Here is a running list of the ideas that were brought up in the discussion about what would happen if aliens landed on the White House lawn. I did my best to capture the essence of every comment but this list is obviously not all of what was said.
What if aliens landed on the White House lawn? What would the US response be? What should are reaction be?
Common threat, would nations cooperate? Would people bond together?
How can we use this to increase our power and dominance over other nations? Use superior technology for benefit?
Nations would seek own security interests
Did they come as a threat or as a friend?
Aliens wouldn’t necessarily want to ally
Aliens will be upset about being used and then would try to retaliate
Finding out that there are aliens world religions will be thrown into chaos
Aliens will conquer the world
People have no conception of aliens we wouldn’t have to worry about consequences
Wont get along
Immediate histaria
Aliens probably have plan and would blow everything up
How would you talk to the aliens?
Reduced the alienness, own political actions, radical chaos, does it make a difference that it was aliens on the white house lawn
Exploit, assimilate vs. annihilate
Depends on view of aliens, if equals treat differently, powerful try to rationalize
Diplomatic relations? Discover aims of aliens.
Options:
Assimilation
Elimination
Diplomacy
Which should we pursue?
Diplomacy, assimilation, elimination
Alabama?
US would immediately try to eliminate them
Would probably kill them but we should morally use diplomacy
Aliens don’t need to ally
“barbarian” – anything from a different culture
Separation of worlds
Not possible, aliens might want resources
Aliens probably need an alliance
US uses new group to advantage, aliens take over
Illegal immigrant scenario is different, powerful new force institutes complete change
Thinking globally rather than as states
Mass hysteria, try to protect
When country invades another they have won out
If just one came
What and if we have a moral responsibility to the aliens
Security would be first priority, get out of aliens what we want
International issue, but US would keep them to themselves
Erica Peterson
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1 comment:
Hmm, this is a most interesting topic indeed! If aliens landed on the White House lawn, I think there would be three main possible situations:
One: the aliens have peaceful intentions.
If this is the case, humanity's collective response would be either peaceful or aggressive. If humanity responded peacefully, a beneficial relationship would surely develop between humans and aliens. If humanity responded aggressively, the aliens would most likely fight back, resulting in either a victory or a loss for humanity. It is also possible that the aliens would be completely overwhelmed and wiped out by the human response, or leave at the first sign of hostilities.
Two: the aliens have hostile intentions.
If this were the case, conflict between humans and aliens would be assured. This conflict would result in either a swift victory for one side, or a long, drawn out battle.
Three: the aliens are neutral and have no specified intentions.
If this were the case, upon countering humanity, the aliens would become either peaceful, hostile, or remain neutral, depending on humanity's response.
If aliens did land on the White House lawn, one would hope that their intentions were peaceful. As they were able to travel to Earth, aliens would be likely to possess highly advanced technology that could be used to benefit mankind in all aspects. However, hostiles between humans and aliens would surely cause devastation on a global scale. Not only would humanity have to unite to defeat the alien invaders, humans would, if threatened with defeat, be likely to employ highly destructive chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons in an attempt to turn the tide of battle. If aliens were able to defeat a large portion of humanity's armed forces, it is also quite possible that human guerrilla resistance would continue for years (a very good example of this scenario is the game Half-Life 2, of which a description exists at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-Life_2).
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