Aliens

[Commodore Axilon]

Fine, but life developing on Europa is far more likely.

[Mysterious F.]

When did I say there wasn't? Along with Saturn's Titan, Europa is one of the moons most likely to contain life.

[Commodore Axilon]

Did I ever say you did? I'm just pointing that out in a friendly manner, Whocares, hence the smiley. No need to get snippy.

[Fishalicious]

There was reported life on Mars. Tiny little bacteria on a rock.

I think if aliens exist, then they probably won't be little green men in spaceships. >_>

[Zoratunic]

I'm not saying there isn't a possibility of life out there. Especially Jupiter and Europa. Anyone ever read the space odyssey series by Arthur c. Clarke? What I'm saying is, if aliens were coming in peace, they wouldn't hide. If they were coming in not peace, if they had the technology for advanced space travel, then they should have the technology to nuke the planet. And I agree with Commadore on the Mass Hysteria thing.

[Mysterious F.]

Mabye it could be an entirely different goal from the two you listed, you know.

And I agree, it definitely isn't little green men like the media portrayes. I preefer to think they would be like one of the War of the Worlds aliens (both the book (tentacled things) and the Tom Cruise movie (three-legged creatures) ones).

[darkphantomime]

So anything that would appear hostile? That was the general premise of the 'little green men' that the 'media portrayed', so by that definition, you're going exactly with what you said that you were against - the media.

But is it like aliens really matter all that much? They see what they see and most would say do not interfere. There is only speculation that they exist, and so what if they do? We'd greet them with hostility either way...

[Mysterious F.]

...You just like disagreeing with anything I say, don't you?  :(

And did I ever say "I want them to be as hostile as Hitler!"? No, I only said I disagree with them being little-green men. I think they should be unhumanlike, rather than exactly like us with a few minor exceptions. And by unhumanlike I don't mean hostile. For all I care they could look like Pikachu or Kuriboh or whatever, as long as they are not too much like primates.

Or the other way around, you know: they could greet us with hostility.

[darkphantomime]

Any species that has advanced to the point of interstellar space travel, must by rational implication, be enlightened enough not to use violence. At least that's the way we would generally think about it... It's generally a collary rather than a set fact where we have evidence to support it.

the key word to my last post was 'media portrayal'. That's what I meant when I said that.

[Mysterious F.]

Someone 600 years ago could have said "Anyone advanced enough to circle the globe must be too advanced for violence". They would be wrong, and it is likely you aretoo. In my opinion, the more advanced you are, the more violent you tend to be. Put Niger in comparison to America, for example. The former is the least developed nation in the world, and is relatively neutral and stays out of wars. America is very advanced, and is incredibly active. Don't get me started on China, either.

[Commodore Axilon]

Any species that has advanced to the point of interstellar space travel, must by rational implication, be enlightened enough not to use violence. At least that's the way we would generally think about it... It's generally a collary rather than a set fact where we have evidence to support it.

The hell...? For a "rational implication" it seems to be quite a leap in logic. Why exactly would a species capable of interstellar travel necessarily have to be peaceful?

[Mysterious F.]

Exactly. We can circle around the globe through the air and through the water, but does that make us peaceful? They're doing the exact same thing, but on a much wider and more advanced scale.

[darkphantomime]

Because they would be enlightened enough to survive nuclear annihilation and all potentional world conflicts on their planet.

'Enlightened' because they probably would need a great deal of effort to harness the power needed for space travel. But then again, I'm only really going by what a certain vulcan once said, heh...

What about Iran? Iraq? North Africa? What about the Darfur region? Violence does not come about due to increase in technology, it comes about because people see a need to destroy for their own greed/will or personal beliefs.

[Commodore Axilon]

And if these people had access to greater technology you think it would be any different?

[darkphantomime]

No, it wouldn't. Look at the Prime Directive: No interference on worlds that have yet to reach the level of interstellar warp travel or equivalent technologies. A culture has to learn to settle its own conflicts on its own, rather than use advanced technology to destroy their opponents, which on a side note, the US has done in many cases throughout history when such an interference served advantageous for US interests. Cases include Vietnam, the Middle East, and Africa. Once upon a time, both Sadaam Hussein and Bin Ladin were 'good' for america...