Ad Initium
New Member
I am reading this book called "Guns, Germs, and Steel. The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared Diamond which basically tries to give a unique view on how the world developed the way it did. I am the very early beginning of the book, so I can not yet go deep into it all.
But from reading the first pages some question poppep up in my mind. Now the question I will be asking might sound silly as it will have no direct application to the world today. Well, not really, only if... well,...
History tells us that when societies clash, the more advanged society is more likely to come up victorious, purposly destroying or by accident consuming the lesser one. This book tries to answer the why, not the how. But being such a sci-fi fan,... they ask this question time and time again in books and movies. Humanity always seems doomed somehow.
What will happen if some alien ship would land on earth and initiate first contact? No, no funny laser beams cutting us down, bombing our cities. What would truly happen? I once heard a statement that for a civilisation to be able to travel through space, it would need to be peacefull society, because it would require all the resources of that society to even make it out of their own solar system. Not sure if that is true, but lets assume it is.
- An alien spaceships lands somewhere on earth and initiates first contact
- The aliens are peacefull and want to trade and establish a permanent political dialogue.
- They wish to exchange knowledge and educate us. Yes, even share technologies, so we too can travel in space the way they do.
What would be the danger in this? The sudden burst of technology?
In Star Trek they have a simple but effective mechanism to prevent contamination of the lesser developed society called "The Prime Directive," which basically states that they will not make contact with a lesser evolved society untill it developes Warp capability for themselves. As having Warp ability would mean they will encounter other species soon anyway. After such a society discovers Warp (faster then light travel) Starfleet will do it's best to intergrate this new society into the vast realm of warp-capable species. A noble cause.
Would we be ready, if a species way more advanged then us makes contact with us? How could we prevent our society going bust? I'd say that the road with good intentions is covered with failures, so we would need to have some failsafes. One failsafe could be the UN or any gov would deny the existance of these aliens. But if they fly round the world, cellphone, twitter, skype, youtube and independant newscoverage of such an event, will prevent any gov to hold the lit on it.
What would we say to them?
- Sorry, nice of you to make contact, but you will be contaminating our culture and even though you do not mean it, destroy us ... So GO AWAY! ... ??
But if we do not do that ... How would we go about it?
But from reading the first pages some question poppep up in my mind. Now the question I will be asking might sound silly as it will have no direct application to the world today. Well, not really, only if... well,...
History tells us that when societies clash, the more advanged society is more likely to come up victorious, purposly destroying or by accident consuming the lesser one. This book tries to answer the why, not the how. But being such a sci-fi fan,... they ask this question time and time again in books and movies. Humanity always seems doomed somehow.
What will happen if some alien ship would land on earth and initiate first contact? No, no funny laser beams cutting us down, bombing our cities. What would truly happen? I once heard a statement that for a civilisation to be able to travel through space, it would need to be peacefull society, because it would require all the resources of that society to even make it out of their own solar system. Not sure if that is true, but lets assume it is.
- An alien spaceships lands somewhere on earth and initiates first contact
- The aliens are peacefull and want to trade and establish a permanent political dialogue.
- They wish to exchange knowledge and educate us. Yes, even share technologies, so we too can travel in space the way they do.
What would be the danger in this? The sudden burst of technology?
In Star Trek they have a simple but effective mechanism to prevent contamination of the lesser developed society called "The Prime Directive," which basically states that they will not make contact with a lesser evolved society untill it developes Warp capability for themselves. As having Warp ability would mean they will encounter other species soon anyway. After such a society discovers Warp (faster then light travel) Starfleet will do it's best to intergrate this new society into the vast realm of warp-capable species. A noble cause.
Would we be ready, if a species way more advanged then us makes contact with us? How could we prevent our society going bust? I'd say that the road with good intentions is covered with failures, so we would need to have some failsafes. One failsafe could be the UN or any gov would deny the existance of these aliens. But if they fly round the world, cellphone, twitter, skype, youtube and independant newscoverage of such an event, will prevent any gov to hold the lit on it.
What would we say to them?
- Sorry, nice of you to make contact, but you will be contaminating our culture and even though you do not mean it, destroy us ... So GO AWAY! ... ??
But if we do not do that ... How would we go about it?