What if we were visited by aliens?

[DanMRaymond]

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

[brunumb]

When the human race decides to leave our planet, we will do it by way of a spaceship “arc”. It will be self-sustaining with all the needs humans need to survive.

It seems to me that there are really big problems to overcome and they may be insurmountable in the long run. Any ship in space will lose energy over time, and the journey is going to take a very long time. Resources inevitably degrade over time. Humans evolved in a gravity environment and we already know there are physiological problems associated with being in a low gravity environment for even a short period. There are also psychological issues related to being confined in a limited environment to be considered. And on it goes. It's all a nice thought, but there have been too many science fiction movies that have side-stepped reality and possibly given us the impression that it is an inevitable future.

[JoeyKnothead]

What if we were visited by aliens?

The pretty thing'd invite em over for dinner and want me meet em.

I hate the pretty thing.

[Tcg]

When the human race decides to leave our planet, we will do it by way of a spaceship “arc”. It will be self-sustaining with all the needs humans need to survive.
The arc will glide most of the way and use gravity to sling it in different directions.
Entire generations will live, die and their offspring will carry on for multiple generations. The concept of earth will only be found in history books while new books will cover the journey into tomorrow.
Or so it seems to me
(:-
arc2.png

We've yet to send any crewed craft to Mars, much less establish residence there free of reliance on earth. It's a bit optimistic to consider interstellar travel a given since we haven't yet completed interplanetary travel. Additionally, the challenges encountered during the Biosphere 2 project reveal the difficulties in creating a "self-sustaining" environment.


Tcg

[Bradskii]

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

I for one would welcome our new alien overlords.

[thomasdixon]

The airplane was first flown on December 17, 1903 by the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers - Wikipedia
……..Humans walked on the moon on July 20, 1969
Apollo 11 - Wikipedia

It only took 66 years from the day a human first flew an airplane until a human walks on the moon.
What do you think we will be doing 1,000 years from today-?

[Tcg]

The airplane was first flown on December 17, 1903 by the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers - Wikipedia
……..Humans walked on the moon on July 20, 1969
Apollo 11 - Wikipedia

It only took 66 years from the day a human first flew an airplane until a human walks on the moon.
What do you think we will be doing 1,000 years from today-?

The 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.


Tcg

[brunumb]

The airplane was first flown on December 17, 1903 by the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers - Wikipedia
……..Humans walked on the moon on July 20, 1969
Apollo 11 - Wikipedia

It only took 66 years from the day a human first flew an airplane until a human walks on the moon.
What do you think we will be doing 1,000 years from today-?

Here is another theory to consider:

A new study suggests that alien civilizations destroyed themselves through progress, meaning our galaxy could be full of dead alien civilizations.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology researchers believe that the galaxy might be home to alien civilizations that destroyed themselves through technological advances that eventually "lead to complete destruction and biological degeneration," as reported by the NY Post. This theory posits that any intelligent life that lived in the Milky Way before us has likely already killed itself off.

https://www.ign.com/articles/alien-civi ... udy-claims

[nobspeople]

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

There are a few options:
1) It's a trick of the Devil/Satan
2) It's a trick of the government (though that's stretching)
3) The bible foretold it was going to happen (insert some ambiguous biblical verse here, then other Christians can argue about it amongst themselves for decades)
4) Ignore it altogether (though that seems unlikely but Christians tend to ignore other things that don't fit their paradigm)
5) Change the definition of 'alien' and or amend the definition of 'God' (which Christians tend to do all the time)
6) Blame it on Islam or some other religion or belief they consider the 'enemy of God' (though this could be a subsection of #1 above)

[Diagoras]

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

Probably the same as everyone else’s: terror.

It’s extremely unlikely to end well for humanity. There’s a conjecture called the Great Filter (YouTube link), which might give people pause before cheerfully welcoming any alien visitors.

For those who’ve been discussing the more technical aspects of intergalactic travel, you might also be interested in the Kardashev scale (YouTube again, same channel) which puts our present efforts into a wider context.

And if you’re stuck wondering, “Where are all the aliens, anyway?”, I’d also recommend learning about the Fermi Paradox (with a second part to that YouTube video here.

[DrNoGods]

[Replying to Diagoras in post #70]

And if you’re stuck wondering, “Where are all the aliens, anyway?”, I’d also recommend learning about the Fermi Paradox (with a second part to that YouTube video here.

There was some extended discussion of the Fermi Paradox and SETI the Science and Religion section some time ago, sprinkled among some evolution posts which was the thread OP:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=34669&start=220

Many people ignore beam divergence and think a laser beam (or any electromagnetic source) can be transmitted over arbitrary distances and still remain small in diameter.