What would we do if we discovered intelligent alien life on a nearbye planet

[Moon Man]

This is a completely hypothetical question. What would we do if we discovered alien life on a nearby planet? Would we seek to be friends with them, or destroy them before they destroy us? Would we allow them to enter our society and vice versa, or stay in our respective planets? Would any of this change if the aliens were highly advanced, roughly equal to our technology, or in the tribal stages?

[Dimitri Valko]

If Tribal, we would probably claim to be their gods.

If Modern, we would probably exchange technology.

If Advanced, we would probably become their slaves.

[Fox Fire]

Honestly, I think it would internally tear us apart. There would be those afraid, and those simply intrigued. We would probably destroy ourselves in the ensuing debate of "what to do" before they even had a chance. 

Assuming these aliens were as, if not more advanced than us anyway. If they were in a more primal state, we would probably just study the shit out of them with minimal harm.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Fox Fire

[Dwemyrn]

The American way would be to commit genocide on the planet and take it for ourselves. #Murica #NativeAmericanGenocide

Edited November 12, 2015 by Ashwyn Traverse

[KeyStroke]

Assuming the distances are as difficult and timrtime consuming to traverse for them as it is for us then there is no realistic concerns about one civilization becoming the slaves of the other.

 

So that leaves communication with each other. We would craft meaningful messages and send them to the other planet. Then we would wait years or decades for a reply. Then we can would analyze the heck out of the reply. And then try to crafts the a meaningful response.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Wave hi and then see if we can breed with it.

[Franz Von Dietrich]

Language barrier would most likely be our first obstacle, implying the alien race found is not primitive and tribalistic. 

[Spite]

Killing them all would be the natural human reaction

[KeyStroke]

Any civilization advanced enough to make interstellar travel viable would already possess the ability to satisfy their needs/wants without disturbing us.

 

I am vastly superior to an ant. I have the ability to travel hundreds of miles in one ant lifetime. So, let's say I come across an anthill. Do I kill them all? No. Do I take from them something they deem valuable? No. In effect, I totally ignore them. I don't even try to communicate with them. To deal with them in any fashion is just a waste of my time.

 

The same would happen with an extraterrestrial species coming upon us. We would be ignored. We would be just a waste of time to any alien able to travel between the stars.

Edited November 12, 2015 by KeyStroke

[Spite]

Any civilization advanced enough to make interstellar travel viable would already possess the ability to satisfy their needs/wants without disturbing us.

 

I am vastly superior to an ant. I have the ability to travel hundreds of miles in one ant lifetime. So, let's say I come across an anthill. Do I kill them all? No. Do I take from them something they deem valuable? No. In effect, I totally ignore them. I don't even try to communicate with them. To deal with them in any fashion is just a waste of my time.

 

The same would happen with an extraterrestrial species coming upon us. We would be ignored. We would be just a waste of time to any alien able to travel between the stars.

That's stupid though. If in a thousand years we have interstellar travel, we'll still be human. Our biology and so on will be more or less the same. Whereas ants will still be ants

 

If an alien race arrived here it doesn't mean they'll be demigods, they could very well be similar in intelligence to us, or even more stupid in some ways.

[Caecus]

A return to a realist international (interstellar now) paradigm. 

[KeyStroke]

If in a thousand years we have interstellar travel, we'll still be human. Our biology and so on will be more or less the same.

 

I disagree. For us to survive interstellar travel we would need to change our physiology. We would need the ability to, individually, live hundreds of years. And do so while surviving cosmic rays and other, similar, radiation that is lethal to us in our current state.

 

In short, we would have to become more machine than human.

[Moreau]

The American way would be to commit genocide on the planet and take it for ourselves. #Murica #NativeAmericanGenocide

[Big Brother]

I disagree. For us to survive interstellar travel we would need to change our physiology. We would need the ability to, individually, live hundreds of years. And do so while surviving cosmic rays and other, similar, radiation that is lethal to us in our current state.

 

In short, we would have to become more machine than human.

 

That's not necessarily true. Altering our own physiology is hardly the only solution to the obstacles presented by interstellar travel. And if we did alter our physiology, it wouldn't necessarily have to involve adding machinery to our bodies, we might as well put biological manipulation to use.

 

There are many potential technological solutions we could pursue to achieve interstellar travel and to affirm one of these possibilities and deny all the rest is irrational and counterproductive.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Big Brother

[Fox Fire]

That's not necessarily true. Altering our own physiology is hardly the only solution to the obstacles presented by interstellar travel. And if we did alter our physiology, it wouldn't necessarily have to involve adding machinery to our bodies, we might as well put biological manipulation to use.

 

There are many potential technological solutions we could pursue to achieve interstellar travel and to affirm one of these possibilities and deny all the rest is irrational and counterproductive.

It's hypothetically possible to travel to other star systems with highly advanced technology. For example, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, but we could hypothetically bend space around an object instead for instant travel. For example, wormholes have been proposed by physicists, but nobody knows if it's physically plausible. Time is a strange thing that can be altered for individual objects and people. There are entire galaxies moving away from us faster than the speed of light, even though current physics says FTL is impossible. But this is because it's not the object that's moving, rather, it's the space itself expanding. 

[New Scandanavia]

Colenies if history dose not lie

[Redael]

NUKE THEM, as interim president of antarctica until i am fully elected by next month, i have the power to do that.

[Braxton Bragg]

I think we should kill em all and dominate before we ourselves become dominated build a death star system and destroy their planet.

I think I played too much of star wars

[Nadir Aminu]

 

The American way would be to commit genocide on the planet and take it for ourselves. #Murica #NativeAmericanGenocide

[Dimitri Valko]

NUKE THEM, as interim president of antarctica until i am fully elected by next month, i have the power to do that.

 

I think I caught Autism.

[johnl023]

It depends. If they have oil they're toast.

[Kemal Ergenekon]

We would send them lolcat videos.

[Eutychus]

You are all erroneous.  First find some Intelligent life on this planet.

[Karnifex]

Maybe if they end up playing PnW, they will join the Black Knights. 

But on the serious note though, it would really change us internally and externally. Such as our human correlation with religion primarily.. and the upcoming wars and new advanced innovations.