I find the topic of UFOs and contact with aliens somewhat fascinating, but exhausting since many people interested in these theories also believe aliens are in control of our government, but if this is true why are we still capitalist? :posadas:
For real though, I was discussing recently about the possibility of alien civs coming in contact with Earth. I proposed that if aliens made contact with earth, there's 3 possible scenarios. They're some kind of type 2 or 3 civilization that is willing to exploit the earth's resources, in which case we are ants to them and they'd see no issue devastating us with the kinds of technology they've acquired. Another possibility is that they're a benign civilization looking for a hospitable planet because they overexploited their own, like we're doing. Then the most optimistic possibility, that they're a benevolent type 2 or 3 civilization that will usher us out of the dark age of our clearly unethical and inefficient distribution of resources. I know these aren't the only possibilities, but they're the only ones I can envision being likely. The first and last are obviously untrue, IMO the only reason aliens could know about Earth and come here but not change our way of life much is that they're looking for a place they can sustain themselves in, while not making a huge fuss with the local population.
I think the scenarios for alien contact you lay out assume too much that the aliens think and act like we do. If there are galaxy-traveling aliens out there and they made contact with us, I think it might be hard to distinguish their contact from some kind of cosmic cataclysmic event - imagine an anthill that sits near where they're building a highway. From this POV, the "good ending" is one where we are coincidentally unaffected by contact and can even use the observations we make during it to advance ourselves a bit, and the "bad ending" is the one where we get paved over by a civilization that doesn't even realize we're here.
I find the topic of UFOs and contact with aliens somewhat fascinating, but exhausting since many people interested in these theories also believe aliens are in control of our government, but if this is true why are we still capitalist? :posadas:
For real though, I was discussing recently about the possibility of alien civs coming in contact with Earth. I proposed that if aliens made contact with earth, there's 3 possible scenarios. They're some kind of type 2 or 3 civilization that is willing to exploit the earth's resources, in which case we are ants to them and they'd see no issue devastating us with the kinds of technology they've acquired. Another possibility is that they're a benign civilization looking for a hospitable planet because they overexploited their own, like we're doing. Then the most optimistic possibility, that they're a benevolent type 2 or 3 civilization that will usher us out of the dark age of our clearly unethical and inefficient distribution of resources. I know these aren't the only possibilities, but they're the only ones I can envision being likely. The first and last are obviously untrue, IMO the only reason aliens could know about Earth and come here but not change our way of life much is that they're looking for a place they can sustain themselves in, while not making a huge fuss with the local population.
It's always going to be more energy effective to fix your own planet than flee to a different solar system.
I think the scenarios for alien contact you lay out assume too much that the aliens think and act like we do. If there are galaxy-traveling aliens out there and they made contact with us, I think it might be hard to distinguish their contact from some kind of cosmic cataclysmic event - imagine an anthill that sits near where they're building a highway. From this POV, the "good ending" is one where we are coincidentally unaffected by contact and can even use the observations we make during it to advance ourselves a bit, and the "bad ending" is the one where we get paved over by a civilization that doesn't even realize we're here.