If the government is hiding aliens from us, is that the right thing to do?

[LaBelle]

Like if aliens landed on earth on a major city and it became huge news, most of the people would go crazy, religions would crumble, humanity would redefine it's position in the infinite universe and chaos would ensue.

So theoretically the best course of action would be for the government to hide their existence from society.

How do you feel about this? Is it better to keep on keeping on as a society and completely ignorant to this? Or should we face the consequences of knowing for certain there is a more advanced race?

[smashingjj]

beffen

[The Omega Concern]

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/sm/497df961.jpg

[The Omega Concern]

I hear Orson Welles stirring, Labelle...and Werner Von Braun gasping.

[qwerty sp]

Cool

[buzzard]

This is what they did with the planet being round and this orbiting of the sun that we're into.

The truth emerges.

[ohnoitsbonnie]

Considering the scale of the universe/galaxy/local group/solar system and our life span(s) and the laws of physics I don't believe there is a more "advanced" (what does this mean?) species that we could ever be aware of and vice versa. Also time is really long and everything takes so fucken long to happen. Like I don't even entertain the idea.

[redbreegull]

Assuming ftl travel is possible, I still don't know why a species that advanced would visit Earth

[qwerty sp]

There's at least a hundred other cultures out there

7 occupied continents in the universe, I think not

[ohnoitsbonnie]

Originally Posted by redbreegull

Assuming ftl travel is possible, I still don't know why a species that advanced would visit Earth

To see a rocky planet with biology?

[run2pee]

Originally Posted by qwerty sp

Cool

Awesome

[run2pee]

Originally Posted by redbreegull

Assuming ftl travel is possible, I still don't know why a species that advanced would visit Earth

Theres 7 billion of us and we're weak af and we taste good

[run2pee]

Er, or so I've

Uh, heard

[ohnoitsbonnie]

I assume other life out there formed under dif circumstances and earth may not be inhabitable to them anyway so we may not be a viable food. Maybe they've sent rovers?

[redbreegull]

if a civilization can move faster than light it seems pretty likely they can reorganize matter into any form they want, so I don't buy any arguments about us being tasty food or having resources they need

[ohnoitsbonnie]

Why are we sure society would crumble if aliens came? Ok but assuming that's the scenario I neither think the govt could hold back this info or that the aliens wouldn't somehow make their presence known in another way

[ohnoitsbonnie]

Originally Posted by redbreegull

if a civilization can move faster than light it seems pretty likely they can reorganize matter into any form they want, so I don't buy any arguments about us being tasty food or having resources they need

How about research? Cassini isn't out there looking for oil. Why not assume other life forms would have the same thirst for knowledge we do? It keeps my brain up at night imagining the possibility of life elsewhere

[ohnoitsbonnie]

The universe is supposedly infinite and therefore every possibility within the law of physics is fair game

[ohnoitsbonnie]

What if microbial or equivalent alien life has come to earth by way of meteor but it either became destroyed on the way in or because of conditions here on earth? (Like it breaths sulfur and has cold hydrocarbon blood)

[redbreegull]

Originally Posted by ohnoitsbonnie

How about research? Cassini isn't out there looking for oil. Why not assume other life forms would have the same thirst for knowledge we do? It keeps my brain up at night imagining the possibility of life elsewhere

this is possible but still unlikely based on the size of the universe. there are probably billions of life-supporting worlds like Earth, and even FTL travel is not instantaneous. Huge distances could still take a long time for them to traverse. I believe that there is almost certainly a lot of life out there, but I find the chances that it has come here or will ever come here to be pretty slim

[ohnoitsbonnie]

Depends on how much faster than light we're talking which afaik isn't even possible. So yes, even if you could travel at the speed of light the stuff out there close by is p boring if you're looking for life. Unless your lifespan is very very long

[ohnoitsbonnie]

Space is mostly empty, after all.

Wormholes or nothing

[ohnoitsbonnie]

One of the abstract fevergrief thoughts I had after tie died was that he and his brother's spirits could bounce around wrestling through space way after than the speed of light

[LaBelle]

Originally Posted by ohnoitsbonnie

Why are we sure society would crumble if aliens came? Ok but assuming that's the scenario I neither think the govt could hold back this info or that the aliens wouldn't somehow make their presence known in another way

I don't know, but do you think society could handle knowing for a fact there is extraterrestrial life and that humans aren't the most technologically advanced beings?

Who knows, some people say the government has knowledge of alien life right now and doesn't go public with it... so it's hard to say.

[ohnoitsbonnie]

I could handle it if you could get me to believe it but like I said before, I just don't

[LaBelle]

Ok, thank you for your input.

[ohnoitsbonnie]

Which government is hiding aliens?

[LaBelle]

Any of them could theoretically be.

Even here, there are stories of alien cover ups.

[LaBelle]

https://slack-imgs.com/?c=1&url=http...-downsized.gif

[buzzard]

Are we really that blessed with elected officials responsible and consistent enough to effectively carry out this next-level obscurantism for the supposed net benefit of humankind?

I should have taken that job with the Hubble Space Telescope. They weren't offering much, but I never did factor in the possibility of hush money.