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> Secondly, why would aliens reveal themselves in such a way? It is a possibility if those “aliens” are biological humans in possession of technology far super

> Secondly, why would aliens reveal themselves in such a way? It is a possibility if those “aliens” are biological humans in possession of technology far superior to anything we have now. Then you’d want to keep it a secret.

hiccuphippo 7y ago
Why keep it a secret? If we somehow where able to meet humans with a technology level below ours, wouldn't it make sense to give them technology to better themselves?
- colordrops 7y ago
  When has the human instinct ever been to give away an advantage over others?
  - jcranmer 7y ago
    Judging by the number of times people have tried and failed to prevent knowledge of "advanced weapons" from leaking... pretty much all of human history.
    - colordrops 7y ago
      leaking != giving away
- remir 7y ago
  Why would you give powerful and highly advanced technology to a race that is constantly fighting itself and doesn't value its native environment enough to protect it?
  - HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
    At least we recognize it? If there are other sentient races like ours, who's to say we aren't the best off? There's a lot of ways that races like ours can fall off the deep end (such as an actual all-out nuclear war), but it could also be possible that we're the worst off, too. Some people care about the environment, but it's hard to get started and become civilized without pollution and deforestation and all the other things that come with needing fuel- England could very well have run out of trees at some point had they not gone "oh, this is bad, let's fix this". One cannot expect the first version of an air conditioner to be 100% efficient and not leak refrigerant into the atmosphere, but over time, because of it, we have the basis for being able to send food across the entire world and populate it (at a cost [1]). We, as a race, also have the basis for very efficient power generation, in the form of nuclear reactors (my favorite kind, uranium salt, can run for a long time and are much more efficient than light water ones are, not to mention less polluting, and its failure mode is much less spectacular- they just didn’t get developed, unfortunately). As far as it goes, we’ve done pretty well, but there is, as always, room for improvement. [1] Such as Hawaii, where everything is slightly more expensive.
- mratzloff 7y ago
  No, that doesn't make sense at all. When we discover a hidden tribe in the Amazon, we don't give them iPhones and Camrys.

hiccuphippo 7y ago

Why keep it a secret? If we somehow where able to meet humans with a technology level below ours, wouldn't it make sense to give them technology to better themselves?

colordrops 7y ago
When has the human instinct ever been to give away an advantage over others?
- jcranmer 7y ago
  Judging by the number of times people have tried and failed to prevent knowledge of "advanced weapons" from leaking... pretty much all of human history.
  - colordrops 7y ago
    leaking != giving away
remir 7y ago
Why would you give powerful and highly advanced technology to a race that is constantly fighting itself and doesn't value its native environment enough to protect it?
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
  At least we recognize it? If there are other sentient races like ours, who's to say we aren't the best off? There's a lot of ways that races like ours can fall off the deep end (such as an actual all-out nuclear war), but it could also be possible that we're the worst off, too. Some people care about the environment, but it's hard to get started and become civilized without pollution and deforestation and all the other things that come with needing fuel- England could very well have run out of trees at some point had they not gone "oh, this is bad, let's fix this". One cannot expect the first version of an air conditioner to be 100% efficient and not leak refrigerant into the atmosphere, but over time, because of it, we have the basis for being able to send food across the entire world and populate it (at a cost [1]). We, as a race, also have the basis for very efficient power generation, in the form of nuclear reactors (my favorite kind, uranium salt, can run for a long time and are much more efficient than light water ones are, not to mention less polluting, and its failure mode is much less spectacular- they just didn’t get developed, unfortunately). As far as it goes, we’ve done pretty well, but there is, as always, room for improvement. [1] Such as Hawaii, where everything is slightly more expensive.
mratzloff 7y ago
No, that doesn't make sense at all. When we discover a hidden tribe in the Amazon, we don't give them iPhones and Camrys.