How do you think First Contact will play out?

[Hyper-space]

First, contact with aliens could only come through mastery of interstellar travel. To achieve interstellar travel is to have achieved a way to create near infinite amounts of energy, which in turn would solve all of our problems (water-purification etc.) and would enable us to mine comets and other interstellar bodies which are rich in irons (or that we have created a perfect substitute for metal). THUS, we have no interest in resources (which would cross off warfare in the possible scenarios).

Observation would be our first course of action, we would use high-power telescopes and other recon technology to map out their environment, possible structures, etc. Then we would find a way to communicate with them (as in no way would the aliens think/communicate as we do), for the difference in psychology (mind-body relationship, qualia etc.) could be staggering. Hell, even their perception of time could be different from ours, so imagine trying to talk to someone who communicates through different wave-lengths of light and who is not observing this particular spectrum of time. Even more mind-boggling would be if the aliens were other dimensional (5th, 6th, etc), in which we could just give up on any attempt to establish communications with said aliens.

If we are to be realistic, any goverment would simply nuke them out of existence if they got the stupid idea to land. You know how millions of native south americans died of european bacteria? Now imagine if that stuff came from a different planet. No one would be willing to take that risk.

They would be incinerated and the area would be forbidden territory for many years before anyone dared to step foot there.

No, if we were to be realistic, NONE of what you just suggested would have happened. All of humanities genocidal tendencies come from our desire for resources. Something that in the future will be no concern.

 

[retterkl]

It'll be ok if we use Interprative Dance.

It's a universal language.


But I reckon that aliens will have to come to use, we just don't have the resources to go the distance to ever find life. So when they do it'll mean they have the resources and will likely be peaceful. I doubt they'd kill us Independance Day style, they're more likely to domesticate us to their ways and keeps us as slaves/pets.

 

[spartandude]

well the aliens will try to destroy us. and in the end it will not be our advanced weapons which destroy the aliens, but the simplest and most humble of all god's creations... the tyrannosaurus rex