by V R Rutledge

Created on: July 21, 2008   Last Updated: July 25, 2008

Concerning the probable arrival of an alien race in the future, my opinion is as follows. Aliens, if they exist, will eventually come to earth, if for no other reason than curiosity. Whether or not they will conquer earth is the subject of this dissertation.

First, and most importantly, earth is not your run of the mill planet, by all accounts. Our moon has had a tremendous effect on the inhabitants of our planet. It is too large, in the classical sense, to actually be a moon, and that could make our planet unique. Or at least move it into the range of unusual. Some scientists even call it a companion planet, instead of a moon. Two thirds of our planet is covered by water, and that may also be unusual. It may be that life itself is unusual. Whatever the truth of the matter, aliens are probably more likely to be very alien. Maybe they don't have the ability to eat what we call meat. As herbivores, they would have different motivations and would react differently to stimuli. It almost a certainty that they couldn't eat the food on our planet, nor could they drink the water. Things in our water would make it unpalatable, if not downright dangerous for them. If they were evolved from a non-violent species in an ecology where survival did not depend on competition, they might actually want to help us improve our lives and society.

In any situation, as rational beings, we must apply logic to attempt to determine an outcome. The more valid the logical premise, hopefully, the more correct the prediction of future events. We need to ask ourselves why aliens would want to conquer earth. One possibility is for the power that comes from ruler ship. That usually applies to humans, but how about to aliens? We, as people, seldom have any desire to rule' other species. Ownership is different, and makes a good argument for aliens to come and conquer. If they look into our history they will probably pass on that one. Humans have a long history of not allowing others to own them. Perhaps out of a desire to have a slave population, but that goes back to ownership, and we explored that. Maybe they have a society that requires one ruling class and everyone else below that. Such a thing is possible, and has occurred in human History.

It occurs to me, however,. that the rules which have governed societies on earth are gradually improving. It has only been a couple of centuries since humans discovered freedom, as a part of government. Slavery used to be considered a part of society,

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