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

[running]

How do we even feel about letting them use Mars instead?

We might not be using it right now, but in our future, we might want that for our selves.

It would be a shame to find Mars to be stripped of it's resoruces and over populated with aliens.

I don't think we can stop them, but if they ask, we should decline. However politicians usually don't have a vision longer than their own term. So we'd sell them Mars.

[Duxwing]

That's a special kind of foolish. What's to stop people from revealing your intentions to the aliens, or even giving them our weapons and means to manufacture them? They'd likey have something that could solve one of the major problems facing humanity that some one would trade weapons for. Better yet, they could attack us from orbit, long out of the reach of kinetics, and missiles can be interpreted by their better laser defense system. Perhaps a better analogy would be spanish conquistadors vs the aztecs, they were hilariously out numbered by your "organized people facing genocide", and look what happened.

Source

We would warn the aliens that if they committed species-cide, then our weapons would autonomously wreck the planet. How and when would anyone give the aliens means whereby they could destroy us, and why would certain death and knowledge of history not deter this human? If the aliens could and wanted to destroy us "long out of the reach" of our weapons, then they would have, but in this thought experiment (see OP) they have not; therefore, they either want not to or cannot destroy or conquer us, debunking your analogy to the Aztecs by contradicting its presumption of foreigners' hostility.

A better and too risk-averse analogy would be to the Cold War, when the Cold War the US and USSR had nukes and global ambitions without fighting one another. We in this thought experiment control our own ambitions, and the aliens' are either peaceful or made irrelevant by our overwhelming might; therefore, if we desire peace with the aliens, then even by Cold War standards we can have it.

Carefully integrating the aliens therefore is the best solution.

-Duxwing

Edited February 21, 2014 by Duxwing

[lodestar]

What do WE do? We have the survival of another sentient race in our hands, we could blow them out of the sky if we wanted to. Could we even live with ourselves if we did that?

Some people could, others don't. That's always the problem.

If we decide to let them stay, to what degree to we welcome them, do we let them into our homes, build a house for them next door, or keep them in concentration camps?

I'd say the most problematic part in that is the 'WE'. Considering how there's hardly any consensus whatsoever on what should be done even with the human refugee populations that abound on Earth, I think it's hard to believe men would somehow simply agree on whatever should be done with them, or that a political decision by some global pseudo-authority like the UN would simply settle the issue.

We have to think how men would fit that event into the main ideological trends that currently rule the world. The liberal western world is already culturally dominated by the idea that there's nothing special about us, and a lot of our scientific efforts is even directed to find extraterrestrial life forms as a confirmation of that idea. I think those would be the more willing to have the aliens fully integrated into society, obviously after they are quarantined, and mutual studies are made to ascertain the risks of that. In general, the islamic world would accept them as long as they convert to Islam, as weird as that can be. This may be a problem or not, if it conflicts with their own religions, if any. Most of the non-islamic developing world is left-leaning, still thinking in Cold War terms, so I guess it all depends on how they can fit the alien presence in their own revolutionary goals. Marxism is incredibly flexible when it comes to that, so it's hard to say if they'll be treated as friends or foes. It will depend more on the aliens themselves than us. How do they fit class theory in their own society, and how they would fit in ours? Are they interested in being part of the revolution? Are they some sort of blue-collar workers, like the aliens in District 9 seem to be? Russia and China are both living huge ideological transitions, so I think Russia would simply deny their presence completely, while China would be more than willing to accept them, if it has anything to gain with it.

I think this requires some imaginative effort similar to World War Z (the book, please!). Think of reactions first in a personal level, than extrapolate progressively to larger groups, and you may have a very rough idea of what would happen, at least immediately.

What about the long-term effects of this, at every level, from technological to social?

The long-term effects are obviously the interesting part, since the above is more about the immediate reactions. Things will change dramatically when the majority of people alive are only those who were born after the aliens arrived. Most ideas don't die, their supporters die. As all politicians ever knew, it's easier to teach something to the new generation and wait for it to become the consensus, than to change the consensus itself.

Would we eventually try to destroy each other, or would the two races merge together in such a way (from a social viewpoint, not a biological one. Sorry, Kirk-fans) that the two are treated one and the same by society?

Well... that doesn't happen even with humans themselves, it's incredibly naive to believe it would happen with beings from another planet. Even societies that claim to be the most enlightened still treat people differently based on their skin color, their beliefs, their ancestry, etc. The degree of tolerance changes a lot with the perceived prosperity. If the aliens arrive when everything is fine, good for them, but if they arrive when some major crisis is occurring, it's easy for them to become an scapegoat.

What are your personal opinions on what SHOULD happen, and what WOULD happen?

Frankly, I think you're giving too much credit to the aliens and not much to us. No matter how advanced is your educational technology, the people who lived in a ship for generations will have a more artificial social system, like a prison or a school. The rules they were born with and the world they know isn't real, so the transition will be problematic for them too. On a ship, if you neglect your duties you may put everyone in risk, while in the real world if you're not willing to take responsibility for something, people won't put you in that position in the first place. If they are smart enough to learn our languages, our thinking and recent history, they'd know it's better to get in contact with as few people as possible first, and those people will know it's better to begin changing people's acceptance of their presence before knowledge of their existence is widespread. The best way to win a war is creating the cultural conditions so that you never have to fight it. The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.

[jwenting]

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

wrong. We're shaping our habitat to suit ourselves. Pollution happens, but the air and water, and the land, are now cleaning in most of the developed world than in the last thousand years (China and undeveloped places like Africa excempted). And no, other species do the same thing.

As mentioned, locusts are a prime example.

But so are many others. A large pod of dolphins will completely wipe out all fish not too large for them to kill, then move on and do the same thing elsewhere.

Ditto with flocks of migratory birds.

A large bloom of algae can destroy all life in the area where it happens, and that's plants...

[jwenting]

Honestly I fear the day such a thing would become a reality. Largely because it would allow the most ruthless of us to benefit the most, as usual.

So this is where it gets ugly: while the UN and the democratic nations are still debating about human rights, other and less scrupulous countries will already be welcoming the aliens with open arms. I bet the Chinese government for example wouldn't even skip a beat when signing a warrant to indiscriminately deport the entirety of the population of a province in order to hand it over to the extraterrestrial guests in exchange for their technology. (Sorry China, but you know it already happens every day on a smaller scale.) The less a country cares about its human population, the more likely it will be able to make room. And who's going to stop them? The UN? Hardly. The result would be nuclear war. The UN won't do a thing besides talking.

Better yet, China will more likely give them north America, presenting themselves as having the authority to do so, and then the aliens move in and "depopulate" that troublesome United States thingy that's been a thorn in the side of the Chinese for decades in their attempts to spread world socialism to Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and India...

[NASAFanboy]

Better yet, China will more likely give them north America, presenting themselves as having the authority to do so, and then the aliens move in and "depopulate" that troublesome United States thingy that's been a thorn in the side of the Chinese for decades in their attempts to spread world socialism to Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and India...

Of course, this is immediately followed with MAD, causing the destruction of humanity and the aliens.

China and the aliens aren't stupid. China knows of the US Policy of Mutual Assured Destruction, and they know that the US has spread its ICBM's and missile bases aroun the country and even in submarines under sea, which are everywhere. And being American, I can be quite sure that these submariners will unleash nuclear weaponary upon China and the Aliens should the mainlan be wiped out.

Hell, watching a "Independence Day" was enough to rile up a bunch of Americans into a nationalistic frenzy. Just imagine what they will do when they find out one of their "allies" has backstabbed them and destroyed their country. Not good.

[Camacha]

And being American, I can be quite sure that these submariners will unleash nuclear weaponary

I am sure they want you to be sure

[WhiteWeasel]

As an alien i'd use my superior intellect to hack into the worlds computers and disable all atomic weapons by triggering all their failsafes (once triggered, it cannot be undone, rendering it unusable), or at least use advanced lasers to destroy them in flight before they arm. So that the arrogant, racist, xenophobes that sorely overestimate how well they'd do against an interstellar species while they barely can get to their own moon-Er.. humans; don't do something really stupid and wipe themselves out and in the process rendering most of the planet uninhabitable to the aliens that are going WTF in high orbit.

Actually, they'd probably be better off on mars.

[NASAFanboy]

As an alien i'd use my superior intellect to hack into the worlds computers and disable all atomic weapons by triggering all their failsafes (once triggered, it cannot be undone, rendering it unusable), or at least use advanced lasers to destroy them in flight before they arm. So that the arrogant, racist, xenophobes that sorely overestimate how well they'd do against an interstellar species while they barely can get to their own moon-Er.. humans; don't do something really stupid and wipe themselves out and in the process rendering most of the planet uninhabitable to the aliens that are going WTF in high orbit.

Actually, they'd probably be better off on mars.

Mars?

That's already been marked as a target for future colonization by humanity.

I propose we have the UN quickly send them to Titan and do it quietly.

[Lucky90]

Look at all the possible risks:

1) They could bring viruses we haven't evolved to survive to.

2) They could be a race that reproduces extremely quickly and overpopulate the Earth or simply become more numerous than us in just a few hundred years.

3) They could be trying to get us off our guard to invade us with less resistance.

4) They could require more resources than we are willing to provide to them.

5) They could be reluctant to some of our ways/rules/cultural traits/behaviours

6) They could potentially become their own country, with a much more advanced technologies than us and just wipe us off the Earth as soon as they get tired of us.

7) They could be friendly only because they're in need for help and as soon as they get back on their feet, considering the scientific knowledge they have, they would just destroy us and take the Earth for themselves.

Assuming that evolution and natural selection worked the same way on their planet, if they are at the top of their food chain, they necessarily are dangerous predators. They are likely to not be that friendly.

Seriously if this ever happens what we should (and I hope that we would too) do is just nuke the hell of of them as soon as we see them. No questions, no conversation, no contact what so ever. We don't even give them a warning. We shoot, we kill them and we never talk about it ever again.

[WhiteWeasel]

Seriously if this ever happens what we should (and I hope that we would too) do is just nuke the hell of of them as soon as we see them. No questions, no conversation, no contact what so ever. We don't even give them a warning. We shoot, we kill them and we never talk about it ever again.

Yeah, because we can totally hit them in orbit around the earth because this interstellar species decades, centuries, maybe millenia ahead of us in technology just happens to have absolutly no means of avoiding, detecting, or intercepting a weapon on the off chance they would be attacked. Not to mention the EMP generated by detonating a nuke in orbit would likely cause massive electronic interference to whomever is below-probably angry enough to send something back.

[Lucky90]

Yeah, because we can totally hit them in orbit around the earth because this interstellar species decades, centuries, maybe millenia ahead of us in technology just happens to have absolutly no means of avoiding, detecting, or intercepting a weapon on the off chance they would be attacked. Not to mention the EMP generated by detonating a nuke in orbit would likely cause massive electronic interference to whomever is below-probably angry enough to send something back.

Look. It's really simple. Any contact with an alien species within the area of our solar system would result in very bad consequences for us and maybe for them as well. There is no good answer to this. It's really cute when aliens and humans bond in movies, but in real life I don't think that it would happen this way. Wether we decide to accommodate them or fight them, in both cases we're screwed.

Look at it this way. If an alien species had the ability of interstellar travel and us not, the relationship would be very similar to the relationship between Europeans and Native Americans. If we let them come peacefully, they would probably just take everything they want. If we fight them, considering that they are in a difficult position at the moment, it would be our best opportunity to just get rid of them before they can gain back their power. The advantage that we have is that contrary to 16th century Europeans, the aliens don't actually have a home planet to send reinforcements. You also have to take into consideration that we're not talking about ANY situation, but a very specific one. The OP specifically said that it was a civilian ship and that they are seriously incapacitated by their situation. Also you have to remember that they found us by mistake. They didn't know we were there before they came near our solar system.

I know I sound like a war mongering douche, but this situation would be very serious and there is no going back. If we make any concessions we're done. If we refuse to let them come to Earth while letting them live they might not attack us right away, but they will then know where we are and that is EXTREMELY risky. The consequences of this encounter are not comparable to wars between human nations as we know them... We're not just talking about occupation and conquests, but about the potential extinction of our specie. We can't afford "being nice"...

Edited February 22, 2014 by Lucky90
Forgot a few things

[WhiteWeasel]

Look. It's really simple. Any contact with an alien species within the area of our solar system would result in very bad consequences for us and maybe for them as well. There is no good answer to this. It's really cute when aliens and humans bond in movies, but in real life I don't think that it would happen this way. Wether we decide to accommodate them or fight them, in both cases we're screwed.

Look at it this way. If an alien species had the ability of interstellar travel and us not, the relationship would be very similar to the relationship between Europeans and Native Americans. If we let them come peacefully, they would probably just take everything they want. If we fight them, considering that they are in a difficult position at the moment, it would be our best opportunity to just get rid of them before they can gain back their power. The advantage that we have is that contrary to 16th century Europeans, the aliens don't actually have a home planet to send reinforcements. You also have to take into consideration that we're not talking about ANY situation, but a very specific one. The OP specifically said that it was a civilian ship and that they are seriously incapacitated by their situation. Also you have to remember that they found us by mistake. They didn't know we were there before they came near our solar system.

I know I sound like a war mongering douche, but this situation would be very serious and there is no going back. If we make any concessions we're done. If we refuse to let them come to Earth while letting them live they might not attack us right away, but they will then know where we are and that is EXTREMELY risky. The consequences of this encounter are not comparable to wars between human nations as we know them... We're not just talking about occupation and conquests, but about the potential extinction of our specie. We can't afford "being nice"...

Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy of them being hostile if we provoke them by being a jerk. Also the more enemies we have, the more likely extinction is too. I always thought that if aliens invaded earth, it wouldn't be for taking over the world or taking some resource, but rather mans paranoia doing something to **** them off. Makes me think of 1:15 of this video:

[Duxwing]

As an alien i'd use my superior intellect to hack into the worlds computers and disable all atomic weapons by triggering all their failsafes (once triggered, it cannot be undone, rendering it unusable), or at least use advanced lasers to destroy them in flight before they arm. So that the arrogant, racist, xenophobes that sorely overestimate how well they'd do against an interstellar species while they barely can get to their own moon-Er.. humans; don't do something really stupid and wipe themselves out and in the process rendering most of the planet uninhabitable to the aliens that are going WTF in high orbit.

Actually, they'd probably be better off on mars.

Are you calling me an arrogant, racist, xenophobe? If you are, then ouch! You hurt my feelings. I want the aliens to peacefully live among us: the weapons are to deter shenanigans. You've assumed that the aliens have superior intellects and could readily understand human computer science and affect our military computers, and that the aliens could destroy thousands (or even tens of thousands) of simultaneously incoming missiles. The weapons of mass destruction also are not necessarily pointed at them but acting as a dead-man's-hand that will deny the aliens our planet should they kill us off, deterring them from the aforementioned shenanigans. Furthermore, you've erroneously assumed that the aliens cannot be asked to make themselves vulnerable to our weapons: if they do not, then we will simply wait until they die out or cooperate.

Allow me to offer a counter-example to your imagined scenario. A species of human intelligence gathers its geniuses, who hurriedly design a bare-bones generation ship and a one-way antimatter booster to power it. The species assembles the ship and booster, gathering the anti-matter by repurposing their entire economy toward its production. With a tearful farewell, they light the booster and hurtle into the void, hoping to find a habitable planet. They have no weapons. They have no shields. They just have their wits and families in a huge tin can hurtling at .1c through the endless nothingness. Millenia later, having all but forgotten their home planet and purpose, they like shipwrecked sailors spot our fragile little island. "Land ho!" They cry, "Take us aboard!". We openly prepare for war, send an inspection ship, and ask them to come to LEO: some aliens protest, but what choice do they have? After a few weeks and oodles of tests ranging from hilarious to bizarre, we rig Pelau with five hundred megatons of nukes and let them land their pods on it. Years pass, we and the aliens become friends, and we release them unto the world, where they live and love alongside us. Awww!

Whether the details of the OP's story slightly differ matters not because they evidently either want or must have peace and explicitly need somewhere to stay.

-Duxwing

[WhiteWeasel]

Meh, sorry if I came off as rude, but if anything. A war no matter the outcome would be total disaster for both parties invloved. That's kinda why I'm painting it in a negative light.

[Duxwing]

Meh, sorry if I came off as rude, but if anything. A war no matter the outcome would be total disaster for both parties invloved. That's kinda why I'm painting it in a negative light.

War always is horrible and sometimes is the only option.

-Duxwing

Edited February 22, 2014 by Duxwing

[Sillychris]

The answer is simple: We'll give you homes if you give us your ship.

Next step, get on the tv and announce "I need 250000 volunteers to give up their homes in exchange for a one way trip to SPAAAAAAAACE!"

[NASAFanboy]

Yeah, because we can totally hit them in orbit around the earth because this interstellar species decades, centuries, maybe millenia ahead of us in technology just happens to have absolutly no means of avoiding, detecting, or intercepting a weapon on the off chance they would be attacked. Not to mention the EMP generated by detonating a nuke in orbit would likely cause massive electronic interference to whomever is below-probably angry enough to send something back.

This alien race was on a starship that took ten thousand years to reach us. They probably are only two or thee decades ahead-that is, if they are ahead. We, ourselves, can already construct an ship that will take thousands of years to go to another star, except we dot have the money.

I'll doubt we'll get much outta them, maybe except for life support technologies.

[OTehNoes]

I feel this is very relevant, and addresses some very key points!

Also worth checking out their other videos if you haven't already heard of them, very cool.