Astronomers discover 7 Earth-like planets orbiting nearby star

The idea of a "mother ship" seems quaint at this point compared to the possibility of a thousand tiny wormholes opening up between Earth and Mars, and billions of centimeter long, anti-matter driven, self-replicating, quantum Drones pouring out and ignoring Earth completely while starting to digest our asteroid belt and transport elements back through dimensional slip space.

When the Europeans landed in the New World, they were only a little technologically more advanced than the people they landed among. Back in Europe, most people were still poor and barely living above starvation levels. So the drive was there to steal the Native American's land and dominate them so Europeans' lives can be enriched.

That drive will not likely be there with extraterrestrial visitors, since they are likely to be more advanced than us technologically and therefore will not likely have any economic reason to conquer us-even the Earth's most technologically advanced nations already have the knowledge about how to feed and clothe everyone, the trick is to get the message through to the backward nations who are untouched by modern science yet.

In short, if the spacemen can go zipping around space, they don't need our resources. They know more about how atoms work than we do, they can use that for energy and perform their own scientific alchemy.

If we listen to alarmists who assume the worst and blast the bejesus out of them with nukes the first time we see them, we'll likely piss 'em off and get ourselves vaporized.

I was taught a different history of Europeans coming to the New World. They had gunpowder and had wheels for faster transportation. They wanted gold and glory for the Spanish crown. The Atlantic coast had new arrivals that were motivated by the desire to practice their religion, without the European prejudices. Also, land was available; not in Europe, unless one was wealthy.

Hardly "salient" , because mankind has always been an explorer. How do you think the continents were settled? Crossing a sea for neolithic humans was as much a NASA project as was our moon landings and planned expeditions to outer planets.

There are those who do the discovering and exploring and there are those that sit and wonder what just happened. We call the second bunch "philosophy majors"

Quote Foofie:

Quote:

I was taught a different history of Europeans coming to the New World. They had gunpowder and had wheels for faster transportation. They wanted gold and glory for the Spanish crown. The Atlantic coast had new arrivals that were motivated by the desire to practice their religion, without the European prejudices. Also, land was available; not in Europe, unless one was wealthy.

Alas, even the Pilgrims turned land-greedy after the first generation or so. They told themselves that once they offer the Native Americans the Bible, if they reject it it justifies you taking the Indians' land and livelihood.

My point is that we now have the technology to feed everyone. And group of extraterrestrials will be more advanced than us or else they neer would have gotten here. We can assume that anything like food or housing is a snap as these guys go travelling around the universe.

By the time your planet's race is zipping around wormholes, everyone will be living in a nice house.

In short, if the spacemen can go zipping around space, they don't need our resources. They know more about how atoms work than we do, they can use that for energy and perform their own scientific alchemy.

So strict vetting must be required if space Aliens visit our world.

Wonder how they'll react by actual contact?