From Earth to...elsewhere.

[RealmDweller]

If you had the opportunity to meet an alien race, and had to provide them with three objects from Earth which you believe may teach them something about the human race, which three objects would you give them to take back to their homeworld and why? ^_^

[morwalugi]

I wouldn't bother giving them objects to teach the aliens about the
human race.

I'd figure the aliens,once they get back to their home world,would
interpret the objets based on the kind of
soul/psyche/culture of the aliens themselves.

So I'd try to capitalize on that.

If the aliens appear to be Shakespeare quoting literary types,I'd give em
Shakespeare,and if they're all military ceremony and war,I'd give them war objects.

That way,long after the 3 objects were lost ,that culture might
retain some of the ideas/creativity I intended the objects to have,
to teach the aliens about themselves.

Immortality on a alien world.

[TF-Viewer]

Originally Posted by morwalugi

I wouldn't bother giving them objects to teach the aliens about the
human race.

I'd figure the aliens,once they get back to their home world,would
interpret the objets based on the kind of
soul/psyche/culture of the aliens themselves.

So I'd try to capitalize on that.

If the aliens appear to be Shakespeare quoting literary types,I'd give em
Shakespeare,and if they're all military ceremony and war,I'd give them war objects.

That way,long after the 3 objects were lost ,that culture might
retain some of the ideas/creativity I intended the objects to have,
to teach the aliens about themselves.

Immortality on a alien world.

But why would the aliens be quoting Shakespeare prior to receiving the works of Shakespeare from you? Also, it would likely look like gibberish to them, they'd have to attempt to translate it and undoubtedly much would be lost in translation. As for war-like aliens... they'd probably just kill you on sight, especially if they see you carrying some sort of "war object" toward them. Maybe switch those gifts around so you're not carrying anything that looks like a weapon when approaching the group of aliens that have an affinity for violence?

[Clickme]

He menas if they're intellectual/literary types.

I'd give them a deck of Tarot cards, explain the creativity and imagination of humanity. I'd give them ......ya know what? I cant think of anything .I'll come bac kto it tomorrow ...maybe

[RealmDweller]

Interesting viewpoints! I like the concept of the continuation of our own culture on another planet, there would be a kind of sense of achievement from that. Personally, I'd give them the following:

1 - An encyclopedia
2 - An extensive variety of music, probably a giant jukebox of some fashion, just for that retro feel. (I'm running under the assumption that if an alien race is technologically advanced enough to come to our planet, they're not going to have a problem powering this jukebox.)
3 - Either a trampoline (Just cause I think it would be amusing) or a collection of books written by people who have overcome hardships or difficulty in life. I feel as if these kind of books would give them a great insight into humanity, and our resilience.

[Muhznit]

The highest-quality educational resources you'd give to a child.

It'd start off simple. We'd introduce them to our base-10 numbering system with dots representing numbers, introduce them to the symbols we use to represent them, and from there, we show that there are other species in the universe capable of understanding concepts that will stay the same throughout. No matter where you are, 1 + 1 is always 2. Preferably, we'd build on these concepts as much as possible, until our alien buddies have learned how we do lambda calculus.

Accompanying the math would be a series of pictures depicting human history and global coordinates of such events. It'd end with the arrival of the aliens. Or preferably auto-playing video on a solar-powered device. Remember, these are aliens here, it's practically impossible to teach them our language without them living among us long enough. But if they studied our math first, they'd have a general concept of sequential progression (. .. ... = 1, 2, 3) so they should be able to piece together things.

Finally, we'd provide them with a device on which they can record their understanding of the universe and aspects of their planet to give back to us, a peaceful way of saying "We shared our knowledge with you. Please share yours with us."

[Jumba]

I love the idea of this but I'd suspect they'd not be able to understand our language let alone read any book we provide them. Moving away from the movies an Alien would be just that, Alien, and thus completely different language. Imagine meeting a Native American for the first time and trying to give them a maths book or an encyclopaedia. They MIGHT work it out the right way but more likely the wrong. Even a child's book would be haphazard. It works for us because we are human, they would not be.


What would I provide?
1. 1 piece of art. I'd debate with myself for hours over which piece but I suspect something fairly straight forward such as a masterful portrait such as the Mona Lisa. It introduces our people, our creativity, our ability and if you look close enough and long enough you'll see our psyche.

2. 1 high-tech laptop containing all human history, knowledge and science, preferably in video form without music or text. I provide this for 2 reason. 1st it allows them a chance to attempt to understand our ways in the most basic way possible. 2nd its a piece of technology which poses no threat or weapon but also invokes awareness our how our more advance systems work, even if it is basic in comparison to a space travelling people.

3. Synthetic, but accurate, cadaver. One side male and the other female. Similar to the ones used in modern medical labs which allows students to pick apart pieces of the body without ruining the real cadavers. It introduces our biology, vulnerability and strengths and grants the possibility of finding mutual biological lineage.

[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.

[Jumba]

Its been sometime since someone has actually subjected and responded to one of my posts and to do so in such a manner is equally as refreshing!

There is a large question mark about what a true alien would be. I can't help but think back to the various Aliens in media. Such as Freak-a-zoid (of course...) when the Alien was an utter moron merely able to fly by luck. Or perhaps Star Trek? The Ferangi being way ahead of the game compared to humans but, some how, humans caught up quickly. But we're debating something metaphysical! Indeed it was wrong of me to assume they wouldn't understand the language of the human race. I should assume nothing since there is nothing for me to truly place an assumption on.

The Mona Lisa was an experiment more to them than us. Though I vowed against assumptions I'd wager they'd not feel the same emotional response. There is a fair argument to be made that the response we feel today is more hype than evaluation. Much like everyone speaking about a sad moment in a movie only to make you expect it. What I do feel however is we'd see how they react to it. Sometimes seeing an Alien race is not just what they can teach us but what we can teach them.

Now Maths, as a language, is very interesting. Most scientist who believe in the greater being also theorise that Maths is the best approach and I am... skeptical of this. The only reason is because humans in their infinite wisdom and insecurity often hug maths as a form of comfort. Maths is a yes or no logic, it denies the chance of grey and often we use that because we like it and all humans can cling to it. As a method of showing how we think, I completely agree. However I suspect its our inability to think beyond Maths is what stops us from seeing what else there could be for others to understand. I loved one of the newer Dr Who episodes where they explained the alien race used Words rather than numbers to form a civilisation. Fascinating concept.....

As for the Cadaver I never considered the cures and medicine approach, which is shameful for someone like me. Excellent observation

[DalekSec]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I am most intrigued by the observation of Neil deGrasse Tyson (pretty much the most brilliant science type I know of) when it comes to aliens. What do they find pleasure in? Such, would tell us the most about them and, tell them the most about us.

1. Bottle of GOOD booze.

2. Pronz.

3. A chess set.

[Luke2013]

I'd give them a PS3,Xbox 360 then they can wipe them selves out with the console war.

[vincent_richter]

Originally Posted by Luke2013

I'd give them a PS3,Xbox 360 then they can wipe them selves out with the console war.

You forgot the Wii. Some of them might like to have fun while the others wank on about high-res graphics and processing power. Seriously, when did gaming get to be more about running goddamn SETI@home from your console?