Are Religious Beliefs Going To Screw Up First Contact?

[Earl IV]

They sent a scout about 2000 years ago and we crucified him. I doubt they are in a hurry to come back.


Sent from portable distraction device

 

[jonJ]

I'm with physics Nobel Prize winner Ed Purcell who said that space travel would always remain where it belonged. On the back of cereal boxes.

I'm guessing Tigers! thinks the way I do -- space travel represents a -- literally! -- astronomical investment with a very poor chance of any significant returns.

 

[NobleSavage]

Pope Francis says he would baptise aliens: 'The doors of the Catholic Church are open to everyone'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...cis-says-he-would-baptise-aliens-9360632.html

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Pope Francis says he would baptise aliens: 'The doors of the Catholic Church are open to everyone'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...cis-says-he-would-baptise-aliens-9360632.html

What about those aliens from that dumb Mel Gibson movie who die when water touches them? The Pope wants to baptise them as well? That's called murder, dude!

 

[jonJ]

Pope Francis says he would baptise aliens: 'The doors of the Catholic Church are open to everyone'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...cis-says-he-would-baptise-aliens-9360632.html

What about those aliens from that dumb Mel Gibson movie who die when water touches them? The Pope wants to baptise them as well? That's called murder, dude!

No, you're thinking of the Wicked Witch of the West. But hang on... isn't there water vapour in the atmosphere?

 

[Cognoscenti324]

My nightmare of First Contact:

"People of Earth, the Galactic Council has determined that, as your species represents the absolute ass-end of intelligent life, this planet will be terra-cauterized so that it may be better utilized as a Cosmic Putt-Putt Golf Course. That is all."

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Pope Francis says he would baptise aliens: 'The doors of the Catholic Church are open to everyone'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...cis-says-he-would-baptise-aliens-9360632.html

What about those aliens from that dumb Mel Gibson movie who die when water touches them? The Pope wants to baptise them as well? That's called murder, dude!

No, you're thinking of the Wicked Witch of the West. But hang on... isn't there water vapour in the atmosphere?

Wouldn't an alien species which has mastered interplanetary travel have also been able to design a raincoat or figure out how to open a closet door? It was a really dumb movie.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Wouldn't an alien species which has mastered interplanetary travel have also been able to design a raincoat or figure out how to open a closet door?

I think it was Close Encounters where the hero followed a UFO that was surfing along the highway. Found a redneck who opined: "They can fly around the moon and whatnot, but we're light-years ahead of them with the highway system."

Maybe it never occurred to the naked aliens that clothing-wearing species would create moveable walls to hide the clothes we're not wearing. Maybe their brains just don't work that way.
We could be years ahead of them in the development of 'door' and 'closet' technology.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Maybe it never occurred to the naked aliens that clothing-wearing species would create moveable walls to hide the clothes we're not wearing. Maybe their brains just don't work that way.
We could be years ahead of them in the development of 'door' and 'closet' technology.

I vaguely remember a Star Trek episode where they were wandering around an abandoned old ship and they came to a door that wouldn't open. Worf was about to slice through it with his phaser and then Ryker told him to wait and turned the handle to open it. Us humans rock in the development of doors.

 

[marc]

My nightmare of First Contact:

"People of Earth, the Galactic Council has determined that, as your species represents the absolute ass-end of intelligent life, this planet will be terra-cauterized so that it may be better utilized as a Cosmic Putt-Putt Golf Course. That is all."

In a novel that I love, "Illegal Aliens" a spaceship lands in Central Park. They bring aboard some humans for 'testing', and then announce to the world that we have failed their tests. The fleet will be here in a few days to wipe out all the humans. In reality the aliens are interstellar criminals. They go to primitive worlds like earth, announce their destruction, and then enjoy watching the chaos that results when people think the end of the world has come.

Great book, and sooo would want the STC, a non-lethal weapon in the story.

 

[Terrell]

HUMANS are going to screw up first contact.

We won't need religions to do that. It'll just change the flavor of the screwing, and maybe the locations of the craters.

That's a good point, I'm reminded of a couple things from science fiction.

From the Star Control series of games there are first contacts that are done properly, to create the Alliance of Free Stars. The Chenjesu's first contact with humanity, was done without conflict between the species. They'd already recruited other races to form the alliance. The humans screw up when they encounter the Vux. Captain Jeffry Rand in command of the star ship Far Voyager, offended the Vux captain with an insult. Vux don't join Alliance, are subjugated by the Ur-Quan. Vux join Ur-Quan hierarchy as battle slaves. Ultimately the human screw up isn't what cost the alliance the war, but the super weapon possessed by the Ur-Quan. Still we found a way to screw it up, when we had the chance.

This one was a case where human recklessness nearly got us wiped out by the Minbari from the B5 Universe.

This:


Perhaps the captain should have obeyed his orders, arrogant prick almost caused our extinction.

Led to this.

 

[Keith&Co.]

HUMANS are going to screw up first contact.

We won't need religions to do that. It'll just change the flavor of the screwing, and maybe the locations of the craters.

That's a good point, I'm reminded of a couple things from science fiction.

I was thinking more of the Conquistadors meeting the Aztecs, decimated tribes along the Amazon, Roanoke, that sort of thing, but those work, too.

 

[Lunawalk]

http://io9.com/are-religious-beliefs-going-to-screw-up-first-contact-1574043211
Are humans really prepared to meet an extraterrestrial civilization in this century? A new study suggests we're psychologically ill-prepared for this monumental event — and that the prominence of religious beliefs has a lot to do with it.

Interesting I think many religious people will say the aliens are demons. But in the stars are too far away they will never get here or don't know about this planet

 

[ideologyhunter]

Aliens are going to be pissed off with all the grade Z science fiction films of the 50's, 60's...they will be able to access it and throw it in our faces as racist porn. Plan 9 from Outer Space will play like a minstrel show.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

I would think the aliens would be swarmed by religious proselytzers of many kinds. Suppose they are rationalists who abandoned religion millenia ago. Learning that they are atheists would be a shock to many, to hear they outgrew religion long ago. And to hear them recommend the same for us.