Aliens have landed ... in the headlines

[struggle4progress]

... Ambassador to the aliens?

Could it be that U.N. officials know something we don't know? Over the weekend, Britain's Telegraph and other news outlets suggested that Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman may be campaigning for the role of official greeter in the event that aliens make contact. Othman, who set up Malaysia's space agency several years ago, now serves as head of the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna ...

Othman herself reportedly knocked down the idea that she was seeking the U.N.'s appointment to be ambassador to the aliens. "It sounds really cool but I have to deny it," she told The Guardian in an e-mail ...

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/27/5189195-aliens-have-landed-in-the-headlines

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Could 2012 be the official year of disclosure?

No, I am not kidding.

[greyl]

2. No.

"in the event that aliens make contact", it says.
They're just trying to be prepared. ;)

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. What if... aliens have already made contact?

It would not be the first time we play catchup.

Also knowing humans 1492 is going through their minds.

[greyl]

7. If they already have, it hasn't changed our world at all.

It looks just like they haven't, iow.

[Occulus]

19. I'll do this for early morning speculation fun

That's exactly how it ought to look if you're preparing this kind of announcement to a population of billions.

An examination of popular media reveals the extent to which the idea of alien life forms has permeated our culture. Assume for the sake of argument that it's true and they've just been getting us used to the idea for x years. Is our world in any way ready to learn not only that there are there other life forms in the Universe, but that one of them actually found us, without some preparation?

Of course not. This kind of announcement, made too suddenly, would be far too disruptive to our entire civilization, and that would defeat the purpose of the alien visitors. The Universe is incredibly vast; the chances of intelligent life developing within rage of other intelligent life may be so vanishingly small that every contact may be worth making.

Or maybe they're here to serve man.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. I've played with this scenario in fiction

of course one of the species saw us as a threat and their goal was extermination. So I had to figure out what would happen if the First Prince Or the President for that matter, went on the holo, or the TV... and told us... we are not alone.

That is why I have to wonder if all this sudden movement towards an ambassador and all that... means we have already been contacted... like fer real, and they are trying the powers that be that is, to avoid general panic. And when they do announce it, if indeed we have been contacted, some people (perhaps upwards of a billion) will STILL panic.

Others will go to insert religious temple here, to pray.

Hell, the Vatican has been saying shit like we are ready to spread the word and aliens don't challenge the bible. We are talking of one of the three major religions in the west here.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

27. Exactly. OTOH, I wouldn't discard a SETI radio detection. Still far-fetched, but >0% possible. -nt

[Chulanowa]

11. We would have noticed

Truthfully, there would be no "take us to your leader" event. even assuming these critters COULD pick up on human's social cues (and I can promise you, they wouldn't be able to) and learn one of our languages (improbable; much less physically being able to speak it) then one naked biped is probably as good as another. Think of the researchers tromping through the jungle; they're going to talk to the first native they find, rather than trying to sneak into the village in hopes of winning over the chief.

And I'll say it again; Any species that is capable of interplanetary travel would probably not be interested in us for any reason. They'd have all the resources they need, so they wouldn't have much interest in ours. They likely wouldn't be very interested in our world as an ecosystem, either; They'd certainly have plenty of information about the galaxy's other life-bearing worlds, and we would be, to them, sort of like "just another damn beetle" to an entomologist. Worth a look, perhaps, but still, it's just another beetle.

I know the joke is that there is no intelligent life on earth, and that's why they pas us by; the truth is we're probably just not interesting enough; worthless as trade partners, not worth contacting politically, and scientifically no more exciting than any other number of creatures on any number of other worlds.

As if the "pale blue dot" didn't make a person feel insignificant enough, right? :)

[Roon]

18. Excellent post!

I never thought of it that way before,but it makes total sense.

[Motown_Johnny]

20. Unless they use "unmanned" craft to study us

then there would be no alien here to make contact with our leaders.


Given the distances involved and the amount of time interstellar travel would take it seems more likely that they would study us the way we study the outer planets of our solar system.


Yes, I know the reports of "alien beings" that have been fairly consistent for decades, possibly even for centuries. This is not evidence that the "beings" are the intelligence behind the craft (assuming they exist). They could easily be equivalent to trained monkeys. These could even be kept frozen as embryos until the craft is a few years out from it's destination, then brought to maturity and trained by "computer" and/or "virtual reality".




While I agree that life could easily be common in the universe it seems unlikely that our civilization would be so common as to be considered "just another beetle". It is very likely that any civilization that has advanced to the point that it is capable of extra stellar exploration would instinctively seek out knowledge for no other sake than to expand their own understanding of the universe.



Maybe you should try reading the "Rama" series by Arthur C. Clarke. Not that it is realistic, but it has some interesting ideas about how a truly advanced civilization might choose to explore the universe.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. I love that series

and there are a few others as well that do play with that concept.

Problem is many folks prefer the Foundation Trilogy image of the universe.

:-)

SF geeks of the world...

[Occulus]

21. There may be relatively few intelligent life forms. They may all be separated by vast gulfs.

Every contact or knowledge of an existing race's position may be of importance to every intelligent race. It may even be downright foolish to pass any of them by.

We don't know, because we haven't contacted or been contacted by another sentient race... to our knowledge, of course.

[Chulanowa]

36. Nah, that's just you pretending humans are special

Had any meaningful conversations with corvids or cetaceans lately? Thought about 'em much in the last month? If we're not even dealing with our own world's deeply intelligent species on any meaningful level beyond deciding which parts of them are worth eating, why should we assume that another world's critters would be terribly interested in us?

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Not necessarily

plug numbers into the Drake Equation.

If you plug them low enough, sentient life will be very rare indeed, and valuable.

Oh and if they have the tech to cross those distances they have the tech to make their presence known to just a few if they want to.

I am positive that THERE IS LIFE OUT THERE... even intelligent life. Why? My extra-solar planetary database grows every week... soon we will have tools to see large earths... you think life is that rare? I don't... science increasingly tells me that it is very common... and that perhaps includes sentient life. And if this is the case, you think only US ask are we alone?

[RKP5637]

3. I'm ready, have been for decades and decades. Let the show begin, please! n/t

[EnlightenedOne]

28. Yes.

There will have to be an announcement before 12/2012.

[RandomThoughts]

5. For some education.

A couple of Britney songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CMzH18IjHA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvtDHH_IfP8

"hit me one more time"
Hitting on 20, and getting an ace, now that is a play.

Pokerface
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo

Do they know the reason for the line in both movies.
"Knights Tale"
and
"Thunderdome"

The line.

"arn't we a pair" Was in both movies.

Send in the Clowns.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA6YXuagiuU
Although that is not how I think of it, some do think of it that way.


A bunch of poker references aren't they...



The Alien story is a layer to further hiding truth.

On a side note, looks like more are rolling. That could be a gambling reference also.


Seems like some people think life is a big casino, not what I think. The casino thought goes with no free will, and permanent Lot in life, concepts.


Side note,
I still believe also Britney. Britney is great with some difficulties, every rose has a thorn. :loveya:

[RandomThoughts]

13. Side Note,

There has been a pattern where posts match Comedy Central shows, In each of those occurrences, post is before the episodes are seen.

I did not know Billo was going to be on Jon Stewart show, although his comment about targeting predator strikes makes that a bit funny.


Side Side note, just because someone tries to make a movie, thinking they are mocking something, does not mean they will be able to do that, and Keith Ledger was later the Joker in a movie. Even if it was not an accurate portrayal.

So I find all that interesting.

[Ian David]

14. It's a cookbook! Thunderdome is a COOK BOOK!!! n/t

[racaulk]

29. ROFL!

That is exactly what has been going through my mind while reading this thread! :rofl:

[global1]

6. Here's A Link To A Story About Air Force Officers At National Press Club Monday And Their Sightings

http://www.google.com/gwt/x?u=http://bit.ly/8ZBw8o

Also - just about a month ago I heard that the Vatican's astronomer would convert space aliens should they appear. Here's a link to that article: http://life.nationalpost.com/2010/09/20/vatican-astronomer-would-baptize-space-aliens-but-only-if-they-asked/

Something is up in that we're hearing more and more lately that legitimate organizations (UN & Vatican) are recognizing the possibility.

[Occulus]

22. The UN one appears to be a hoax

see downthread

[pipi_k]

24. One of those Air Force officers....

was well known to Mr Pip when he was in the Air Force himself. When we heard this news item on TV this AM and I made a face, he told me not to be so quick to poo-poo the idea, which I thought was a bit strange coming from a guy who is sometimes TOO rational about a lot of things.

Seems that AF officer was also not the type to run around seeing things that weren't there.


so there may indeed be something a little out of the ordinary going on.


In any case, and I didn't make this up myself, but heard the idea from someone/somewhere else...what if these "beings" aren't exactly extraterrestrial aliens as much as they might be our own human race traveling back in time to warn us? That would explain why "aliens" would care about our survival as a species...

If they are (or could be) ourselves thousands of years from now, then that's probably a good thing because it might mean that we didn't nuke ourselves into oblivion.

[Buns_of_Fire]

34. If they're travelling back in time, do you think they'd mind stopping off

at a few months from now and picking up a newspaper for me? Especially the financial section and the sports scores. If they'll do that, I promise I'll be their friend for ever and ever.O8)

[pipi_k]

35. I know, huh?

I'd be their best friend for the part of the newspaper with the Powerball Lotto numbers in it...

:7

[gtar100]

8. Will they come to fix things? Or broker deals with our idiot rich people

who think they own this world?

Utopia or slave planet?

Actually, now that I think about it, it's not aliens I'm worried about.

[newspeak]

38. hey, you don't think the richie rich have been fattening us up

do you? I mean America is getting fat from eating too much junk food, rich food. Tell me we're not the "fatted calf.":scared:

I welcome our new overlords--and say, do you have a universal health plan?

[struggle4progress]

9. Some links to related DU posts:

Astrophysicist Denies She is UN's New 'Alien Ambassador'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=199x3158

NZ-educated physicist denies 'ET ambassador' role
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x71489

Alien ambassador story too good to be true
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x562118

UN denies alien ambassador plan
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4556315

[leftstreet]

10. They'll avoid the US when they find out they have to buy medical insurance

We're probably safe

[pampango]

15. And they'll avoid Arizona unless they have visas or look like "legal aliens" (no genus-profiling).

:)

[OneGrassRoot]

17. Nice! LOL

:rofl:

:applause:

[Prometheus Bound]

12. It's not like we go around telling everyone we're aliens, you know.

Whoops!

[InvisibleTouch]

33. Quite. ;) n/t

[outerSanctum]

16. If they think they're just coming here to have kids and leave...

they got another fuckin' thing comin'!

[RKP5637]

23. Glenn Beck and the RW will have to get busy and trump up a whole new host

of races to fear. We definitely need Ashcroft with his daily terror alerts.

[LongTomH]

30. A lot of this talk is due to a new book by journalist Leslie Kean

The book: UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record is attracting a lot of attention. Ms. Kean still describes herself as an 'agnostic' on the subject of UFO's; but, she argues for serious study of the phenomenon. In a MSNBC interview, Dr. Michio Kaku commented favorably on the book and agreed that the phenomenon should be investigated. Dr. Kaku interviewed Leslie Kean on his radio program: Science Fantastic.

Ms. Kean has another website: The Coalition for Freedom of Information, which supports the thesis of the book and calls for more government openness on the subject.

Edited to add: Enter Leslie Kean as a search term on YouTube for more interviews with Ms. Kean.

[nashville_brook]

32. i love that her name is M. Othman.

mothman.

[RainDog]

37. LOL! It's Halloween season

there's also a new book about UFOs that has just hit the shelves.

I'm not saying there are no other beings out there. I just find the timing "convenient" to sell books.