What should we do if an alien race needs our help?

[Winter Man]

Strike a deal with them. They have spacefaring capability, we have two other worlds and a fair few moons in need of colonisation.

[lajoswinkler]

They could not use our foods because of the different biochemical makeup of their organisms. All they could use is a place to live in special compartment cities with appropriate atmosphere, where they could synthesize/grow their own foodstuffs. Every time they'd come into contact with us, they would effectively be on EVA.

Unfortunatelly, humans are savages and I think they'd be killed.

[KerbMav]

I would think they would be prepared to built a colony, most likely by repurposing parts of the ship, so all they would need is a free area with access to fresh water.

Both sides would have to deal with the imminent threat of totally alien (sic!) microbes, so isolation would be necessary - but if said microbes can survive in other species (birds, fish ...) this would not be easy.

Even if they arrive at a time at which humans have become one happy family with one Earth President making the decision the biological risks pretty much prevent any interaction - should they not be very apt at immuno-engineering. Hell, I would sell them every abandoned village and town in Germany if they just rid us of allergies and STDs! (You can make people wear gloves in public, but you seemingly cannot stop them to .... ....... . ...... !)

With this out of the way the social aspect would be the biggest and I have nothing to add - 7 billion humans, countless factions ... we would not act in unison (now at least) is all I am going to say.

A possible threat they might pose for us would be some kind of biological device/stuff designed to alter the environment into something more suitable for their needs - turned into a weapon easily. But practically this would not only take another few centuries (my guess), but also only be viable as a retaliatory strike should we get funny with them.

Depending on the height of the orbit ... I have no idea if our ICBMs could be used to hit the vessel which are designed to cruise the upper atmosphere and glide/drop to there targets after launch.

Sidenotes:

Developing agoraphobia as a whole species is a typical Star Trek plot device and I deem it as most unlikely. Furthermore they set out with the goal to reach another planet, if not in there own lifetime then in that of their grand..children and if their leader was anything like Adama (new Galactica series) then he would motivate them with that goal in mind - some might still prefer to stay on the ship or even continue the voyage, some even because they do not like us (they watched our television ...) as some of us would not like them.

The Prime Directive only applies for pre-warp/-spacefaring civilizations and those unaware of other species.

[John Crichton]

Over 20,000 space-capable nuclear warheads between USA and Russia alone would like a word with you.

That's like Incas saying "but we have spears" when Cortez arrived

[running]

If you embark on such a long voyage... I'd assume you have terraforming capabilities. (Big risk that climates etc. change and the planet you set out for is not what you expected it to be.)

Mars could be a viable alternative for them. They wouldn't even need to ask, it would be hard for us to prevent it and trying would just inviting trouble.

They might not be armed right now, but start messing with them and they will make it a priority. Looking at us they probably will make it a priority anyway.

But looking at the time scale of things happening in the universe... any other intelligent life form we encounter would either be far superiour to us or far less developed. In either case there would be little to trade that would be benificial to both parties.

[Winter Man]

That's like Incas saying "but we have spears" when Cortez arrived

You assume they're armed.

[Nuke]

carrying munitions on a generation ship would greatly affect the efficiency of the ship. military hardware is heavy.

[John Crichton]

You assume they're armed.

Very few species don't have a defensive or offensive capability...especially ones with higher intelligence.

Given the potential dangers of embarking on such a trip, don't you think they will spend time thinking about defense (or offense if they're aggro)?? Even if their motivations and psychology is totally different, they'd still face threats in outer space...and the only response is weapons. How else would cope with that?

That's unless they follow a "if we get threatened, let's just lay down and die" mantra...which I don't consider likely (because that species wouldn't have survived to the space age that way).

[John Crichton]

carrying munitions on a generation ship would greatly affect the efficiency of the ship. military hardware is heavy.

If you're able to cross light years in a world ship, I doubt deltaV would be an issue. We're not talking about Kerbals here

[Jacob01]

I'd say give them a home and help them out in some way in exchange for their technology. Then perhaps we could colonize other planets and moons and perhaps terraform them, creating more room for Humans and Aliens to live together.

However, in reality we will probably kill them and steal their technology or put them into slum conditions and a plot similar to what happens in District 9 will occur. We set up unhygienic refugee camps for humans, a similar thing will probably happen to the Aliens.

[Winter Man]

Very few species don't have a defensive or offensive capability...especially ones with higher intelligence.

Given the potential dangers of embarking on such a trip, don't you think they will spend time thinking about defense (or offense if they're aggro)?? Even if their motivations and psychology is totally different, they'd still face threats in outer space...and the only response is weapons. How else would cope with that?

That's unless they follow a "if we get threatened, let's just lay down and die" mantra...which I don't consider likely (because that species wouldn't have survived to the space age that way).

Not the point though, we didn't take nukes to the moon. Could've been rock crabs there, we didn't know that.

[Drunkrobot]

I'm not really getting why District 9 is such a viable option. I haven't seen it, but i'm pretty sure it was more a metaphor for apartied-era South Africa than a genuine response to this kind of question. Besides, even if one government or several tries to get them into the camps, remember that everyone knows they exist, and would find them pretty soon.

Call me blindly optimistic, but the vast majority of humans would go ape**** at this breach in human (sentient?) rights. We're the most altruistic race on Earth, we save entire species from extinction on purpose, even if we don't have anything to gain. I don't see the entire human race getting behind "putting the aliens heads on pikes", not when far more peaceful options are available.

No, the ship does not have any weapons. They only learned about us after they left their solar system. They have everything they need to colonize a planet, not conquer it. They only have enough raw materials onboard to maintain a pop. of 250,000 for the duration of the journey. Why bring a mass accelerator cannon w/ ammunition when you could instead bring supplies for 10 more families?

The barriers concerning immune systems is significant. Unless our biology is so different we don't infect each other at all, we would need suits if we wanted to interact with each other, at least initially. That wouldn't be too much bother, the aliens would have advanced spacesuits they could easily repurpose, and we've had a lot of experience handling nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, so we know our way around a hazmat suit (make of that what you will). Their knowledge of biology (particularly immunology) would be very advanced in relation to ours, and it's in their best interests to be able to go outside without a suit, so boosting their immune systems would be a top priority.

[EDIT] Now that I think about it, it's extremely rare for a pathogen to make the jump from one species to another here on Earth. Alien pathogens probably wouldn't even recognize Earth life as being alive, and vice-versa. Allergic reactions to pathogens, however, may still be an issue.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Drunkrobot

[John Crichton]

Not the point though, we didn't take nukes to the moon. Could've been rock crabs there, we didn't know that.

We sent probes to the moon ahead of time

[John Crichton]

We're the most altruistic race on Earth...

You're kidding, right? We're the only species who completely destroys its own habitat.

[Streetwind]

You're kidding, right? We're the only species who completely destroys its own habitat.

Irrelevant. Every species destroys its own habitat when overpopulating it. Take a look at what a swarm of locusts does to a landscape it passes through. We're merely more efficient at it than most other species because our technology allows us to be so.

The difference is that humankind at least makes some sort of effort to preserve deadly predators that can kill a grown man with a strike of its paw, or to replant a small fraction of the forest it has cut down. Nobody said that the balance is positive, but I've never seen a deer nurture a wolf, or a beaver dig a hole to plant a tree. Humans are fairly unique in this respect.

[Drunkrobot]

Irrelevant. Every species destroys its own habitat when overpopulating it. Take a look at what a swarm of locusts does to a landscape it passes through. We're merely more efficient at it than most other species because our technology allows us to be so.

The difference is that humankind at least makes some sort of effort to preserve deadly predators that can kill a grown man with a strike of its paw, or to replant a small fraction of the forest it has cut down. Nobody said that the balance is positive, but I've never seen a deer nurture a wolf, or a beaver dig a hole to plant a tree. Humans are fairly unique in this respect.

This. We are extremely powerful, and can destroy everything on the planet in hours, but we don't. Thanks to the environmental movement, we've learnt at least some restraint. And we're more likely to see the aliens as peers, since they can talk and reason like us.

[lajoswinkler]

You're kidding, right? We're the only species who completely destroys its own habitat.

No, we are not. Viruses of influenza destroy their habitat. Bacteria, if you feed nutrients to them, will just multiply until the concentration of their waste material exceed the load bearing capabilities of the population, and then massive bacterial death occurs.

The graphs regarding all other lifeforms are strikingly similar.

All animals, except humans, will proliferate without restricting themselves in any way if they're given the chance. It's the other interactions with living and nonliving nature that keeps their populations under control. The notion that animals have the sense of when it's enough and chose to "live in harmony", is infantile and completely false. This harmony is the product of balance between s.e.x (really? censorship? wow.) and birth and death due to other species or lack of nutrients. Nothing romantic about that.

Only humans can decide "hey, let's stop, all this might not be a good idea". The fact is that most of the time we don't do this and behave like other animals.

Edited February 19, 2014 by lajoswinkler

[briansun1]

I say help them. it's what we would want in there place.

[KOCOUR]

And how do we know they arent just spyes or diversion force ment to sabotage us before an atack? I say give em some supplyes, and let em continue searching for another planet. Dont let em land here.

[SargeRho]

It's not exactly hard to detect a generation ship entering your solar system. You can probably detect it a lightyear or two away. If they were the precursors of an invasion, it's be easy to detect the real invasion force. And if you have the capability to invade another planet, you don't send spies. You go "Battle: Los Angeles" on that planet and invade it in force, and everywhere at once.

[jfull]

It's not exactly hard to detect a generation ship entering your solar system. You can probably detect it a lightyear or two away. If they were the precursors of an invasion, it's be easy to detect the real invasion force. And if you have the capability to invade another planet, you don't send spies. You go "Battle: Los Angeles" on that planet and invade it in force, and everywhere at once.

Well, if its possible for one craft to land on the Earth without any resistance via deception, then deploy some sort of life-ending biological weapon, that would certainly be more economical than hauling the military hardware necessary for an invassion.

Anyway, I wouldn't expect the aliens to be completely unarmed. They probably wouldn't be carrying anything intended for mass destruction, but they might have brought devices for personal defense against native creatures.

[SargeRho]

They wouldn't have to broadcast "Help" then, they'd just enter orbit (or even fly by) and drop it off, then watch from a distance. But in this scenario, they are in orbit around Earth and established contact, so it's unlikely they have ill intentions.

I doubt they'd be carrying anything more than point defense lasers, and perhaps some handguns or so on the ship. Certainly no WMDs.

[Winter Man]

Anyway, I wouldn't expect the aliens to be completely unarmed. They probably wouldn't be carrying anything intended for mass destruction, but they might have brought devices for personal defense against native creatures.

The best defense is isolation. Stick themselves in a solar orbit then send telepresence robots to do their initial interaction.

[Streetwind]

...Now you're making me imagine that annoying robot from the Borderlands series...

[Deadpangod3]

As soon as the ship apears in the sky, people panic, governments fall, and the new goverment people launch nukes at them.

Or we just launch nukes right away, or kamikazi a satellite or two into it,

But puttin modern society aside,

We'd need to make ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, GARANTEED WITH NO CHANCE OF ERROR SURE that no diseases are transmitted that can kill either side, and afterwards, see if they somehow know what an apple or potato is, if it evolved on their planet too, we could send them food, maybe talk to their AI if they have one, and go from there.

But I call dibs on talking to the AI first.