That's a great question, Chris. I actually can't think of any book or movie offhand that has explored the idea of peaceful aliens coming to earth in that way and offering to take some people with them. It's usually by duress.

Would I go? Never take candy from strangers, right? First, I'd have to be pretty sure our benevolent ET's were on the level and weren't planning a bbq on planet Z. If things truly seemed on the up and up, and I had some reliable information on what that foreign star system might be like, I'd certainly consider it. I'd want some promise in good faith that I wouldn't be harmed, and that life there would be at least as good as my life here. I don't have any human attachments, so the social change would actually entice me, plus just the sheer adventure of it all. Yes, in a simple nutshell, I think I'd go.

p.s. If you're privy to classified info Chris, let the aliens know I'm interested. ;~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Only if they could fix my body. Heck yeah I'd go.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

only 3 have replied. So maybe people don't want to commit themselves

Hey, more room on the boat for us! ;~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

.....After signing peace treaties etc. ....

That suggests there is some reciprocal agreement.

What do these aliens get for my disappearing with them?

Are they human eaters?

What do the masters of our planet get for encouraging us to go?

What's your profit Chris as the travel agent?

Do we get interstellar phone calls home from the other side?

Can only American pensioners to go? (Cocoon)

What if there were 6 people on the planet we just didn't like above all others. Couldn't the aliens just take them?

(I am sure we could come up with a list.)

(OK. I'm teasing.)

(I would seriously think about going on a one way trip to Mars.)

Are they human eaters?

You don't normally negotiate with your lunch. Well, at least I don't chat to my ham sandwich and ask if it's convenient to eat it. (not so far...)

I'm at a bit of a loss since I try not to eat things that can think, feel or have a face. Your ham before it was slaughtered had all those attributes.

... and pig farmers often talk to their animals and lull them into a false sense of being broiled..

So I guess what you are saying is that your aliens might well baste us in olive oil and salt and smoke us but won't talk to us whilst roasting us...

If someones going to roast me I'd rather they spoke to my face ;)

(I would seriously think about going on a one way trip to Mars.)

That actually may be the only option on the first manned trip.

Exploration of our planet from any shore has always been the same. We either travel out looking for gold or glory or god... or we throw ourselves out in hope that the future we may not see brings benefit.

Either that or we are some what insane.

I still think we should elect a ton of the worlds most horrid people and let the aliens take them away.

What if the aliens took your loved one and instead of them coming back young they came back oldy?

No reason to think aliens are good..

They could be really rude.

I could go to Mars but if I had the chance but if not I would love the chance to take a little place even in earths worst wastelands... I would do that too.. Why not explore whatever you can...

(By the way by keeping this thread going I expect 1% and the aliens are not allowed to roast me :) )

Disregarding my odd humor.

I would throw myself out into the utter unknown.

For hope.

Diverting to the second trip that was mentioned. Yes, as long as I would be given reasonable assurance of surviving the outward bound trip and of having sufficient supplies to survive until I died of natural causes, I would be more than willing to spend the rest of my life on Mars or the Moon. Hopefully in the company of other explorers.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

I don't think you can assume what you somehow did (in post 1957606*). I really don't :) The thread view count isn't a reliable estimate of the number of people who've read a thread - just the number of times whilst it's being accessed a browser action has been counted, surely? I also don't think you've said why you said you would go (which you said in message 1957077 *). Others have. Unless the opening post contains all your criteria of course. You did say it would be an adventure though... It certainly would.

Should we assume that despite postings indicating you wouldn't live in an earthquake zone, or near a volcano, or anywhere other than somewhere distinctly englandy, you would actually follow through and go, happily embracing new food, and wildlife, and customs - perhaps even large car-sized grazing insecty-like-creatures who have the right of way to buzz slowly through your abode and out the other side.

As a concept - going off with peaceful aliens on a ship was touched on in ET also, but Elliot chose to stay.

For myself, I can't think of a single reason why I would be offered a place. I also can't think of a single reason why I would say yes, irrespective of whether I had ties, loved ones, commitments or not. I like my planet. I just don't like what we're doing to it. There will always be something or someone to look out for and look after and love and care for (and about) on earth, for me. I have earth-whispering feet you see :) Not when they're in shoes, because then they're just feet, in shoes.

I do have some questions though. Like this one:

Do you find out who the other five are after you're sealed-in together and on your way? I don't collect "mortal enemies" so it's not like that would particularly bother me - but what if you were someone who did? And one of your fellow earthlings in transit with you was one, or became one. A peace-seeking race of aliens might just decide to put you off on some asteroid and leave you there. Still an adventure obviously, but perhaps a lot less than what you were expecting.

*(I did it like that rather than as a link so you don't count as two more people than you've already been counted as every time you either came into the thread to read a post, made a post yourself, edited a post, previewed a post, refreshed a page to see if someone else has said something since you started reading it, clicked on a "in response to Message xxxx" link, used the back arrow etc etc, or... someone else did any or all of those things *realise no one's listening* ... did I say I'm feeling a bit nitpicky...?
Well I am :)

What if the aliens liked it here better than home and invited all their families to join them?

If their immigration papers were in order, I dare say that England would welcome them with open arms. :-)

What if the aliens liked it here better than home and invited all their families to join them?

If their immigration papers were in order, I dare say that England would welcome them with open arms. :-)

Cheeky.

We do have immigration issues here in Britain (England if you like) (The sheer number of incomers.)

... but the history of Britain has actually been absorption. In the past it was Europeans but now a wider range of people.

I love the heart and nature of England though I do dislike and question what the powerful are doing in changing my \ our society.

Karl Marx once said that 'if a world wide revolution was going to happen in would start in England.'

Maybe that is why Britain and England is under such pressure to conform to an American style economy and social attitude.


As to making a base on the moon or mars it has always amazed me that when sending up a rocket we drop off sections to burn up in the atmosphere rather than getting them into space and then sending these metal tubes off into space to land on the moon to be used in some form.

Sending a large drilling machine to mars should be quite simple. It could land. Be directed to the correct spot and start drilling down to provide a simple underground shelter.

The surface of the moon and mars are problematic. Toxic dust for one. The moon has low gravity so only OK for short stays. Mars gravity would require a good exercise regime.

The moon however seems a brilliant place to set up some industry to further explore our solar system. (Less energy required to break orbit for one.)

The ISS has micro gravity which is pretty close to zero., and astronauts stay for 6 months.

While I think floating around would be fun at first, if I was going to travel to the stars with our alien friends, I would want my feet planted firmly on the floor of their spacecraft for the duration, or maybe chill out in suspended animation. Actually, no, I'd rather be awake to see out the window, plus I'd want to keep an eye on Klatu. ;~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

The two columns to the right of a thread in a forum are the number of views that a particular thread has had

Views yes. Not individual people. If four people visit a thread four times each, that's 16 views, not 16 people. If one of them decides to track a response back to the post that triggered it, then uses the back arrow to return to where they were in the thread beforehand, that's another two views, not another two people. That was the point I made which you've ignored. I've made it again because I'm curious to see if you're going to ignore it again. You were suggesting that 136 people had read the thread without commenting. Then you did that multiple question mark thing you do when you're hinting that there's something a bit wrong somewhere and that it isn't you.

I thought I'd propose it was. Yes ;)

and the time elapsed since the last view.

If you really screw your eyes in properly, you'll find that it's the time elapsed since the last post. If you're thinking the view count resets to zero after each one, don't.

It doesn't.

I would refer you to the original post which said "Just supposing, for the sake of discussion", I also picked an arbitrary figure of 6 to kick it off.

Yes, I know. It's how I came to choose to use the words I did, when I expressed my views on the scenario that you'd laid out for everyone's consideration. Then I committed myself.

I wouldn't live in an earthquake zone, or near a volcano, or anywhere similar no. Why invite un-necessary risk? There are enough things to kill you in this life as it is.

It just seemed a bit incongruous after factoring-in your stringent requirements for this one, that you would accept an offer to emigrate to another star system entirely with no option of return, that's all. Which is why I thought I'd check to see if you'd somehow got braver than you used to be. Now we all know you haven't...

One normally has natural ties to ones birth country

Yours are always very evident, I know.

I am used to and happy with the English way of life.

It's where you've had all your experience, so that's understandable. My other half is the same. He got a bit more enlightened by having an alternative slant added to his, but you might not have been that um... fortunate... no... ;)

However having said that, if I had the money and a big enough pension, I would quite happily emigrate to Gibraltar or Vancouver Island. Both are Englandy with a nicer climate, but both are also expensive. You yourself have made no bones about the fact that you would prefer to live back in your birth country rather than in the UK. Touché ?

Why touché? People shouldn't make me feel so unwelcome here and call me an enemy of the state like you yourself have done then should they? Not when I'm not. No ;) I've lived on one planet; in two hemispheres; six countries (five on one continent and one that is part of a continent geologically-speaking, but is an island unto itself, full of island-people some with some very, very island-thinking which is a bit alien to me, but fiiiiine and often really quite entertaining ;) Have you read Tales Of A Small Island, by Bill Bryson? It somewhat touches on some of what it's like - but from an other angle to the one I alighted here from.) I've visited many other countries throughout my time on this planet too and I don't think there are any of those I couldn't live in if circumstances put me there either.

But my birth country? It was not my choice to leave it. It's where I have a brother buried I never got to say goodbye to. It's where my passion for nature in all its amazing forms was nurtured :) It's where I fell in love with my planet, and I'm still in love with it. I'm kind of loyal like that. But if I had a chance to chat to your accommodating aliens - I would, about what life-forms they shared their home with, and whether any are more heeby-jeeby-inducing than others, and what natural features and topography there was that harboured it. What their air smelled and tasted of and how many moons there were and if they had moths or something similar that tried to fly to them. I'd be able to spend hours and hours on those kinds of topics, picking their brains wherever they might be kept about their person.

It would be reasonable to assume that those chosen to be offered a place would be told all about life back home on their planet, before they finally decided to accept the offer to go.

All about it? Are you sure? Even if it was reasonable to assume that, there'd be huge gaps. Ask anyone who has gone to live in other countries - no matter how much you think you know about where you're going, you'll still be faced with all sorts of things you'd not have pre-learned or discovered beforehand about the new one. Then there's the stuff you never stopped to think you'd miss. Some of them could plunge you so deep into feeling the kind of homesickness that you never dreamt you'd ever fall victim to, many years, decades even after you left - all without warning which is so not a picnic and so difficult to explain to others, that you're left feeling wretched and very alone, even when in lovely company. Try piping-up about anything you don't think is right about where you are too... *mournful gaze*...see how much fun that is... And to be honest, it isn't even really that clear there is a home planet in your opening proposal... a "home star system" yes and a mothership... which could be very interesting to faff about in granted...

I would postulate that the 6 would be 3 men, and 3 women, drawn from the sciences, humanities, and the arts. If you like ambassadors from planet earth.

Or a breeding programme for a zoo.

I have no particular ties to planet earth. I just consider myself lucky that I live in a reasonable part of it.

Maybe that's why you don't...? And because you've barely left it?* Who knows?

So in summing... the parameters you've set as being acceptable to host you on earth would need to be made available to you in another star system and then you'd leap at the chance to go.

My... what an adventure...

;)

What if the aliens liked it here better than home and invited all their families to join them?

What? From the mothership? That would make room for more than six humans to go...

...improving your chance to I suppose... I can support that I think, yes...

;)

Or would they be back in their home star-system? If that was the case, it would suggest that one-way-travel-thing wasn't exactly how it had to be. *Wrinkle nose with help of some feet* In the light of this turn of events, it's a bit suspicious they said that, come to think of it, but not to worry... I would have thought that goalpost move might have bothered you and everyone else here who was hoping to leave with them though, to be honest. It wouldn't bother me, naturally. I'd be very interested to know what it was about our little blue dot that they preferred and why however, definitely. Imagine if it was because here isn't all englandy... like their star system was... just a bit englandy instead...? something intriguing like that...? ;)

*Weird. After letting that sink in to my brain for a moment, I can actually envisage myself begging for the chance to leave too...

;)

Seriously though - I do love my adopted homeland a lot of most of the time... really I do :) it's just there are times I have to look very hard to find out why that is again... ;)

From message 1957868

I try not to eat things that can think, feel or have a face.

Me neither. And as time marches on, I'm finding it more difficult to cook for the meat-eaters in my family too. They do allow me to foist an animal-less diet on them a few times a week, but just walking a supermarket fridge aisle with shelf upon shelf of sliced, chopped, minced, smoked, balled, pattied, crumbed creatures exudes essence of morgue at me.

If someones going to roast me I'd rather they spoke to my face ;)

I'd prefer to be raw. More erm... crunchy I suppose ;) I've always maintained that if I've got to go, it may as well be as something's breakfast - although I expect I'd get a bit lippy about it just beforehand, maybe even quite shouty, but I'd much prefer it was an earth-something that wasn't in to cooking, rather than an alien one running a little low on supplies on the homeward-bound journey.

From message 1958378

While I think floating around would be fun at first, if I was going to travel to the stars with our alien friends, I would want my feet planted firmly on the floor of their spacecraft for the duration,

I'd enjoy floating about enormously. Sleeping like that though, I'm not sure about and I'd probably mutiny if the only solution would be being strapped down. Lightly tethered to something might be tolerable I suppose. As to being able to keep your feet on the floor - magnetic soled shoes? Would they do, assuming they worked? It could make walking about a bit hard-going.

I suppose it's not impossible that the g-forces involved might just leave everyone not used to them (so our six) pasted against a back wall between humanitarian pit-stops.

[edit: to remove a smiley face. It looked a bit... sadistic somehow after that last sentence.]

on the floor of their spacecraft for the duration

it made me think about something....
i think you guys assume the travel will take you couple of hours... or maybe a couple of days...

but what it the travel to their home planet takes 3-6 months ? just to get there ?
or what if it takes 3-6 years just to get there ?

would you still go ???

Personally I think if we got some message or indication of life with our level of technology we would need to use an enourmous ship with a really thick hull (to defend against errant bodies we can not detect) and the usage of nuclear explosives.

It would have to be a generational ship that carried random semen and eggs so as to avoid degeneration of the population.

It would also have to spin or pulse to emulate gravity as we humans need such a thing.

Perhaps with such a ship and nuclear explosive propultion we might get to a near by star system in a few hundred years.

Just in time for the aliens political system to change and for them to hate immigrants ;)

We don't have the technology and even if aliens shared their ideas it would take quite a leap of industry to reproduce it.

Of course we could use magic :)~

The moon or mars are our best places to attempt..


PS. I would still go on some generational ship to palnet X.

After all it is the adventure as much as the hope or desire of seeing a new world.

PS. I would still go on some generational ship to palnet X.

After all it is the adventure as much as the hope or desire of seeing a new world.

I agree, and a generational ship would probably(hopefully) have a lot of room to maintain sanity.


And Michel448a said:

but what it the travel to their home planet takes 3-6 months ? just to get there ?
or what if it takes 3-6 years just to get there ?

I had said that I would be a little leery of suspended animation, but actually that would be ok with me, too.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

The two columns to the right of a thread in a forum are the number of views that a particular thread has had


P.S. Moderators check threads many times. Posters check up on threads. As of now for a bit staying grounded.

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I think I could manage that at a push.

Over the years you've often used "we" in most of your posts, however, you give the impression that on topics close to your heart, it becomes "I". Are you saying that you would travel to an alien world without your partner?

With her blessing yes. I think she'd be glad to wave me off, as indeed I know you would.

In that case, you know quite a lot of nothingness. You continually make assumptions that does nothing but belittle yourself.

As for the original question, my answer would be no. Too much fun on this planet to be had with some great people. However, should I change my mind & go, then it would be with my partner rather than with strangers who probably have nothing in common with each other.

Plus of course we have to factor in this time dilation effect that says people left behind age quicker that those on the journey. But I did say originally that it was a one way trip for us, and presumably a return trip for them.

thats still has to be proven... did you test it ? or anybody tested it ? ^^

It has been tested and proven many times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_testing_of_time_dilation

Chris, space is not empty. It is filled with particle-antiparticle pairs existing for a short time, according to Heisenberg indeterminacy principle. If one of the particles or antiparticles falls in a black hole the other remains and produces the Hawking radiation.
Tullio

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