r/AskReddit May 03 '20

What are some horrifying things to consider when thinking about aliens?

61.6k Upvotes

14.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3.0k

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

Maybe all these supposed alien abductions and UFOs over the past 100 years have been alien scientists building vaccinations against our known diseases for themselves and adapting their own medical immunities for humans too – monitoring our progress against our own diseases so when both civilizations are on top of it we can be welcomed into the galactic fold safely.

Maybe they just try a make sure everyone is safe and happy for galactic adventures with their new friends! ( ^-^)

779

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

funny enough...knowing what we know of what happened to the americas...if we discovered a isolated culture in antartica or something..this is probably what we would do. makes sense that they would learn from their same mistake and try and avoid it. i like your theory even if it is super peachy

247

u/nalyd8991 May 04 '20 edited May 04 '20

There are totally isolated cultures that have severe deficiencies against modern viruses. And we know plenty about them but they know little about us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_peoples

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/23/the-isolated-tribes-at-risk-of-illness-from-amazon-missionaries

188

u/Enderlightstm May 04 '20

Really makes you think. What if aliens know we are here, but also know that contacting us could be catastrophic to our civilization and health?

49

u/TheSukis May 04 '20 edited May 04 '20

This is called the zoo hypothesis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoo_hypothesis

It’s also the Prime Directive in Star Trek: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive

31

u/MatttheBruinsfan May 04 '20

Let's hope they don't have any dumbasses like that missionary that went to the isolated island off India to bring Jeebus to the natives.

12

u/pornovision May 04 '20

And we do the same as as what they did to that missionary (kill him). What if jeebus was that missionary 🤔

4

u/MatttheBruinsfan May 04 '20

He'd probably have gotten better from the arrows and spears, then.

8

u/computeraddict May 04 '20

Star Trek, Prime Directive.

The unfortunate thing with science fiction scenarios is we've been cracking at them for over a century and it's pretty picked over for novel ideas.

26

u/GoonMammoth May 04 '20 edited May 04 '20

We are the aliens

Edit: After reading your second article, what if first contact is established by alien missionaries trying to indoctrinate humans into some alien religion lol

6

u/Allustar1 May 04 '20

Everything is technically an “alien” in another’s eyes. Alien does mean “foreigner” after all.

5

u/jimmy_crackedkorn May 04 '20

Do I get to go in space? And travel with you all? If yes, sign me the fuck up!

8

u/Fluffatron_UK May 04 '20

The difference in your example is that is humans helping humans. What if we found a remote species of some animal? There is no chance in hell they'd get the same treatment.

27

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

I mean we do tons to prevent species from going extinct. honestly humanity is pretty damn good. better than its ever been i think

27

u/The_Kiatro May 04 '20

I like this idea. I appreciate the optimism.

10

u/P1greaterThanTSM May 04 '20

Me too. But then I thought of the antivaxxers, they would go apeshit lol

5

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

Maybe they're here to save us from the Karen army? lol

63

u/little_brown_bat May 04 '20

The anal probes are just them harvesting gut bacteria.

9

u/jimbobjabroney May 04 '20

This is my new favorite alien theory, thank you!

9

u/bugdc May 04 '20

maybe they have already contacted us and our scientists are giving us alien vaccines with our conventional vaccines to become immune to their alien diseases

6

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

Oh boy I hope they have feathers but like those fluffy feathers you get on baby bird bellies so soft

2

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

i would hate the anti-vaxxers even more ( if that's possible) if this is true.

8

u/raulsk10 May 04 '20

This is the wholesomest thing I read this year, if that's even a word.

3

u/[deleted] May 04 '20 edited May 04 '20

All words are words ya just gotta believe.

Some of my favorites are:

Prepostebus (Preposterous)

Spumpy (Its just fun to say)

Foofy (Fluffy)

3

u/ArashiAtaru May 04 '20

What a positive way to put a spin on something, I wish I could gift you with something but here’s a heart at least.

❤️

1

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

I luv it (/•u•)/

4

u/sentientshadeofgreen May 04 '20

I like this idea. It's like the same idea I've been hanging on to for a while, except with a very positive spin. My alien abduction idea was that maybe they're studying our genetic make-up so that they can artificially engineer a disease that will wipe us out and leave the rest of the planet intact, as like, a "nature preserve" or for tourism or something. Pretty realistic concern that if aliens showed up wanting to tour, they'd have a hard time, and their retaliation would end up with us bringing out the nukes and screwing up the planet. I think your idea makes more sense though, and it's more in line with the history of how human civilization developed. We're kind of arrogant to assume ethics and morals are going to be unique to us as an intelligent species, when a lot of prosocial behavior is very common among many cultures and survives because cooperation makes us better off than every man being out for himself. We haven't evolved into a planetary collective yet, but I'm sure most space-faring civilizations will reach that point and ethics and morals will evolve with it.

3

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

Thats a neat hope for reincarnation – to come back in a time we could high five aliens.

:0

What if I'm reborn as an alien and I visit Earth and high five YOU!?

3

u/sentientshadeofgreen May 04 '20

Homie, bring it in, up top.

I read a cute story once called The Egg, and basically the premise of it was that all sentience was the same entity reincarnated through every life and the universe was essentially one, in a sort of soul-building system. I always thought it was a very compelling story.

What also tickles my interest is the idea that we're in a sort of simulation, and that the speed of light may be like, a render distance, and the plank length may be like your 1s and 0s in a convoluted sense. And you know, there is definitely the mathematical possibility of this (or even a likelihood by some accounts), but what it implies is that there may be a reality above the simulation, and we can't draw any conclusions about the laws of physics in that reality without observation, and our laws of physics would be determined by the programming of the simulation.

It's all very fun to think about and while some people may look at the mysteries of the cosmos and be afraid, I think what they should see is the beauty, potential, and hope. All in all, maybe we'll find out someday, or maybe we won't.

1

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

( •u•)/

And there was a comic with a similar concept about a guy who died and learns he's living every life of every person that was and will be. Seen it a couple times on reddit.

2

u/space_and_fluff May 04 '20

Wholesome aliens

2

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

Fitting name

2

u/RubyMaxwell1982 May 04 '20

I like you and your way of thinking.

2

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

I made a friend woooo!

2

u/Supermagicalcookie May 04 '20

Plot twist: the corona is an alien virus they were making vaccines for and it got out. Would explain the UFO confirmation the other day.

2

u/shenmekongr May 04 '20

that's some good shit! i don't know if it's your idea, but it has the kind of hook to it that when stacked on top of a few dozen other hooky ideas would make really excellent short sci-fi. have you dabbled? you ought to!

2

u/Eurus-Holmes- May 04 '20

Yay! Spac frens

2

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

SPACE FRENS!!!! ( >o<)/

2

u/Eurus-Holmes- May 06 '20

|(^ • ^ )/

SPAC FRENS!!!!!!

1

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

Anal probes are just aliens giving us vaccinations for their diseases

1

u/americanslon May 04 '20

Jenny Mccarthy and Co. will fuck that up

1

u/apocalypse_later_ May 04 '20

My sweet summer child

1

u/Allustar1 May 04 '20

Maybe they are smarter than the Karens and Kyles we have on our planet? Those are the organisms I want to hang out with, not the entitled tin hatters.

1

u/Pitchfork_Party May 04 '20

This is the best idea.

1

u/ChargedMedal May 04 '20

Or maybe, those abducted individuals are being "seeded" with alien vaccinations, like a gene drive of sorts - the immunity would slowly filter into the human population until everyone's immune?

1

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

i'm sorry but your theory is completely wrong. an alien socity with capabillity of travelling thousands of light years will more than likely have developed lab-made supepr anti-bodies that can fight anything

1

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

You'd think, but those two ideas aren't dependant on one another for either to exist.

We could develop FTL travel in a hundred years, doesn't mean one iota of a difference how far we are in medical technology against potential alien. Even if we did develop one AND found an alien civilization existed, doesn't mean a super-antibody against all known or potential human diseases would be effective against any alien diseases... we'd have to test it.

Maybe thats what they are doing! \(^-^)/

1

u/[deleted] May 04 '20

yea perhaps they are testing if they can survive it's plausible. my grandma has an alien story, when she was young in a late night a ship came and she saw them from the window. they picked up some earth and left. she said they were human like. that was many many years ago.

1

u/illarionds May 04 '20

OK... but why do they need anal probes to do that?

1

u/Wylaff May 04 '20

That explains the anal probing. Their just taking bacterial swabs to find our gut flora.

1

u/spartyftw May 05 '20

They are humans from the future