Answerer

One thing is certain to happen when aliens are to be found. They aren't here for vacation.

Bill

History refutes your conclusion!

Actually, it depends upon just how close the aliens are. If they took over Mars or Venus, then we might have some reason to feel threatened. But if they were a long way away and just wanted to exchange some "trade trinkets," we would not feel threatened, and they shouldn't either. Thus, the model for this sort of relationship would be more like Marco Polo visiting China than it would be like Ghengis Kahn visiting Europe.

Many Earth nations managed to trade successfully with each other for centuries before they came into conflict (generally, in the 20th century; such as with Japan). The reason for eventually coming into conflict was the mutual threat that each represented to each other. So long as a sufficient distance was maintained, and so long as "getting there" was a long and difficult journey, I frankly believe that human history proves that we are quite willing to be friendly with strangers.

== Bill

Bill

True. If they come, they will be here for some advantage that they think they can obtain from us. But again, I think that they are far more likely to be here as "friendly explorers" than they are to be here with an invading army following in their wake. At this juncture, nobody can convince me that an invasion across interstellar space is a worthwhile activity for any race to engage in. Of course, if they have a real space-warp drive, and can get here rapidly and cheaply, then they just might be "close enough" (logically speaking) for us to worry about them. But at our present state of technological development, we wouldn't worry for long if a space-warp drive ship showed up. They would either rapidly conquor us or treat us as primitive savages. One or the other.

== Bill

Celsus

It did. And they're coming. John 10:16.

<spooky voice>
Woo
</spooky voice>

DB_Hunter

I just read Jed the Dead by Alan Dean Foster - not a great book, but with an intersting premice - a Texas oilman finds a dead alien (who he names Jed) in a cave. Even though he's quite dead, he's not REALLY dead... Just read the book, it's quite worth it.

Anyhow, there's a scene where they meet up with two old UFO nuts who kidnap the guy, his new girlfriend, and Jed, thinking that they can use Jed (and lots of chanting) to signal a UFO. After all, the benevolent aliens will come down and get the body of their comrade, and reward those who helped them.

Jed has other ideas - the aliens that come down are REALLY pissed at having their flight interupted and being forced onto some backwoods planet. They come down from their ship, kick the leader of the group in the nads, slap him around some, and start shooting at the people, the cars, and the trees in the area. No one gets hurt (much) or killed, but they make their point.

It would be our luck to have something along the lines of thses happen to us for a first contact:

- The interstellar equivalent of a minivan full of kids and a soccer mom, annoying as all hell and just wanting a place to flush their bodily wastes.
- Alien rednecks, probably with a energy-gun rack on their ship and a hood ornament made of the skull of a very large three-horned beast.
- Pissed-off aliens who want to stop our radio signals from interfering with their reception of the semifinal games for the Carina Arm's bloornsball championships.

DB

[ April 06, 2002: Message edited by: DB_Hunter ]</p>

Pseudonymph

I was waiting for someone to get that!
Thats my fav C&H strip of all time...the day bill watterson retired was a sad day for me.

[ April 05, 2002: Message edited by: SirenSpeak ]</p>

mongrel

If both civilisations could figure out indipendantly how to communicate with the other, I would think they would have already figured out what stage of technological advancement we are at by our 60+ years of radio and TV transmisions telling them all about us(I hope they don't think we take all those soapies for real ).

John Page

....then we should send in the Arthur Andersen partner formerly responsible for the Enron account.

Late_Cretaceous

"And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth."

From Monty Python's Milky Way song

Bill

Check your credits again. Its called the "Galaxy Song" (see and hear the whole thing <a href="http://www.montypython.net/meaningmm3.php#Part%205:Live%20Organ%20Transplants " target="_blank">HERE</a>, from the official <a href="http://www.montypython.net/" target="_blank">Monty Python</a> site).

== Bill