Tweet
Solver, there's lots of water in the solar system. Metiors or asteroids or something is made of ice. Also, one of the moons around one of the gas giants has lots of water and there cis speculation that it may hold life in oceans under the ice. Water isn't particularly rare.
It was just a dull example. There maybe some geological things about Earth, though, that are very rare in a planet. I assume it could be pretty much anything. Maybe very few planets have natural sources of both gases such as methane and also heavy elements such as uranium. Maybe the concentration of oxygen is unusually high here. Anything.
Consequences too big? Like what? The religious thing, do you really think any church would care about such a disclosure? The Catholics said we were the center of the universe and they were wrong. Persecuted an innocent they did. I doubt they're still stuck on that. Besides, in the bible Jesus says he has to go and tend other flocks, or something like that. Could be he's got more going on in this big universe that this little world.
I said I am an optimist and I believe humanity can handle that. Note that I myself said in my original post that the church dealed with the fall of the geocentric system, it could also deal with aliens. But, some worries are warranted. There are too many stupid people. Some would panic, believing the aliens are about to attack or that there's some secret plan in place to instate an alien control over Earth. Then, I can imagine the reaction of people in the USA if they found out that the government has been hiding for 50 years something it even refused to acknowledge existed or could exist. This would hugely undermine people's trust in governments. But fear I guess would be the worst there - people are afraid of their own technology too often, and I think too many would be afraid of an alien civilization that's about 500 years more advanced than ours.
Yeah, the Star Trek thing. I doubt it myself. I'm more inclined to think they either just couldn't be bothered because they are so advanced, or that they don't because of religious reasons, ie God told them not to mess. Satan and his angels cast out, this planet their destination because luci8fer was in charge of it, (or something like that) makes earth a place of great interest for the universe but also a quarantined planet.
The Star Trek explanation is quite likely, IMO. In a way, it's the same as why scientists observing a stone-age-level tribe wouldn't show themselves. They wouldn't want to scare the tribe, change their development inadvertedly or worse yet, let them steal a Beretta and kill themselves with it.
Being an ignorant short-lived savage sucks. 
Comment