What On Earth Might Alien Explorers Be Amazed By?

[Dynasty]

If extra-terrestrial explorers arrived on Earth today and were permitted to study all aspects of the planet, what would you speculate that the aliens might be most surprised to discover?

Even if our visiting scientists had explored many inhabited worlds and/or had read the research reports of fellow explorers, it seems logical to me that Earth would provide unique features found nowhere else (or so rarely) that the aliens might say to themselves "Wow. I never thougth I'd see/experience that".

Here's my top speculation.


Large flying animals

The evolutionary ability of animals to fly appears to have come relatively late in Earth's history. The archaeopteryx (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx) is currently the "earliest and most primitive known avian" and lived 155-150 million years ago. So, it took about well over 4 billion years for flight to develop on Earth in large animals.

Even insects only began flying about 350 million years ago. Pterosaurs were around as long ago as 228 million years ago.

It seems possible, aliens would be stunned to see all of these:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v720/DynastyPoker/photo681.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v720/DynastyPoker/oystercatcher20flock20in20flight201.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v720/DynastyPoker/pigeon.jpg


What we consider to be normal and take for grated everyday may be the most extraordinary occurence to others.

[soon2bepro]

You can't make these speculations without assuming something about the aliens, and you have no basis to assume anything about them. Or at least you didn't provide any. (you just said alien explorers, but didn't specify anything)

However, I found the data you provided to be interesting.

By the same token, intelligence has also developed mostly late in earth's history. However, smart as some animals are, intelligence doesn't play such a big part in survival of the fittest. Besides humans of course, but it took several higher orders of magnitude for this to become relevant. Hmm.

[Shadowrun]

probably that their not alone...

[BluffTHIS!]

http://mickaloha.com/images/alba.jpg



You should have known this thread would degenerate into this.

[John21]

[ QUOTE ]
You can't make these speculations without assuming something about the aliens, and you have no basis to assume anything about them. Or at least you didn't provide any. (you just said alien explorers, but didn't specify anything)

However, I found the data you provided to be interesting.

By the same token, intelligence has also developed mostly late in earth's history. However, smart as some animals are, intelligence doesn't play such a big part in survival of the fittest . Besides humans of course, but it took several higher orders of magnitude for this to become relevant. Hmm.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/940000/images/_944790_maze300.jpg
Japanese scientists claim that amoeba-like organisms have a primitive form of intelligence, following an experiment where a slime mould found its way through a maze.

Full article (http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s189608.htm)

[Borodog]

Dynasty,

Cool thread.

As for large flying animals being unusual, though. I don't buy it at all.

Multi-cellular organisms are relatively new themselves, only about a billion years old or so. Large flying animals showed up no too long after land animals showed up, about 400MYa, if I recall correctly. No only that, flight has apparently evolved numerous times in lots of different groups: insects, pterasaurs, birds, bats, flying fish, not to mention gliders that are on their way to reinventing it again, like flying squirrels and sugar gliders.

Any alien species that showed up, themselves being a large animal (i.e. barring the possibility that their some race of floating bags of methane from some Jovian stratosphere or something), would almost certainly come from a world that had large flying animals.

I'll have to think about what would impress aliens and get back to you on my nomination.

[FortunaMaximus]

Violence and depravity. Especially among the dominant species on Earth and their increasingly even more depraved creativity in offing a fellow member of the species.

Jovian bags of methane, Boro? Heh. This isn't the Eight Worlds.

Edit: Yet.

[MidGe]

The large number of people that hold primitive beliefs in a relatively advanced technologucal and scientific aware population. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/940000/images/_944790_maze300.jpg
Japanese scientists claim that amoeba-like organisms have a primitive form of intelligence, following an experiment where a slime mould found its way through a maze.


[/ QUOTE ]

Bad, bad, bad science reporting. That isn't what happened at all. They filled the maze with the slime mold and after 8 hours it was only left (mostly) along the shortest path between the two ends (where the food was). It didn't "find its way through the maze".

[Green Kool Aid]

-the amount of time/energy/thought that goes into clothing for a lot of people.

-constant war for the past 5 thousand years.

[Phil153]

[ QUOTE ]
What On Earth Might Alien Explorers Be Amazed By?

[/ QUOTE ]

The Internet.

[FortunaMaximus]

Our politics. Depending on their background, definitely the diversity of our biosphere is worth a long time of study.

Consider that those explorers have the technology to travel between suns. Chemistry wouldn't faze them. Nor would physics.

Art. Diversity. Creativity. Sex. Those would hold aliens in thrall moreso than anything else.

[Nielsio]

They'll be amazed by the stunning similarities between our worlds.

[revots33]

The amount of resources we choose to spend on warfare while millions are still dying of cancer, malaria, starvation, etc.

They'd probably laugh at millions of earthlings prostrating themselves before an invisible spirit also.

[miajag]

My first guess would be the disparity in wealth/technology/standard of living between various parts of the world.

[FortunaMaximus]

[ QUOTE ]
My first guess would be the disparity in wealth/technology/standard of living between various parts of the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really. The infrastructure isn't there today. Getting there though.

[soon2bepro]

No people, all those things is what YOU are amazed by.

Of course if you assume these aliens will be a replica of you, without the knowledge of things in earth (which is pretty much impossible), then you can suggest these.

[Darryl_P]

[ QUOTE ]
No people, all those things is what YOU are amazed by.

[/ QUOTE ]

nh

[Wubbie075]

[ QUOTE ]
The large number of people that hold primitive beliefs in a relatively advanced technologucal and scientific aware population. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I was gonna say this... though somewhat less diplomatically

[FortunaMaximus]

[ QUOTE ]
No people, all those things is what YOU are amazed by.

Of course if you assume these aliens will be a replica of you, without the knowledge of things in earth (which is pretty much impossible), then you can suggest these.

[/ QUOTE ]

What would they be coming for then? To chide us for Pepsi Blue? Yeah, the Earth-centric replies are a little ehh. Especially where Miz Alba is concerned. I mean... It wouldn't be wow to some individual from, say, Altair. She might get chided for not having the proper child-bearing hips for reproduction of the species.

Whatever.

[RedBean]

I think they would be amazed at our utter lack of defense to their technologies, and by our lack of travel outside of our relative close surroundings.

[kurto]

that there are only 2 genders in the dominant species. Sex sure is boring for earthlings!

[FortunaMaximus]

http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/corbis/DGT444/CB107186.jpg

You might be right about that, Phil. Silly thread.

[Metric]

They would be amazed at their dumb luck in arriving at such an improbable historical point in our evolution, i.e. during the few hundred year "gap" between the rise of micro-technology and the jump to effectively being a new species.

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
They would be amazed at their dumb luck in arriving at such an improbable historical point in our evolution, i.e. during the few hundred year "gap" between the rise of micro-technology and the jump to effectively being a new species.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dude, are you my clone or something? Get out of my brain!

[RED FACE]

human-canine relationship.

human holds leash of collared dog yet picks up it's [censored] after it.

[andyfox]

IF ETs arrived on earth, one would think they'd be more advanced than humans, and thus large flying animals would be old news for them.

I would think it would be some political, economic or social arrangement, rather than any natural phenomenon.

[Sheakspeer]

Adolescents, their behavior, our general education system seeing how advanced just about everything else is, AND the phenomenon that is psychotherapy.

Also some of the stupid things we spend money on like Koosh balls, boflex machines, Reebok Pump shoes, and pez dispensers.

Once they saw someone watching the show "Fear Factor" and it got to the snake pit part, they'd leave for good.

[John21]

[ QUOTE ]
http://mickaloha.com/images/alba.jpg



You should have known this thread would degenerate into this.

[/ QUOTE ]

I still can't believe she's going to look like a monkey in a million years. Damn evolution!

'cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky
Compared to the clouds as they roll by
Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies
I am an APE MAN

[DougShrapnel]

I don't have anything to add. Just liked the post.

[FortunaMaximus]

[ QUOTE ]
IF ETs arrived on earth, one would think they'd be more advanced than humans, and thus large flying animals would be old news for them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends on their evolutionary lines of development. Biology is not chemistry of physics.