A craft from somewhere else far more advanced than current human technology crashes in the middle of times square in broad daylight and the alien bodies recovered (all dead) look nothing like you or I...The question is how would the world change as a result of this event?
If an alien spacecraft crashed in the middle of Times Square how would the world change?
Well, the first questions are answered.
Well, the question are we are not alone, not just in the existential sense, since - given the vast number of galaxies and stars within those galaxies it is entirely inconceivable to me that alien life has not arisen elsewhere in the universe. It's also a certainty within our galaxy for exactly the same reasons. The galaxy is not so hostile to life I suspect, given a planet with Earth-like temperature conditions life seems nearly certain.
This is different - Aliens exist - AND - they exist in our back-yard, within distance of our home-world.
So there are ethical and religious implications all around.
1. Religious %26amp; Culturally, we have problems, in that we entertain - evangelical and fundamentalist religions - even in our own country , that would absolutely be unprepared to address the notion of alien life, so the intellectual / cultural devistation would be most acute in these communities. Even mainstream Christian, Muslim and other faiths could have serious concerns or issues in containing radicalism or social disruption.
2. That has immediate ramifications for our political landscape , but instead of indulging the ever-popular worst-case we can look on it as an opportunity, but politically , as President Reagan mused - how quickly we would come together on issues which pre-occupy us presently.
I really do like how it was put here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_m8LJ2Z3鈥?/a>
So in rapid order, we would likely start to look outward , towards our solar system and the local star-systems as being a %26quot;reachable%26quot; goal.
1. As a cultural point, after examination and study - a full - formal memorial is probably in order for the unfortunate crash victims. (on the off chance someone shows up looking for them, it's best to have them honorably buried rather than as specimens in a lab somewhere).
2. To what extent can we salvage materials and or technology to benefit ourselves. Here again, there are issues that could solve AND create problems for us. So energy production potentials, and materials sciences could be advanced by hundreds or even thousands of years - overnight.
How do we - as a species handle that knowledge. Are we as a species given to be particularly responsible with advanced technology? The answer is clearly no. Since our most advanced technologies usually are developed in the areas of weapons research it's not encouraging by any stretch to ponder what happens if we suddenly came into the way of knowing how to produce beam-weapons or anti-matter weapons or some such - in a very short timeframe - if not literally overnight.
Let's say the crash was not in the United States, but The Peoples Republic, or North Korea, or some other inherently repressive regime or even someplace else entirely - say - Africa.
This idea was explored very well in the variation of the old %26quot;Alien Nation%26quot; re imagined - South African style - %26quot;District 9%26quot; - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6PDlMggR鈥?/a> , so where the original %26quot;Newcomer%26quot; aliens had challenges assimilating to US culture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1jURDHRI鈥?/a> - , the %26quot;Prawns%26quot; of D9 - have a decidedly more difficult time.
I suspect as a species, we would be VERY well advised to execute on the idea of colonizing off-world as rapidly as possible, as a hedge against the notion of being wiped out.
This is not say we would be immune from extermination - but rather that we can - in short order - avoid being consigned to some problem on Earth.
Such as a poor interaction with geology - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4q1k28GZ鈥?/a>
A sudden act of genocide - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NKqhqIN3鈥?/a>
Risk of an uppity toaster - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMst6sqRl鈥?/a>
or even something like a new hyperspace freeway - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbNtlS69H鈥?/a>
But after a short while, particularly the longer we were left alone, I suspect we might be able to cope ALOT better, but as a rule, I think it's very fair to consider what has historically happened to various civilizations when they come into contact for the first time.
http://books.google.com/books?id=kLKTa_O鈥?/a>
Many vast civilizations were wiped out by first contact hostilities - so we would do well to get up to speed - from an interstellar perspective - fairly rapidly.
Japan - arguably - had one of the %26quot;happier%26quot; variant of first contact - and it was still a bloody and turbulent time - http://www.japan-101.com/history/history鈥?/a>
I think that after a while - we'd settle into the colonial mindset - again - and develop into a less immature species - but no doubt that will likely come at , what to our eyes , is a very high price.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaR5wVL9x鈥?/a>
If an alien spacecraft crashed in the middle of Times Square how would the world change?
We'd all start believing in aliens and maybe get some new technology. Other than that it probably wouldn't change at all.
Edit- As for religion it would only mess those up that say Earth is the only inhabited planet. I have yet to find a religion that says Earth is the only planet with life on it.
I suspect that religions would react with fear. There would be suggestions that the alien spacecraft were somehow here to deceive mankind, and malevolent, regardless of what the evidence showed to be the case. In fact, many fundamentalists already regard the UFO phenomenon in such terms and the UFO phenomenon isn't even generally accepted as real at all yet.
Everyone would be panicking.
I'm thinking that might happen every day in Times Square.
it would mess manhattan up for a while.
Those of us who accept the reality of alien beings would no longer be objects of ridicule.
Some people will believe that the government had staged the whole event just to cause an uproar in the community where they will slowly begin to control everyone by a %26quot;Martial law%26quot;.
Some people who believe that ufos existed are going to leap for joy and know they are no longer crazy.
Some will again debunk the whole thing by pointing at our government..
Either way it will be a worldwide story but will eventually die out and swept under the table so to speak.
Wouldn't change a thing
Give that bloody lot time and they will have most people believing it's all the fault of the Muslims
