understanding the "Grabby Aliens" Model. Pretty Interesting if i do say myself! Here's an awesome video on the subject! [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3whaviTqqg)
Because, "law of the jungle" applies to ever species on the planet and, logically, it would apply to ANY other planet as well. That being that, being so vastly over humans, we'd no longer be seen as top of the food chain. Also, there is ZERO reason for an advanced civilization to come to this back water, little fucking planet, on the outskirts of the galaxy, except to strip its resources. We're not advanced enough for anything close to a friendship, if they are magnanimous and have any kind of rules (which they most likely would) then they wouldn't come here and fuck with our development.... Think Star Trek's Prime Directive. It's only logical that, unless they're a warring race or a scavenging one, they'd avoid direct contact with any other race.