What if we were visited by aliens?

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DanMRaymond
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What if we were visited by aliens?

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What if beings from some far end of space were to visit the Earth? What would the Christian response be?

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Purple Knight
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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

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Tcg wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:13 pmThe Industrial Revolution started in the 18th century. By 1936 we'd polluted our environment to the degree that the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught on fire. It did so several times between 1936 and 1969.

In a thousand years from today we'll probably be wishing we'd done something about global warming and other environmental issues much sooner.
I dearly hope. I hope we don't instead pass that jump point Knotty is talking about with the exponential growth of technology and hit a point where we don't have to care because wherever we crud up, we can just leave.

Because if that happens, the ID4 aliens are us.

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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

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Purple Knight wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 12:45 am
Tcg wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:13 pmThe Industrial Revolution started in the 18th century. By 1936 we'd polluted our environment to the degree that the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught on fire. It did so several times between 1936 and 1969.

In a thousand years from today we'll probably be wishing we'd done something about global warming and other environmental issues much sooner.
I dearly hope. I hope we don't instead pass that jump point Knotty is talking about with the exponential growth of technology and hit a point where we don't have to care because wherever we crud up, we can just leave.

Because if that happens, the ID4 aliens are us.
That is a big concern. Even if we were to develop some craft that would allow us to leave earth or other planets we messed up, there is also the very real possibility we'd crud up that craft as well. For some reason we get the idea that if we were dependent on some kind of mother ship that we'd treat it with care given its importance to our survival. The earth is that mother ship right now and we've mistreated it to the point that we are facing serious consequences due to our lack of care. There's no reason to think we wouldn't do the same on our space traveling ark.


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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

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Tcg wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:53 amEven if we were to develop some craft that would allow us to leave earth or other planets we messed up, there is also the very real possibility we'd crud up that craft as well.
Not really a concern for the ultimate disposability culture. 1. Reach new planet 2. Strip mine new planet 3. Build another throw-away spaceship. This is already how many of our probes work: These multibillion-dollar marvels are disposable, apparently because it's easier to just build a new one than fill the old one with enough fuel to come back.

Wastefulness is the curse of abundant resources. A civilisation that can travel with relative ease in space can maintain this wastefulness curse forever.

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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

Post #74

Post by Tcg »

Purple Knight wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 10:27 am Wastefulness is the curse of abundant resources. A civilisation that can travel with relative ease in space can maintain this wastefulness curse forever.
Not if they practice this wastefulness on their mother ship. Of course the concept of "forever" is quite amusing as well. Are we to pretend that extinction would no longer be in play if we could just emulate our favorite science fiction space travel movie. Given that we've yet to visit any planet, there is no reason to get too invested in this speculation. In all likelihood we'll extinct ourselves before we have a chance to pollute other planets.


Tcg
To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

- American Atheists


Not believing isn't the same as believing not.

- wiploc


I must assume that knowing is better than not knowing, venturing than not venturing; and that magic and illusion, however rich, however alluring, ultimately weaken the human spirit.

- Irvin D. Yalom

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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

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Post by justlearning »

Aliens have been here for a very long time but I do not believe they will reveal themselves until we humans stop eating the flesh of other animals. :D

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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

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Post by Tcg »

justlearning wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:54 pm Aliens have been here for a very long time but I do not believe they will reveal themselves until we humans stop eating the flesh of other animals. :D
What evidence has convinced you that aliens have been here for a very long time?

Why do you think they'd be concerned about our diet?


Tcg
To be clear: Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.

- American Atheists


Not believing isn't the same as believing not.

- wiploc


I must assume that knowing is better than not knowing, venturing than not venturing; and that magic and illusion, however rich, however alluring, ultimately weaken the human spirit.

- Irvin D. Yalom

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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

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Post by Purple Knight »

Tcg wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:24 am
Purple Knight wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 10:27 am Wastefulness is the curse of abundant resources. A civilisation that can travel with relative ease in space can maintain this wastefulness curse forever.
Not if they practice this wastefulness on their mother ship.
Why not? As long as they get to the next planet and strip mine it before they run out of resources, they can waste as much as they like. Besides, it will likely be cryogenics, not warp drive, so it won't be as big a problem.
Tcg wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:24 amOf course the concept of "forever" is quite amusing as well. Are we to pretend that extinction would no longer be in play if we could just emulate our favorite science fiction space travel movie.
By forever I mean that a horrible human diaspora plagues the universe until all the resources are gone. Maybe some humans run out of resources along the way to this horrid future but some won't. If all the humans are greedily grabbing up all the resources making more spaceships, some will always get to the next planet.

The problem is that sustainability can't compete with overuse and waste. The person wasting resources can always do something better and faster than the person struggling and taking time to conserve them. It's why capitalism mandates waste through competition and why we have to hope that nobody who came up with the idea of capitalism gets to anywhere that has chosen sustainability.

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William
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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

Post #78

Post by William »

As far as we know - space travel in crafts is not viable for biological life forms, and would require synthetic AI, which as far as we know, can only [initially] be created by biological life forms.

So any such extraterrestrial encounters will most likely be synthetic - although we couldn't rule out biological but would have to consider that the biological was itself nurtured on board the craft from source-planet seed with the assistance of AI synthetics.

Such systems could be self sustainable for large periods of time over long distances through space and built upon using available resource through mining.

But what about the idea that "ET" are closer to home than we think [should they exist at all re 'encounters']

It is feasible [at least on my limited knowledge] that during the long period of the time of dinosaurs which dominated the planet, that a type of being evolved from that in a similar way in which humans have done during the mammalian period which followed.

And - just as humans developed ahead of the [mammal] pack, so too did these reptilians. Maybe they have existed all this time right up to today.

Maybe they too, became technologically advanced and survived that which destroyed the giants of their specie.

One only has to scan the internet to get a fair idea as to the number of different ET species humans have beliefs in the existence of. Most are human enough looking to be 'acceptable in the sight of humans' - some even having the appearance of angelic beings...but others are more insect or reptilian in appearance, and we don't have to have a degree in human psychology to understand how Christians would view those types.

Why - even in their own script - there is talk of "The Devil- Satan" - specifically the reptilian tempter in the Garden of Eden story....

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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

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Post by justlearning »

William wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 1:12 pm One only has to scan the internet to get a fair idea as to the number of different ET species humans have beliefs in the existence of. Most are human enough looking to be 'acceptable in the sight of humans' - some even having the appearance of angelic beings...but others are more insect or reptilian in appearance, and we don't have to have a degree in human psychology to understand how Christians would view those types.
The sci-fi industry has pretty much got us accustom to different looks of life forms. This could be inadvertently getting us used to something different without going nuts over it.
Star Trek: Discovery
Star Trek: Discovery - Wikipedia
Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise originating from the 1960s television series Star Trek
Star Trek - Wikipedia
New Star Trek movie coming from JJ Abrams and WandaVision director
Star Trek movie announced with WandaVision's Matt Shakman (digitalspy.com)
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise - Wikipedia

William wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 1:12 pmWhy - even in their own script - there is talk of "The Devil- Satan" - specifically the reptilian tempter in the Garden of Eden story....
When I was a child I used to read comic books too.
:D

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William
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Re: What if we were visited by aliens?

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Post by William »

justlearning wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 10:36 pm
William wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 1:12 pm One only has to scan the internet to get a fair idea as to the number of different ET species humans have beliefs in the existence of. Most are human enough looking to be 'acceptable in the sight of humans' - some even having the appearance of angelic beings...but others are more insect or reptilian in appearance, and we don't have to have a degree in human psychology to understand how Christians would view those types.
The sci-fi industry has pretty much got us accustom to different looks of life forms. This could be inadvertently getting us used to something different without going nuts over it.
Star Trek: Discovery
Star Trek: Discovery - Wikipedia
Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise originating from the 1960s television series Star Trek
Star Trek - Wikipedia
New Star Trek movie coming from JJ Abrams and WandaVision director
Star Trek movie announced with WandaVision's Matt Shakman (digitalspy.com)
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise - Wikipedia

Yes.
We do not know why else Humans would think of such things, other than a deep-seated, specie collective loneliness which has us reaching out to our imaginations for 'others' like us but different.

In Star Trek, the main character who had us all thinking about 'others' in that light, was Spock.

Gene Roddenberry wanted Leonard Nimoy to play the part and the Execs wanted to change his appearance by dumping the pointy ears and changing the way his eyebrows looked...mainly because of the bible belt population...

William wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 1:12 pmWhy - even in their own script - there is talk of "The Devil- Satan" - specifically the reptilian tempter in the Garden of Eden story....
When I was a child I used to read comic books too.
:D
...because they thought that Spock looked too much like the Christian image of Satan and the bible belt population made up a considerable number of viewers which the studio did not want to upset...

Also to note - in the movie PAUL - the Alien is happy to confess that he had everything to do with the injection of ET-awareness into the collective human psyche. There is a scene where Paul is talking over the telephone to producer Steven Spielberg, giving him ideas in relation to making the movie "E.T."

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