[RealmDweller]

Jumba - You clearly have a very astute way of thinking, that’s certainly refreshing! Whilst I agree with a lot of your points made, I feel as if you may have overlooked a couple of things. In regards to the books, yes there’s an impeccably high possibility that it would be utter gibberish to them, they may not be able to comprehend the words on the page, or make sense of the pictures. However, that being said, there’s still the chance (highly probable) that due to their superior intellect (Again, that’s an assumption based on the fact that if they are more technologically advanced than us, chances are it may be due to the fact that they are a lot smarter than us (or maybe they’re race has been around for longer, therefore they’ve had more time to progress).) that they could make sense of our language. There iseven the slight possibility that they may already be able to comprehend the English language. Although it is a completely separate issue that I won’t delve into just yet, these ‘aliens’ could be far more similar to us than we imagine, perhaps their race may already be populated by ‘humans’ (this relating to the somewhat conspiratorial belief that humans were once more technologically advanced than we are now, and may have vacated Earth to move to another planet.). Although far-fetched I’ll admit, it’s still something lightly touched when you consider the analysis that has been done on the Sumerian culture, such as evidence that carvings and engravings have been discovered on coins/pottery/walls etc. Again, it’s not something I’ll delve too much into as it may be a bit too controversial and may derail the subject matter of this thread. Point being, I would be more inclined to belief that an alien race would find it a lot easier than we believe to understand our language and cultures than many believe.

Also, in relation to books that we could give them, I’m more curious as to what their own interpretation of it would be, that alone would fascinate me.

I knew someone would mention the Mona Lisa, I was waiting for that! I agree entirely. However, I wonder if an alien race would be able to pick up the same emotions from a painting as a human could. For many of us, stereotypically at least, the Mona Lisa is an intrinsic part of the art culture of humanity, would an alien race feel the same impact? Or would it appear plain or bland? That’s something to think about.

As far as languages are concerned, scientist have dictated that if we were to communicate with alien races, the best course of action would be to communicate via the one universal language –maths. Although I’m somewhat sceptical that this could be achieved THAT easily, it’s still open to consideration. If an alien race found it hard to translate English, perhaps compiling all of the English together and converting it over to simple binary code would be of some use? I have no idea, mathematics is not something I’m made a concerted effort to understand beyond the basic level needed in life.

I’m very much intrigued by your cadaver offering. I think that would probably teach them the most about humanity. What would be interesting as well, is given that they would be a more advanced race than us, it’s theoretical yet highly possible that upon studying the human body they could offer us cures, medicine or knowledge about ourselves that our own doctors and scientists may not have discovered.