SPACE ISSUES -

 

How to greet a space alien

 

Do you remember the movie "Independence Day"? And that scene when Will Smith punches the alien in the face and says "Welcome to Earth" Yes, I loved that scene too. I would have done the same thing.

But what if the aliens are just parked up there, above us, watching us, waiting, waiting...

 

io9 staff questioned several anthropologists gathered for the annual CONTACT conference about earthlings' etiquette regarding visiting space aliens.
 

One anthropologist said tht if she had to sum up the best ethical response in one word it would be "hospitality." Humans should extend hospitality to the visitors as we would "to any alien entity, including the human variety illegal alien" she added. (Yeah, like the hospitality natives granted to European explorers. Look what it got them. Not a good idea.)
 

Other scientists speculated about the possible modes of communication. 
 

But what if the aliens don't want to communicate? Humans don't try to communicate with animals. They just slaughter them. And to a technologically more advanced species we'd be like cattle or pests to exterminate so that they can get on with the business that brought them over here in the first place.
 

The whole attitude among Contact scientists seems to be an utterly and terminally romantic one. They are still stuck on the movie ET, with the adorable alien.
 

The harsh truth is that the laws of nature are such that species need to compete and impose themselves by taking over territory, either by killing their competitors or chasing them away. 

There is cooperation in nature also, but not when the arriving species wants to take over territory and resources. 

That dominating behavior is widespread all over our planet, no matter whether it's on land or water, among superior animals, microbes or plants, and we should expect that the same laws of life exist in other planets.
 

Call me a warmonger if you want, but if space visitors happens to approach, let's not extend the welcome mat.
 

Read more on the anthropologists' statements and see short video clip of Will Smith punching the alien:

http://io9.com/anthropologists-explain-how-to-approach-aliens-parked-i-474026110