If we come into contact with aliens (e.g. aliens invading Earth), would there be any laws for protecting the rights and dignity of said aliens? (endlesstalk.org)

submitted 7 months ago by ani@endlesstalk.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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[-] FaceDeer@kbin.social 30 points 7 months ago

If aliens were to come here to Earth, they'd have such advanced technologies and capabilities compared to us that what our laws say is entirely moot. Our interactions will happen in whatever manner they desire.

Science fiction has given a very poor idea of what intelligent aliens would "really" be like. The odds of us encountering them at anywhere near parity to our level of development is microscopic, and if they're coming here then it's impossible. They'd be millions of years older than us.

[-] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago

Could you imagine aliens rolling up in space ships near our level? They land in a rocket and then have to ask for fuel to leave. They have bulky pressure suits and have to shit their pants. They left their polluted and dying planet generations ago trying to settle a habitable world. They have been terrified for generations because they started detecting radio transmissions from their target planet. Later on they got a coherent enough signal to decrypt it and saw what they were going to end up dealing with was hostiles on another dying planet.

[-] BluesF@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Oh man, that's a good story pitch.

[-] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 1 points 7 months ago

Sounds similar to one of the godzilla movies I saw.

[-] MTK@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago

Hey, a monkey with a nuclear bomb is arguabley scarier then a human with one. So no, the aliens will probably get 'merica-ed before they realize that we are the monkey with the nuclear bomb

[-] groet@feddit.de 6 points 7 months ago

Your analogy is lacking. Being technologically behind does not make us the monkey with the nuke, it makes us the human with the rock. Aliens able to travel to earth will have a very easy way to deal with "bad thing flying fast towards us".

[-] MTK@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

I don't know what about you but a shitty little grenade is still a huge problem to anyone unprepared, so is a nuke.

[-] groet@feddit.de 2 points 7 months ago

Yes and killing a few invaders while the planet gets orbital lazered from 2 solar systems away will for sure win a war against an alien force.

Half live 2 got that right. The alien invasion is called the 7 minute war, because after 7 minutes earth had to surrender.

The assumption of course is, that the aliens are as militaristic as we are. If humans are uniquely violent in the universe, we could actually win an invasion. But if war is a normal thing in the universe, there is a 0% chance for any planet bound society to win against an post FTL attacker. Even with many nukes.

[-] Bimfred@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Whatever is powering the ship they arrive in puts out more energy than a nuke and that thing would be running for far longer than an explosion. They're not gonna give a shit about the nuke. At best, you'll singe the hull, assuming point defense doesn't blast your piddly little bomb out of the sky first.

this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024

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