How do you think society would respond to first contact with extraterrestrials?

[SilentCom]

People will go a little crazy, shit will go down and eventually some people may accept it. Unfortunately the extraterrestials will probably bug out after seeing us in pandemonium about their arrival. Those crazy humans, we're out of here! >_<

LOL, the captcha I got said: "not ciails" (switch the l and s and it'll say "not cialis")

 

[qwertyz]

Really depends on what the extraterrestrials are like, and how much information the public receives about them.

So long as they don't come knocking with a black hole generator, I think we'll be good.

 

[r0kle0nZ]

It has probably already happened, just been covered up.

 

[Nixzilla]

Well if it was only a message I have no clue how we would act but if they show up we will no doubt become mass retards and fire nukes at them.

 

[Zaik]

WTF?! THINGS THAT AREN'T FROM AMERICA? KILL, DESTROY, BOMB!

yeah, that, that's what america would do, just like we do with everything that doesn't flat out help us on ridiculous terms.

Stop talking.

Anyways, as already stated more centralized religions will have no difficulty adapting to the situation though smaller/decentralized ones may see major upheavals and new pro-alien cults as competition. I think after the overall shock and fanfare, assuming we only found proof and NOT sustained contact, everything will cool down eventually and life/people will return to normal, racism and all.

As for sustained contact, it's all up to chance. Will they be a hedonistic society? Perhaps a war-like one centered on having us join their side, or even simply to spread the word their own religious beliefs! What if their belief system is strikingly similar to one on earth, like an alien Jesus or Buddha? We really don't know how things will go down on that route.

I really don't see Evangelical Christians approaching this concept with open arms.

I am actually curious as to why you think that is.

Obviously the gay burners like WBC are going to be up in arms, but I'm not aware of anything that would cause a catastrophic shakeup as far as not-insane Christians go.

 

[Rayne870]

suicides, lots and lots of suicides....

Followed by me changing the radio station, shrugging it off and saying "meh"

 

[Death on Trapezoids]

I have no doubt that there will be deniers. Heck, if the message isn't spread across continents, I can garentee there'll be a cover up attempt of some sort.

I'll also bet there'll be religious uproar, at least from the really devout. Might even get a fool or two jumping off buildings, but it shouldn't take too long to get ovet it.

Finally, I give two global options for what happens politically: A) the world grows closer, either because people want to get out there or because people want to unite in defense of a perceived threat, or B) countries begin competing fiercely for exclusive trade rights with the alien culture.

EDIT: on second thought, would they make contact in the first place? Unless it's a one shot message deal, an orbiting ship would probably end up downloading the internet. Would you make contact with us if the first thing you saw was the internet?

 

[Boom129]

something involving the words "racism" and "god's chosen" and "a threat to our way of life" and "wow this is just like what we did with the Native Americans except we got our asses kicked for it"

 

[Boom129]

WTF?! THINGS THAT AREN'T FROM AMERICA? KILL, DESTROY, BOMB!

yeah, that, that's what america would do, just like we do with everything that doesn't flat out help us on ridiculous terms.

I second this motion, more or less

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

Lots of crazy stuff. Some people would get really excited. Others would really freak. I don't know how alot of religions would take it. Some would accept it and work with it, while others would deny, deny, deny. Hell there'd probably be strife within the different organized religions. I'm sure some people would be pretty open to the extraterrestrials and would want to open up more contact. Others would be really hostile or against interaction. I don't think the whole of human society would come apart unless something really crazy happened like some god like beings arrived and told us only some could ascend to a higher level of being. If we just get a message there'd be a whole slew of responses.

Well that is if the public is let on. Otherwise nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[RandV80]

It has probably already happened, just been covered up.

For everyone saying this, what if yes it did happen but it's all been covered up because they told our governments to do it, threatening annihilate otherwise? Now did any government conspiracy theorists ever think of that?

I suppose to some there's a certain romanticism about thinking our big bad government doesn't think we're ready to or capable of handling 'the truth', but realistically unless the government is as clueless as the rest of us are if a advanced space fairing civilization decided to make contact with us I think it's maybe more likely that they'd be the ones calling the shots on how things are done.

 

[Boom129]

If instead it was a message of hostility, say the aliens declared they are either going to convert us religiously or just plain old eradicate us...humanity may just unite long enough to repel or be annihilated as one.

yeah...
if a race advanced enough to travel all the way here wanted to kill us there's no way in hell we could stop them unless we got our hands on their tech AND were able to use it

 

[Carlston]

I'd say the religious nuts would try and kill them.

The aliens would disallow any space travel to us past putting up satellites till we grew up as a race.

 

[The Apothecarry]

Something along the lines of "If it don't look cute, shoot it. If it looks cute, be diplomatic and then shoot it."

 

[Boom129]

I've thought of it in sociological perspective..

there will be an end, or the very least, a massive decline in racism. when people feel connected to one another and see each other as the same, rather than different, it will be a very beautiful thing.

ye good call. there would be much talk of "humanity" as a collective just as there was at the key points in the "space race" but on a far wider and more effecting scale.

Ha! I laugh at your wide eyed idealism! Though there would be an absolutely colossal "humans first" (speciast?) movement

 

[Jfswift]

It really depends on the type of message and who receives it first. If it's a small message that few see it'll get buried by bureaucracy, however if the world sees it, open, blatently then I think society and humanity will probably handle the appearance calmly and maturely.

 

[jonyboy13]

Considering religion rules the world it will be covered up completely.
You won't be seeing "Zorg bless America".

 

[theheroofaction]

Extreme speciesism, people Claiming men are "the race of god" (even though really it being the other guys is just as likely)
There will be people of course lobbying for peaceful relations, these groups would mostly be made of the racial minorities. They will of course slowly, but eventually get the extraterrestrials to have equal rights to men, but the speciesism doesn't end there.
All the while people of both worlds are beginning to understand and communicate with those of the opposite species. The differences people find will only serve to widen the chasm of xenophobia.
immigration between planets, both ways begins, this only slightly improves relations
However, here's where it gets better, it'll be humanity's natural greed that saves us, A brilliant CEO puts his prejudices aside and realizes, "I can make a metric fuckton (totally a real unit of measurement) of money off of this".
Quickly people of both sides realize that there is an entire new market for pretty much anything, there is still some prejudice from both species.
Then, a new generation is born, From birth they know that humans aren't the only people in the universe, the parents who are still afraid of the extraterrestrials will in turn try to instill that fear into their children, this will fail for one reason, history class, kids will realize that this is the same as the blind prejudices of the past. When this new generation has many of it's members reach adulthood interplanetary trade will flourish leading to a galactic golden age of industry.

And this isn't the best case scenario.