UFOs: Shoot them down or Don't shoot

[dyingsun]

We always go with the assumption that 'they' look vaguely humanoid. Chances are, they don't. Whatever we are interacting(if you could call it that) with, might be so bizarre to us we couldn't handle it.Well, we can't even handle the 'humanoid' experiences.

 

[Trajanus]

We always go with the assumption that 'they' look vaguely humanoid.

This is what has been reported in the vast majority of entity cases. There have been reports of bizarre beings but they're relatively rare.

Chances are, they don't.

Assuming earthlike conditions are required for life, a similar evolutionary outcome seems plausible.

Whatever we are interacting(if you could call it that) with, might be so bizarre to us we couldn't handle it.

Reminds me of what Keyhoe wrote in his proposed contact scheme 40 years ago.

 

[dyingsun]

Reminds me of what Keyhoe wrote in his proposed contact scheme 40 years ago.

I then might be behind the times. I still look at a lot of cases from a psychological angle, to put it to an extreme, how would we 'react' if all that was col-ported would be someone interacting with something resembling a puddle of goo ?Your points are more then valid though.

 

[tyder001]

If they are here and have been for a long time then, they could be to "powerful" for any government to stop them. One question then would be did they or would they "allow" such an advancement by a species or would they have long ago stopped our advancement? So, either they are not hostile or they are so strong that nothing we could ever do would be a threat to them. Maybe they are not humanoid at all. They could be mental beings or pure energy. Maybe that is where angels and devils and gods of the ancients come from. But, consider this as far as threats go: Notice that the U.S. and other powers often decide they are not going to let certain nations have nukes and other weapons. Wars to maintain power and grab riches and control are and have been fought throughout human history. So, I just don't think that beings who can either travel through space or bend space and time are threatened by us. If they are then it seems like they would have already taken care of the threat. Anyway, instead of skeptical objections (which I often make) I just wanted to step out of that and consider it from the angle of "what if."

 

[Trajanus]

If they are here and have been for a long time then, they could be to "powerful" for any government to stop them. One question then would be did they or would they "allow" such an advancement by a species or would they have long ago stopped our advancement?

The only way to do that would be to eradicate our species. Inevitably, we'd advance.

So, either they are not hostile or they are so strong that nothing we could ever do would be a threat to them.

I'd be very reluctant to accept the latter. Given our accelerating progress, it seems that we could achieve anything achievable in the next century or two or three. Maybe they don't plan to take action until we're almost at their level, so they can inherit usable infrastructure instead of starting from scratch on their new conquest.

Notice that the U.S. and other powers often decide they are not going to let certain nations have nukes and other weapons. Wars to maintain power and grab riches and control are and have been fought throughout human history. So, I just don't think that beings who can either travel through space or bend space and time are threatened by us. If they are then it seems like they would have already taken care of the threat.

Not yet, but it may be coming. Malmstrom etc could be a dress rehearsal or practice.

 

[kukalakana]

when humans see something living we tend to kill it and eat it.

Ummm......... Sometimes. But then, Dung beetles spring to mind.(mmcrunchy)

When Hawking said that it wouldn't be so good for aliens to land on Earth, did he mean they would meet trouble if they landed on Earth, or if they landed in Arizona?

Has anyone ever read that short story by --I think it was-- Isaac Asimov, where the army goes all trigger happy on a visiting alien vessel, and immediately after the scientists managed to translate an accompanying message saying "Please take care of my baby." ??

Also there's the question of are we ants with nukes, or would we be more like Ewoks chucking rocks and spears at the Narada? The underdog doesn't always win outside of the movies!!

And forgive me for being the dumb foreigner in this equation, but why assume that aliens would be so interested in landing at the White House in particular?? Why not at Downing Street, or Mecca, or even Uluru? (Uluru might be more likely because it's far older and therefore geologically significant beyond our own homocentric viewpoint.)

I can't escape from the feeling that to shoot randomly at something so obviously superior to anything we have here, for no other reason than that we don't know it, would end up being something we regret more than the "aliens" would.

 

[trainedobserver]

And forgive me for being the dumb foreigner in this equation, but why assume that aliens would be so interested in landing at the White House in particular?? Why not at Downing Street, or Mecca, or even Uluru? (Uluru might be more likely because it's far older and therefore geologically significant beyond our own homocentric viewpoint.)

Exactly. And why try to communicate with us and not some other species? Maybe they've negotiated something with the whales already.

 

[Trajanus]

can't escape from the feeling that to shoot randomly at something so obviously superior to anything we have here, for no other reason than that we don't know it, would end up being something we regret more than the "aliens" would.

But this has happened already, or so some claim, with good results and without serious consequences. And they don't just show themselves, they cause injury, disappearances and death.

 

[softbeard]

But this has happened already, or so some claim, with good results and without serious consequences. And they don't just show themselves, they cause injury, disappearances and death.

How do you know they cause 'injury, disappearances and death'? Where are the cases of people injured by aliens? I'm pretty sure aliens are not in the list of lcauses of death and injury. Now maybe if you showed that aliens gave humans automoblies and cigarettes...

 

[kukalakana]

The other question is, even if there may be documented, unequivocally proven cases of injury/death from UFOs, how do we know that they're all dangerous? I believe the point was made much earlier in this thread, of assumptions that this is a case of Earth vs. UFO... us v. them -- where "UFO" is a single conglomerated factor in the equation.

A principle argument for the existence of alien life (and, while briefly acknowledging the other possibilities for the moment, I'm going to say "aliens" in order to avoid sounding convoluted) is that space is very, very big. Then if that is true, could "they" not be as different from each other as "they" are from "us"?

And then, following that logic, shooting at everything we don't recognise in the sky would just as equally risk shooting at the wrong thing. A simplistic analogy I know, but it would be something like harpooning every dolphin that you see because they look a bit like the shark that ate your neighbour's granny.

I guess I still believe in "look before you shoot", rather than a reaction that's all Me Got Big Gun No Brains.

 

[Ezechiel]

And then, following that logic, shooting at everything we don't recognise in the sky would just as equally risk shooting at the wrong thing. A simplistic analogy I know, but it would be something like harpooning every dolphin that you see because they look a bit like the shark that ate your neighbour's granny.

We don't have much of a choice here. I mean, they or whatever it is, don't give us a choice. We have to shoot, they don't communicate or... we have not raised the bar high enough to incite them to communicate. My premise is that any intelligent operation that doesn't acknowledge you is exploiting you.

We have to harpoon at least one. You need one, just one to trigger an irreversible planetary paradigm shift. From that point on its 'game over' for any earth centric ideology

 

[davidg]

IF (and this is a metaphorically BIG "IF") UFO's really are some sort of inter/stellar/dimentional/temporal travelers they should be smart enough to know that sooner or later SOMEONE will take a potshot at them.. In the same way as any sane person going through a bad or suspicious neighborhood should take all appropriate caution, keep doors locked, and move along quickly. Should we actually manage to shoot one down, .. I would hope the "intergallactic/temporal/whatever police should say, "all right, well then, .. what can you expect going off-road that way. The locals can be touchy and when you go buzzing their farms and mucking about with their cows how can they not take a potshot or two? We'll write up a report and get you a copy in a fortnight".

 

[boomerang]

wSince the phenomenon seems to be in complete control of our reality, I think the question is essentially moot.

Of course, if we did manage to "off" one of whatever these things are and cause suffering to its occupants, we might quickly find out if advanced technology and compassion are correlated. Sounds like a very high stakes bet. :frown:

 

[Ezechiel]

wSince the phenomenon seems to be in complete control of our reality, I think the question is essentially moot.

Of course, if we did manage to "off" one of whatever these things are and cause suffering to its occupants, we might quickly find out if advanced technology and compassion are correlated. Sounds like a very high stakes bet. :frown:

Very high stakes and huge social impact. If they play any part in our reality it will be the first time humanity addresses them. The beginning of a coherent planetary consciousness that will overshadow localized ideologies and religions

I'd trade the suffering of a few ETs for a million victims of religion-based wars in a nanosecond .