2 ms·

The core of the argument seems to be that any aliens that have advanced so much in their scientific/technological knowledge that they can travel to visit us wil

The core of the argument seems to be that any aliens that have advanced so much in their scientific/technological knowledge that they can travel to visit us will necessarily have also advanced in their moral knowledge such that they will consider it immoral to harm us (and not just consider it immoral, but be able to prevent all parties from doing the immoral things). It’s an appealing idea, but I don’t see any reason to believe it. The actual conquistadors had more advanced technology (at least military technology) than the people they massacred and conquered. Some Spanish people even wrote at the time that what the conquistadors were doing was immoral, so the lack of moral knowledge didn’t seem to be a problem. What’s special about space travel that requires a civilization to have also acquired the knowledge to both consider genocide bad and prevent all capable parties from committing it?

mynameisvlad 5y ago
IMO, it goes a step further than that, though. The motivations for most of the conquistadors was wealth— in the form of gold and new trade routes. What would an alien civilization who has built the necessary capabilities to get to us want with our resources? Especially when all of them can be mined in far greater quantities along the way.
- tshaddox 5y ago
  Did conquistadors ever encounter any indigenous people with no immediate access to valuable resources, and if so, did the conquistadors behave in the way this article predicts aliens to behave? Did they simply desire to teach those indigenous people? I'm no expert, but I tend to doubt it. Conquistadors slaughtered children on some occasions, which doesn't strike me as something motivated entirely by wealth.
  - mynameisvlad 5y ago
    One of the primary official motivations in terms of the entire conquest (taking a step back from individual desires of wealth and prosperity) was the Catholicization of the settled lands. The Conquistadors as a whole were people. People can be good, people can be shitty. And the same can certainly be said for any potential aliens. But I am not aware of any official campaign which included slaughtering children, or anyone else for that matter. In fact, one of the earliest laws drafted (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Burgos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Burgos) includes an explicit article forbidding it and other forms of maltreatment: > 24: The Indians are not to be physically or verbally abused for any reason. And the laws were even expanded to further protect women and children.
    - tshaddox 5y ago
      Where to even start? How about this declaration, one year after those very nice sounding Laws of Burgos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Requirement_of_1513 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Requirement_of_1513

mynameisvlad 5y ago

IMO, it goes a step further than that, though. The motivations for most of the conquistadors was wealth— in the form of gold and new trade routes. What would an alien civilization who has built the necessary capabilities to get to us want with our resources? Especially when all of them can be mined in far greater quantities along the way.

tshaddox 5y ago
Did conquistadors ever encounter any indigenous people with no immediate access to valuable resources, and if so, did the conquistadors behave in the way this article predicts aliens to behave? Did they simply desire to teach those indigenous people? I'm no expert, but I tend to doubt it. Conquistadors slaughtered children on some occasions, which doesn't strike me as something motivated entirely by wealth.
- mynameisvlad 5y ago
  One of the primary official motivations in terms of the entire conquest (taking a step back from individual desires of wealth and prosperity) was the Catholicization of the settled lands. The Conquistadors as a whole were people. People can be good, people can be shitty. And the same can certainly be said for any potential aliens. But I am not aware of any official campaign which included slaughtering children, or anyone else for that matter. In fact, one of the earliest laws drafted (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Burgos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Burgos) includes an explicit article forbidding it and other forms of maltreatment: > 24: The Indians are not to be physically or verbally abused for any reason. And the laws were even expanded to further protect women and children.
  - tshaddox 5y ago
    Where to even start? How about this declaration, one year after those very nice sounding Laws of Burgos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Requirement_of_1513 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Requirement_of_1513