Will the Aliens Be Nice? Don’t Bet On It

Well, let's get back to the speculation rather than personal side of it. After all no one's opinion is really proven wrong.

We have only begun to see alien planets and already the strangeness relative to our earthly perspectives are astounding. We have not yet, found a world that has conditions similar to earth. As long as we constrain our thinking by our earthly experiences, we may not even recognize advanced alien life if we saw it. Could alien life we silica, mercury or some other element based? If so, I imagine their eating habits or need for slaves, etc. may be entirely lacking. Along those lines, it is likely that such aliens may also not have a sound understanding of carbon based life and consequently appear to act ruthlessly when in reality they are only pursuing life for themselves. So many things are possible, but I fear that the more alien the encounters, the more likely, the perception of "not nice" will be born out.

Exactly right. Our life is carbon based. There's nothing to say it has to be the only type out there.

I would hope that if a civilization is sufficiently advance for star travel, they would know this and also have guidelines (like the "Prime Directive" in Star Trek) to deal with extraterrestrial life.

Conservation Voice wrote: Exactly right. Our life is carbon based. There's nothing to say it has to be the only type out there.

I would hope that if a civilization is sufficiently advance for star travel, they would know this and also have guidelines (like the "Prime Directive" in Star Trek) to deal with extraterrestrial life.

One can hope. That prime directive need not be universally shared though. "We are the Borg. Resistance is futile." Perhaps to insure such a prime directive becomes a guide, humans need to find their way to the stars throughout the galaxy. Oh man what an adventure that would be. it's hard to contemplate the excitement and perhaps nervousness one might feel in discovering alien life. It does not even have to be intelligent to get excited, probability arguments aside, right now all we know is we are alone in the universe. We can worry about the prime directive then.

To be clear, I meant the aliens having a prime directive as they explore the galaxy.

I don't believe for a minute we are alone in the Universe.

Conservation Voice wrote: To be clear, I meant the aliens having a prime directive as they explore the galaxy.

I don't believe for a minute we are alone in the Universe.

I would expect any alien being capable of exploring the universe to have a prim directive. Jut what that directive would be is subject for discussion.

Neither do I. Just the laws of probability argue for life in the Universe, and most likely in our own Galaxy. It would be so exciting to actually discover evidence of advanced life elsewhere. How soon will that happen? I expect the Columbus of space travel will sail to a alien shore and discover it that way may be in 500 years????

The theological implications alone are mind boggling.

Conservation Voice wrote: The theological implications alone are mind boggling.

That is something not relevant to my way of thinking. But right, there are gong to be a lot of believers jolted. Especially if the being is very alien. Then again, imagine if the alien were ghost-like......