Would you recognize an alien and how?

GJW

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I got to thinking about extra-terrestrials and asked a coworker, "if an alien came up and told you he was an alien, what sort of proof would you want?".
(These are the kinds of things my brain works on when I'm bored.)
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

He came up with a few fantastical ideas (levitation and the sort) but I pretty much discarded them all.
If Neil Armstrong had gone through a wormhole to another planet -- he would have none of the powers we often attribute to aliens.
Well if we don't have a particular ability why would we expect an alien to have it?

My thinking is:
If they're going to come all this way they would likely intend to communicate and would probably speak a native Earth language.
If their intent was to make contact they would likely have to leave their craft and would have found a way to breathe our air.
If Earth was picked out of the millions of possible planets then their planet would likely be similar to Earth and their physiology might likely be similar to ours.
Am I on the wrong track here?

Could aliens already be here and we just don't believe them?

I understand the movie K-Pax dealt with a similar theme but I haven't seen it.
 

x-ray

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Two Aliens land in Detroit, next to a Gas station. The Aliens waddle
out of their ship and look around. The first thing they see that
resembles a being is the Gas pump. The two Aliens approach. The
first one says "Earthling take me to your leader!"

He gets no response. The first Alien looks at his buddy then addresses
the pump again. "Earthling, I said Take me to your leader!"

Still no response. The first Alien then turns to the second and says
"If this Earthling doesn't show me some respect I'm going to blast
him!" . The second Alien replies "O.K. but, I'm just going to stand
down on the next block." The first Alien looks a little puzzled, but
waits for the other to waddle to the next block. He then addresses
the pump a third time. "Earthling take me to your leader!"

No response. The Alien then pulls out his ray-gun and shoots the pump.
After the explosion the Alien gets up dusts himself off then goes down
the block to his buddy, He then says to the second Alien "If you knew
that was going to happen why didn't you warn me?"

The second replies " I didn't know what was going to happen, but I'm
not going to mess with anyone who's ***** can hang to the ground, wrap
around his body twice, and still stick it in his ear!"

<font color="green">Sorry, I couldn't resist /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif </font>
 

d'mo

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If we really come in contact with aliens, chances are, our culture and language will be so different, mathematics will be the only common language. Everything else will be like trying to explain opera to a clam. Besides, if they have the technology to come here to begin with, it's far beyond ours. I think it was Isaac Asimov who said, "Any technology sufficiently advanced from our own will appear as magic."

Something to think about anyway.
 

FalconFX

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The thought of humans being an alien race to Earth is quite interesting, really... In a sense, it almost seems "plausible", as humans really don't fit on earth...

I've seen animals manipulate and interact with their environment like we do (build a home, dam a river, dig trails, clear an area), but I don't see any species capable of manipulating things down to the molecular and subatomic levels...

There's almost no explanation in human history to show how incredible or dull humans were, say, ten thousand years ago... Surely, somebody must've thought of a steam engine or electricity before the mammoths disappeared; but only recently has it ever gone to the point we have something like Moore's Law on the advancements of certain technologies...

I had always thought there was a chance that humans could've landed on earth from another planet, programmed themselves one way or another to not remember the past, and start out primitively... That's my premonition and I'm stickin' to it!...
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Tomas

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That was Clarke's Law:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Arthur C. Clarke ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

brightnorm

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aliens.gif


Brightnorm
 

budlight

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Brightnorm:

That reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode called, "To Serve Mankind."

Mike-
 

FalconFX

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Remember the old pre-'50s radio shows? The panic when everybody thought aliens were actually invading Earth?...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif
 

Rothrandir

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hey bent, have you considered that humans might have been designed as we are? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

i personally don't think there are aliens here...certainly, with all the observation stuff we have on this planet, we would have noticed a ship landing or something!

also...unless they have technology where they can travel the speed of light or greater (not possible for physical objects...), there is just no way to get here from such a long distance.

now the idea behind the k-pax thing intriegues me...they use the electromagnetic specrtrum to travel...not physical travel...
 

budlight

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[ QUOTE ]
FalconFX said:
Remember the old pre-'50s radio shows? The panic when everybody thought aliens were actually invading Earth?...

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

War of the Worlds - Orson Wells

We have lots of aliens here in So California /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 

FalconFX

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Roth, I figure if I was a result of an accident, I might as well go out like an accident waiting to happen... (or something like that)..
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

But the theory of creationism or religion is parelleled by my belief in the religion of science... Spirituality, on the other hand, is a different story...

I'd always figure, if I morphed from a monkey, I might as well scratch my rear like one...
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowlaugh.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Budlight, War of the Worlds, that's it!...
 

Roy

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There is a spot in S.Africa that has radioactive isotopes in the rock that are only produced in a nuclear reactor! I allways like to think that is the site where a intergalatic starship crashed landed and the survivors were the seed stock for the human race.
 

GJW

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[ QUOTE ]
FalconFX said:
I had always thought there was a chance that humans could've landed on earth from another planet, programmed themselves one way or another to not remember the past, and start out primitively... That's my premonition and I'm stickin' to it!...
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

This is pretty much the basis of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.
Man is evolved not from the caveman but from the aliens that landed and brought disease that killed off the caveman.

I also caught a Priest/Theologian on some radio show who's premise was (I'm HUGELY paraphrasing) that aliens did land on Earth and that they were the "gods" referred to in the ancient Greek/Roman/Egyptian religions.
He noted that ancient cultures though miles apart which did not share language, all had the same root names for their deities.
And in the earliest writings, when translated verbatim, the "gods" were not bearded figures in the sky but actual entities that one could visit, talk, argue, and fight with.
I found it all very interesting but have no idea if he had the evidence to back himself up.
 

GJW

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[ QUOTE ]
MichiganMan said:
You're talking about Chariots of the Gods by Erich Von Daniken. It came out in the '70's I believe.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope.
The premise is similar but this guy was an ordained Catholic Priest (Bishop?) who was somehow linked to a Diocese in the San Francisco Bay area. He still ives in the area and was a recent radio guest.
From the brief excerpts of C.O.G. that I've seen, C.O.G. is a rather fantastical representation of the same basic story with no real support.
The guy I heard sure sounded like he had the real poop without resorting to any of the hocus pocus that C.O.G. seems to have (ancient Egyptians having light bulbs for instance).
 

Tombeis

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[ QUOTE ]
budlight said:
We have lots of aliens here in So California /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Budlight: Switch from watching the SciFi to the History channel and it won't be so noticable. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 

Ironic

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[ QUOTE ]
budlight said:
Brightnorm:

That reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode called, "To Serve Mankind."

Mike-

[/ QUOTE ] That was a good episode. I'm going through the tv guide now, sci-fi should have twilight zone on sometime this evening.
 

Tomas

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Naw, the most recent crash was the one that lost control while landing, and crashed at Tunguska in 1908 ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Actually that's the only time we notice them is when they crash ...

*insert Outer Limits theme here*

As to recognizing them if you meet 'em? Well, I have this friend of mine ... I'll have him ask 'em ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

tomsig03.gif

 

The_LED_Museum

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[ QUOTE ]
budlight said:
That reminds me of an old Twilight Zone episode called, "To Serve Mankind."

[/ QUOTE ]

I always thought the episode was called "To Serve Man", just like the ****book says. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I've only seen it once, and it was rather scary. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Hopefully, real aliens aren't that way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif
 
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