 |
|
|
Scifi and Fantasy Forum: Speculation: Close encounters....of a very bad kind.
Close encounters....of a very bad kind.
We have moved to new forum software and posting here is closed!
PLEASE BOOKMARK THE NEW FORUMS
this is an old chat board but I wont the next person to come here to consider this:
If the aliens bring war then it will end The American Way, this is a good thing, the aliens will probably have a supirior ideology. If they come in peace, they will accelerate our ideological growth to a point where democracy will seem like a bad option, it will be, in peace our only alternitive will be to join their nation and hope for the best.
Another thing, if a race begins to colonize space it will eventually develop borders on all sides. In the end it will become too small to contain he race, then there will be war more violant than any we have known before. Do we need to join a universe this crazy right now? Lets make ourselves strong enougth for alien races to think that a allience with us will be worth thier time, then we may be able to choose between the empires that will rule us.
Posted By:  Gutzilla Apr 30, 2000 - 12:31 pm |       | All very intersting. The thing is, humankind is happy in its shallow world. If aliens did come and land on earth, all previous conceptions of....pretty much everything would be shattered. Some groups would become obsessed with the aliens, some would hate them and I'll bet the number of mass-cult suicides would triple. Earth isn't ready for outer contact. Think about it - everything on this world is based around a particular way of thinking. If aliens came, it would be pandemonium.
But - this only one point of view.
Wow! Gutzilla you are obvisiusly a highly intelligent individual. However I must dissaggree I think that there is no way a planet can BE ready for aliens untill they are met for the first time, after a while things would calm down and the world would be a better place because of the aliens. Meeting them may even force humans to join together as a united speicie. However all you say is right in the short term.
| Posted By: Gutzilla May 13, 2000 - 12:32 pm | | Thank you, Ivan (my good friend in fact). You are obviously of high intellect etc.
i'm afraid i must disagree on the theory that it would be complete "pandimonium" sure, we'd get crazy, but think about it. nothing shocks this world these days. think of all the sick violent things that have happened, and the people don't panic, they are entertained by it. i think after the initial fear, humans would react as though they were in some fantasy adventure.
As long as mankind is not capable of space travel of the kind necessary for other beings to visit us , we will probably be less advanced in technology than visitors from space . This is a disadvantage in any case .
If we imagine a close encounter in future , with mankind travelling in space , the responsibilty of transferring critically detrimental viruses and , at the same time , being subject to that , is a major issue to consider .
Wouldn't that be a matter of prime importance in the case of visitors from space , even before we examine intentions and interaction ?
How safe would contact be ? How BAD the encounter might prove then ?
| Posted By: Bmat Jun 10, 2001 - 07:00 pm | | I agree with LightBrigade's comment about viruses. I can't help but think of what happened to native inhabitants of remote areas when "advanced" people visited them and passed to them viruses from which they had no protection.
I've heard the argument that we don't need to worry about cross-species transference of infections. I'm not so sure though that I want to take the chance. Who knows- there may be an infectious agent that could cross species, or even a agent not harmful to the aliens that might be lethal to us? or vice versa.
| Posted By: Iznardi Jun 12, 2001 - 08:44 am | | Viruses--
the impact would depend on the exposure-level of species encountered and on relative populations.
if we were to land on other inhabited worlds, or encounter species with the ability to travel, but who have not ranged far afield, then i think it would be as likely that we would pass viruses to them as vice versa.
but if we met a widely-travelled species, that had been exposed to diseases on many different worlds and had built up immunities over time, than we could get hit by a pandemic, with dozens of new viruses being transmitted to us in a short time.
however, since most scientist say humans would have to radically tranform their genetic code and physical appearance just to survive interstellar travel, earth itself might not be affected. more than likely, the people infected would never get back home, and would not be able to survive an earth environment, and so would not be transmitters.
a visit from another species coming directly to earth, on the other hand, might wipe us out.
iz
| Posted By: Bmat Jun 12, 2001 - 10:06 am | | Iz sais: "most scientist say humans would have to radically tranform their genetic code and
physical appearance just to survive interstellar travel,"
I hadn't heard this, Iz, I'm curious to know more about it (?).
Hybernation , cell reproduction mainly for blood renewal and tissue replacement process are some of the genes structure / programming to change . Since 1979 this is under lab experimentation , anyway ( euphemistically : research ) No LOL here , I am afraid .
For the space provided here , one might mention for example Serotonine amount and regulation of its circulation , or that 0,08 mVolt body electricity adjustment for a start , if we talk in more specific terms , and so on and so forth .
(NB . As English is hardly my mother tongue , I must sincerely apologize for any spelling errata in terminology . LB)
Iz ?
| Posted By: Iznardi Jul 30, 2002 - 11:37 am | | From the unpleasant files of What Would Happen If.
What would happen if you attached a rocket booster to your car? Well, someone tried it, and I WOULD NOT (repeat WOULD NOT) recommend the idea. The results were horrific:
"The Arizona Highway Patrol came upon a pile of smoldering metal embedded into the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The wreckage resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it was a car. The type car was unidentifiable at the scene. The lab
finally figured out what it was and what had happened.
It seems that a guy had somehow gotten hold of a JATO unit (Jet Assisted Take Off ) - a solid fuel rocket that is used to give heavy military transport planes an extra "push" for taking off from short airfields. He had driven his Chevy Impala out into the desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. Then he attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, got up some speed and fired off the JATO!
The facts, as best as could be determined, are that the operator of the 1967 Impala hit the JATO ignition at a distance of approximately 3.0 miles from the crash site. This was established by the prominent scorched and melted asphalt at that location. The JATO, if operating properly, would have reached maximum thrust within 5 seconds, causing the Chevy to reach speeds well in excess of 350 mph and continuing at full power for an additional 20-25 seconds. The driver (soon to be pilot) most likely would have experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog fighting F-14 top guns.
The automobile remained on the straight highway for about 2.5 miles (15-20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes and completely melted them - blowing the tires and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface, then becoming airborne for an additional 1.4 miles and impacting the face of the cliff at a height of 125 feet leaving a blackened crater 3 feet deep in the rock. Most of the driver's remains were not recoverable; however, small fragments of bone, teeth and hair were extracted from the crater and fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.
Epilogue: It has been calculated that the car nearly reached Mach I, attaining a ground speed of approximately 420 mph."
| Posted By: Nomad Jul 31, 2002 - 07:09 am | | Holy [other forms of unacceptable words are still not acceptable. Bmat] I would loved to have seen that on Video! Poor guy. He should have added a tailfin and rudder.
| Posted By: Iznardi Jul 31, 2002 - 08:45 am | | Flying cars are best left in the world of Harry Potter and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Obviously the guy never expected to take off, cause he must have known he would not have been able to navigate or land.
|
|
|
|
|
Discussion
