Monday, August 4, 2014

Would aliens want to meet us? (part 1)


This Saturday's article posed an interesting question—would aliens really want to visit us? If intelligent alien life does exist out there, what would motivate aliens to go through the trouble of visiting earth, or even contacting us at all? The assumption that aliens want to meet us has existed for so long, it's almost hard for us to imagine that aliens might know we're here and are intentionally avoiding contact. We at least seem to realize this in one way, because many of the sci-fi movies and stories about alien invasion recognize that humans are destroying themselves, constantly fighting wars, polluting the planet, etc. Alien invasion in science fiction often seems predicated upon the assumption that humanity deserves punishment for their treatment of the planet and each other, and the common moral communicated through these stories is that we should take a second look at ourselves and change our ways. Let's take the focus off ourselves for a moment and consider the aliens, if they're out there. What might prevent or deter them from visiting earth?

No comments:

Post a Comment