But he learned something from his urban and suburban West Virginians. A “holler” is the end of a mountain valley. There are people known as the “people way up the holler”. You don’t go there and you don’t disturb them. They are dangerous and nasty. Everyone knows they’re there but no one contacts them.

And that is his answer to why the starfaring civilizations have not arrived. We are the people way up the holler. They know we’re here but no one wants to contact us.

It’s quite possible that they not only exist, but that they’re already here. And have been coming here for millenia.

It is obvious that mankind does not yet understand all of physics and cosmology. Dark what? So even though we might not understand how faster than light travel could be possible, it may very well be. All those extra dimensions hinted at within the various string and M theories may actually be useful to us, if we knew enough. Just because we haven’t figured it out yet doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

Assume for a moment that at least some of the UFO sightings are real objects from somewhere else. These objects appear to be able to do things that we cannot. It appears that such feats would only be possible if some form of energy were being used on a massive scale that we are not yet capable of mastering. Yet, if these objects are indeed “manned,” those beings are wielding such power as flippantly as we wield a flashlight. Think about that for a moment. If you were them, would you want us earthlings (or Terrans) to have access to that kind of power? We can’t even use the power we have in a completely peaceful manner.

Now think back to those biblical Ten Commandments. It seems like every major religion has a similar list of societal rules. If every person on the planet adhered to those rules, we’d more likely be viewed by our galactic neighbors as someone to befriend. As it is today, we do not fit that discription. And if there is any verity to those UFO sightings, they are watching us and know where we stand.

Under these conditions, aliens are not likely to make contact with us except for a few circumstances. They might crash a ship with survivors, and try to negotiate their return. They might, if they think we’re worth saving, step in if we’re about to blow ourselves up accidentally. They might step in if we suddenly figure out some major breakthrough that enables us to exploit massive power, thus putting us in their neighborhood. They might even jam the system so that efforts like SETI see nothing.

Without denying the existance of God, could it be possible that aliens themselves instilled the commandments on mankind as a rulebook for galactic citizenship? And as long as we fail to adhere to those simple rules, will we be denied membership? If that’s the case, we have a tough row to hoe.

For example:
Would they contact us via some type of broadcast? If so would we be able to understand, and who would respond?

What if they forego transmissions and decide to land on Earth?

Which country would they choose? How would that country’s leader respond? (Thank goodness they don’t have to meet Bush) Would they respond by themselves, or (unlikely) try to meet the aliens with a group of their peer leaders?

How humanity would respond also depends on why the aliens tell us they’re here (assuming we can communicate with each other).

There are other variables, but that’s already plenty of uncertainty. I want to hope for the best, but if our own history is any guide, then we should prepare for the worse too.

Contact with an ET civilization is one of those improbable, high impact events that we just aren’t very good at preparing for.

On the other hand I don’t think it matters too much. Unless we come under immediate attack or something, humanity is awfully good at adapting and recalibrating. We’ll adjust to the new information and carry on, much like always. Only a few would have their ‘world view’ significantly shaken. For all the rest they will find a way to incorporate the new intelligence into their belief systems with the minimum possible disruption.

If you believe in God, you’ll continue to believe in God, aliens or no aliens. What do aliens really have to do with faith anyway? Unless you committed 100% to the whole ‘people were created in the image of God’ and you cannot interpret that any way but literally, you’ll do just fine.

There are examples galore of articles of faith, in multiple major religions, that legions of the faithful find ways to um, how shall I put this, decide to observe at variance with their church? And that’s for ostensibly black and white religious policy.

So how many major religious texts have injunctions against aliens? “If you believe in non-human intelligences and non-human souls, you break with the Father?” No, this isn’t going to be a big problem. The churches and their flocks will carry on quite normally I’m sure.

As to how the aliens will view us, I don’t consider this to be a question that can be answered. Only a meeting will tell us what we need to know.

Why do beings choose to explore? It is either for survival or curiosity. Any species in my opinion will do whatever it can to survive, however any life which can reach our planet probably has the means to survive by itself already.

A species in which has developed advanced spaceflight technology might also be heavily altruistic, curious and open-minded to survive themselves. Potentially very good traits.

Of course when dealing with numbers like the size of the universe, any possible type of species could theoretically arise depending on what strand of evolution was effective on that planet. Making judgements is in all fairness quite crude, although very fun to think about at the same time :)

Sam
http://www.google.com/profiles/smwilson31

Given the large number of stars and the great distances involved, I do not think any space faring civilization would attempt to contact or visit Earth unless they already knew (via our radio transmissions) that an intelligent civilization existed here. I say this even if some civilizations have already been exploring this Galaxy for millions of years.

Look at us, we’re already on the brink of self-destruction, yet our machines have only just barely left the solar system!