Why aliens would be hidden from the public

[Dominatus]

Assume that alien life forms have visited earth, and made themselves known to a select few individuals in certain positions of government. The government has kept the world from knowing that these aliens exist. The aliens apparently trade technological secrets with this government. They have provided land for them to live, land which belongs to the Air Force, and the aliens park their ships here. My question is why this would be kept from us. Why would the government try and keep this knowledge from us? I am looking for legitimate reasons, not a "the government is evil" conspiracy theory or some other such nonsense.

Keep in mind that this is, of course, entirely hypothetical.

[rasheed]

Because the world would go "OMG ALIEN KILL IT. ITS EVIL"

or people would want to seek the tech and sell it to the highest bidder.

[Seret]

There is no particularly good reason. The general public is quite ok with the idea that there are aliens, and wouldn't panic. We know this because around the turn of the 20th century it was widely thought by everyone from astronomers to the man on the street that there were great canal-building alien civilisations on Mars. Nobody freaked out, they just all said "So, I guess there are Martians", and got on with their lives. A bloke from Bromley wrote a novella about them coming here and smashing the place up, but there doesn't seem to have been any genuine alarm.

Tbh, these days the majority of people are probably even more primed to accept the idea of alien life.

[K^2]

A bloke from Bromley wrote a novella about them coming here and smashing the place up, but there doesn't seem to have been any genuine alarm.

I don't think it's fair to say that it caused no alarm, given quite a stir it caused in New York in the 30's.

[CalculusWarrior]

With the number of exoplanets we're discovering (and hence realizing that planets are quite common in the universe) it would surprise me more if there wasn't alien life out there.

However, I find the idea of alien spacecraft travelling such vast distances only to tell a few top-level people and then leave to be extremely unlikely.

But this thread isn't for likely ideas, now is it?

I suppose if there was an intra-galactic coalition which had mastered the secret of interstellar travel and built an empire of sorts, they might send ships to worlds like our own to ask if we want to join them. Perhaps Earth failed, whether due to technological, moral, or even racial criteria (maybe the aliens are biased against hairless apes?). Then the dudes in charge might not want to inform the world that there's a great interstellar empire out there with fantastic technology, but we can't be a part of it.

[Motokid600]

There was also the whole "War of the Worlds" debacle. But that was a different time.

I hope one day that were the aliens. If an aliens were more subtle like what the OP says. What reason would there be to hide them?

The common man's a fool. That's why. And religion.. bible thumpers WOULD panic. The ignorant WOULD panic.

But i like to believe if aliens did.. reveal themselves it would be en masse. And yea.. motherships lombing over our major cities would cause panic reguardless.

Edited January 30, 2014 by Motokid600

[Seret]

I don't think it's fair to say that it caused no alarm, given quite a stir it caused in New York in the 30's.

That wasn't really related. Belief in the Martian canals was widespread in the late 19th century up to the first decade of the 20th. By 1938 the idea that there was actual life on Mars had fallen from the zeiteist. Orson Welles' broadcast was an intriguing event, but I don't think it was caused by any particular public anxiety about aliens. The political situation in the late 30's was strung taut with enough terrestrial xenophobia and paranoia to trigger mass hysteria.

[MajorThomas]

If these aliens decide they want to help us, and they went ahead and made contact with some humans, they'd have to choose very carefully. Government, military or business leaders might not be the best choice. Assuming the aliens were intelligent enough to offer us something of value, they would, like wise adults, either stay out of the way or have a plan to reveal themselves in a manner that minimizes danger to individuals or society. What would that look like?

If they're not particularly bright but well meaning, then first contact may be a messy affair, probably more to worry about from terrified humans than aliens.

On the other hand, if aliens had bad intent we'd suddenly find a large rock or ice ball headed our way, then POOF we're snuffed. No sense showing themselves to us, monologue-ing, etc.

So...seeing that we're not yet snuffed, or dealing with an alien contact fiasco, then so far either we've encountered wise and careful aliens, or none at all.

Edited January 30, 2014 by MajorThomas

[lajoswinkler]

The whole "aliens are visiting us" thing got big when science fiction of the 50's started mentioning it. The whole alien meme is a commercial product and it was highly profitable. It's an actual meme in the very sense of the word.

Abrahamic religions would get a large punch in the balls if proof of intelligent life outside Earth is ever found. It would rock the dogmas and, as always, they'd try to fix it by accomodating their lies to fit the new world, just like they did with evolution, Solar system, etc.

The number of people who claim to be members of those religions (mind that's not the same as "religious people") would probably experience a massive drop and that would create large changes in the society on the global scale. It would be the ultimate "the emperor has no clothes" thing.

I don't know about the consequences, but it would be huge. Majority of people are playing nice "because the holy book says so", not because they feel like it's a good thing to do. Without dogmas to keep stupid people in order, they'd perhaps start wrecking the society. I can't really tell.

"War of the worlds" was a very localized, globally unimportant thing. It's not relevant to this at all.

[Kerbin Dallas Multipass]

It's all quite obvious:

It's the aliens' wish that their presence is kept a strict secret.

Their civilization has huge problems with illegal time travel and altering realities. They require planet earth to be kept uncontaminated from their presence because they are using our radio signals as a paradoxon-free entropy generator which helps them re-adjust their reality and hunt down time travel criminals.

[Superfluous J]

It's all quite obvious:

It's the aliens' wish that their presence is kept a strict secret.

Their civilization has huge problems with illegal time travel and altering realities. They require planet earth to be kept uncontaminated from their presence because they are using our radio signals as a paradoxon-free entropy generator which helps them re-adjust their reality and hunt down time travel criminals.

And once they are able to reverse the polarity of the positron flow, they'll be able to reveal themselves but not before.

[Brethern]

There was also the whole "War of the Worlds" debacle. But that was a different time.

I hope one day that were the aliens. If an aliens were more subtle like what the OP says. What reason would there be to hide them?

The common man's a fool. That's why. And religion.. bible thumpers WOULD panic. The ignorant WOULD panic.

But i like to believe if aliens did.. reveal themselves it would be en masse. And yea.. motherships lombing over our major cities would cause panic reguardless.

By your comments you're included in the ignorant.

Aliens existing means that we have to put aside countries and focus on planetary affairs all our petty problems become meaningless.

And that is something people will not let go of.

[tetryds]

They want to study us, not mess with us.

[Duxwing]

The whole "aliens are visiting us" thing got big when science fiction of the 50's started mentioning it. The whole alien meme is a commercial product and it was highly profitable. It's an actual meme in the very sense of the word.

Abrahamic religions would get a large punch in the balls if proof of intelligent life outside Earth is ever found. It would rock the dogmas and, as always, they'd try to fix it by accomodating their lies to fit the new world, just like they did with evolution, Solar system, etc.

The number of people who claim to be members of those religions (mind that's not the same as "religious people") would probably experience a massive drop and that would create large changes in the society on the global scale. It would be the ultimate "the emperor has no clothes" thing.

I don't know about the consequences, but it would be huge. Majority of people are playing nice "because the holy book says so", not because they feel like it's a good thing to do. Without dogmas to keep stupid people in order, they'd perhaps start wrecking the society. I can't really tell.

"War of the worlds" was a very localized, globally unimportant thing. It's not relevant to this at all.

Proving that claim would require enormous amounts of evidence: have it?

-Duxwing

[Motokid600]

By your comments you're included in the ignorant.

Aliens existing means that we have to put aside countries and focus on planetary affairs all our petty problems become meaningless.

And that is something people will not let go of.

Well.. like I said I hope that one day were the Aliens instead.

[lajoswinkler]

Proving that claim would require enormous amounts of evidence: have it?

-Duxwing

I thought it was quite obvious. Those things are almost clichés in sociology.

[The Jedi Master]

Simple: It's more convenient. They wouldn't want the silly humans following them around, now would they?

[DaveofDefeat]

I don't know who would keep alien existence from the public, considering how incompetent governments generally are at their jobs.

[Rhidian]

It might be better to consider this from the opposite perspective: If we one day a) discover an alien species and have some method of travelling there and communicating (stealthily), what would happen? Should select members of whatever alien rulers discover our existence, why would they hide us from the alien population?

More than likely it would be whatever military the aliens have that would discover us first if they have the tech to do so. If they don't show any signs of suspecting we exist, I suppose humans would try to discreetly study the aliens as much as possible. Failing that, and contact with the aliens military is made, the first barrier to communication is simple yet significant; there would be some sort of language barrier.

We wouldn't know what the aliens are really like, and they wouldn't know what we are like. As such the delegates from both species would be kept separated by space as they try to communicate with each other. It's unlikely that they would fire us down (or we would attack them) unless it's obvious that one is hostile to another. Now should communication ever be made, the first thing both sides would attempt to determine is the threat level of the other side. If we visit their world, it's highly unlikely that they would know where Earth is (unless they trace communications back to Earth), so they would not be able to effectively gauge our military capabilities.

Reversing that for the original scenario, if aliens manage to communicate with us next to Earth, it would be unlikely that we know the true capabilities of whatever race the aliens come from. Which gives ample reason for the world leaders to keep everything peaceful in the off-case that a huge planetary-wiping armada would arrive in retaliation. Should they have the tech capabilities to remain hidden from amateur space observations, it's likely they would have a huge tech advantage in general.

As for why alien existence would be kept a secret from the general population? I don't think there is any reason to keep it a secret. On the contrary, if the alien is already in contact with representatives of the human race, I don't see any reason for the alien to continue hiding their presence from everyone else.

[Canopus]

If they are Aliens i highly doubt they would go to any Earth Government at all.

[PakledHostage]

It's all quite obvious:

It's the aliens' wish that their presence is kept a strict secret.

Their civilization has huge problems with illegal time travel and altering realities. They require planet earth to be kept uncontaminated from their presence because they are using our radio signals as a paradoxon-free entropy generator which helps them re-adjust their reality and hunt down time travel criminals.

I mentioned this post to my non-Kerbal colleagues... It is a bat s**t crazy idea, but my colleagues figure it would make a great sci-fi plot.

[AndrewBCrisp]

Abrahamic religions would get a large punch in the balls if proof of intelligent life outside Earth is ever found. It would rock the dogmas and, as always, they'd try to fix it by accomodating their lies to fit the new world, just like they did with evolution, Solar system, etc.

You know, when an old, outmoded theory is replaced by new, better theory in science, people call it progress. But if theologians replace an old interpretation of scripture with a new, better interpretation, it's suddenly "accommodating lies"? Double standard much?

Also, how are you so certain that "Abrahamic religions" will take such a pounding? If Natural Selection, Copernican astronomy, psychoanalysis, and other theories can be accepted by theologians, why does "life on other planets" suddenly become the religious killswitch?

*ahem*

Getting to the OP's question: first we'd have to ask ourselves if an advanced alien civilization *could* be hidden from the public by a government. I submit that they can't be - even if they wish to be kept hidden - unless they decide not to make contact at all.

Assuming we are limiting interstellar travel to speeds below that of light, any alien ship to arrive in the solar system will announce its presence by its drive plume. I'd expect that in short order, every observatory on Earth would be tracking the plume and scientists would shortly realize what's generating it. From there, the cat is out of the bag. Any attempt by a government to cover things up would be futile unless astronomy, both professional and amateur, was made illegal and all telescopes confiscated and destroyed.

If a government needed motivation for such a cover-up, futile as it is, I suspect fear of chaos would be the reason. The idea that we'd panic, flip tables, yell "THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING", burn Bibles, torch cities, etc ad nauseum is so popular I'd imagine more than a few politicians would panic themselves, and try the cover-up to "save civilization". Said politicians really need to take a lesson from King Canute, who supposedly tried to command the tides to stop.

The only scenarios I could see where aliens being kept secret would actually work would be these:

1. Alien remains are unearthed somewhere, perhaps the result of a failed colony or a stranded survey team. Politicians panic as per above and try to cover it up. Far more likely, the archaeologists themselves disbelieve the alien hypothesis (with kooks like the "Ancient Aliens" proponents providing a huge motivator) and search for a more earthbound hypothesis to explain their findings.

2. A small alien colony exists on Earth since before the modern era, and wishes to be kept hidden - not from us humans, but from other aliens. Keeping their existence out of our news broadcasts might be their only defense against their otherworldly enemies (as Benjamin Franklin once noted, "three men may keep a secret - if two of them are dead."). If they have some remnants of advanced technology with them, they might trade such technology with our governments to buy their silence.

[lajoswinkler]

You know, when an old, outmoded theory is replaced by new, better theory in science, people call it progress. But if theologians replace an old interpretation of scripture with a new, better interpretation, it's suddenly "accommodating lies"? Double standard much?

No, not double standards.

They're accommodating make believe stuff, not reasonable explanations, and they do it when the pressure of the society becomes so large that their throne starts shaking, not because the new stuff is better. Also they don't actually accommodate as they just start saying completely opposite and cover it up with apologetic nonsense. It's their job to make a mess like that. They've been doing it cince the ancient Romans accepted it.

Also, how are you so certain that "Abrahamic religions" will take such a pounding? If Natural Selection, Copernican astronomy, psychoanalysis, and other theories can be accepted by theologians, why does "life on other planets" suddenly become the religious killswitch?

If we consider Roman Catholic theologians, no, natural selection is not accepted, and neither is psychoanalysis. Copernican astronomy is obsolete even for today's astronomers, because we know the Sun is not the center of a static universe around which everything revolves.

I'm not saying it would be a killswitch, but there would probably be significant changes.

[Helix935]

ok consider this in modern society there is currently a large number of those that have been known to be xenophobic as has been seen with recent events involving wars and illegal immigration and many major religions (i am not specifying) which have been known to be the least tolerant towards say foreign or unknown people/ things and so they are withholding this information until modern society learns to adapt to the idea of welcoming these foreign people/Aliens with less people against their arrival (then again remember there is always the 15 percent who always object to new ideas and changes) so that the damage would be minimized and that less people would go crazy from the news

sorry about the grammar

[Seret]

I'm not saying it would be a killswitch, but there would probably be significant changes.

I think there would be less than you imagine. One of the requirements for a long-lived meme is the ability to adapt to or absorb conflicting or contradictory new ideas. All the major world religions have stood the test of time, and proven flexible enough to deal with a lot of change. I think you'd see a range of responses from within each religion, and some sects would experience more anguish than others. But I think over all they'd be affected relatively little. In particular the faith-based religions that don't necessarily have to align with observed reality have a relatively easy mental dodge they can perform when faced with uncomfortable new information.