h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

do u think that the goverment would try to cover up an alien landing? and if so why? it would be the greatest discory for science

That's a good question.

I think it would be purely circumstancial as to whether they wanted it to be covered up, ie(do the aliens want to kill us, do they want it kept secret, etc.)

I can see one good reason why some people would want it covered up, do you think that the human race could handle it? We're still killing eachother based on skin color and geographic location, how would we handle a compleatly different DNA pattern.

Though I think that if\when we ever get involved with aliens it'll be world news. Irrigardless of whether we could handle it or not.

So to answer your question, I think that they wouldn't, but if they did, they might have good reason, but I can't see it staying secret for very long.

Blizita
(praying what he just said made sense)

dont worry it made sense to me, i agree that it would be hard for most humans to accept something like that, but hey when u take a look at some of the stuff we find in our own ocean that seems really bazzaar but since people who work with them r used to them they arnt weird anymore, so the human race would be able to them after a while, but then i think that humans would try and attack the aliens for there teachnology and home planet

Either way, it would be interesting, still there's a quote from Calivin (and Hobbes), "The only sure sign that there is intelligent life in out there is that none of it has tried to contact us yet."

It's quite possible that any race recognizes us as a warlike race that doesn't need to be exposed to even better ways to kill beings and thus endangering themselves.

Blizita

i 100% agree with u on that.

I posted my similar thoughts about that in another forum, i recon that they would rather visit and comunicate with animals on this Earth than humans, the only thing they want to have to do with us is screw with our minds, crop circles, people seeing them but not enough proof to proove it, abducting our lowest representations of the human race so no one believes there story etc etc, quite funny isnt it

Of course we are are all working on the assumption that life on other planets would be move advanced that us. What if most of them are at the same stage as us, struggling to stay afloat in a sea of buericratic quagmire and putting their little toe (or equivelent apendage) in the great sea of space.

It makes for an interesting thought, particualarly if we somehow manage to talk to them, we could help both of ourselves up into the stars.

Blizita

it would still be an amazing discovery even if they r at the same stage or even lower than us because it would tell us that there is inteligent life out there, so we could search for more inteligent life elsewhere

That's a really fascinating thought. Communication with another race at a similar technological stage would probably lead to a second Renissance. I suppose Gene Rodenberry had a similar idea with the Human-Vulcan connection. The idea is vastly preferrable to most other alternatives for 'first contact'. Plenty of time to communicate back and forth before actually meeting. Exchange of thoughts and discoveries, sort of an interstellar cross race courting.

Hmm... an interesting thought just occured to me, would a meeting even be possible? Would a alien race even communicate in a form that we understand. they could communicate through electromagnetic pulses, or movement or through a sound range that is out of our range of hearing, or even through telepathy.

Also, assuming they have carbon based DNA, they would probabily have no immunity to any of the dieases on our world, and we would have none of any of theirs. If they are not Carbon-based (say they are silicon based) would they breath O2 even?

Though all of this does bring some interesting thoughts, we've been looking for "earthlike" planets, and dismissing planets like Mars and Venus as uninhabitable, because no human could live there, Venus would almost be perfect for Silicon-based life, as Si chains will break down in Oxygen.

Just some thoughts. Any thoughts anyone?

Blizita

I would hope for the aliens sake that if they were to meet us humans that they had superior technological advantage. If you take the disease, death, and destruction of the colonial era for example; obviously an intelligent alien species is likely to go through a similar process, would they be disadvanteged technologically. Or do the people of this forum think we as humans have improved as we have now become "politically correct". Or will such p.c. ideals be discarded if/when we meet a technologically inferior but intelligent race of aliens?

BeerDwarf - I think we would still exploit such a race. We would just be better at hiding it. Maybe that's why the government would cover up first contact...to better exploit the alien race. Crop circles could be desparate pleas for help...

Okay there are so many holes in the previous concept that we could be here all day. But I thought I would throw it out there anyways.

The classic line about cover ups is "we cant handle the truth".

This of course comes from a patriarchal system that does things to "take care of us" or "for our own good" regardless of what we want.

Of course we can handle it we do everyday, the powers that be, those bureaucrats who look down on us and treat us like children, are the ones who cant handle it. So in a sense it might just be for the best if our governments dont tell us, that way they dont have to deal with reality and they can give us false information like they have for ages.

One Russian author wrote that living in Russia has the most freedom, 'nothing the government says is true'while here in the West it is next to impossible to know.

My opinion is that the inhabitants of another planet would be treated as inferior and unimportant. They would not be treated as sentient, they would be in effect pets.

I would like to meet any 'alien creatures' that there are but I think it would be dangerous and they may be exploited or be made extinct.

Asprin

Pets- I really, really, REALLY hate that word.

The government is in the habit of coveriing up many things. I'm sure they'd find some justification for making alien findings 'need-to-know' information.

Having said that, it would be a difficult thing to cover up, wouldn't it? But then some of the 'government's' incompetent cover-up attempts of the past have still worked somehow.