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Comment by krapp | Hacker News Reader

Just because (theoretically) the government knows (or can't discredit the possibility) of UFOs being alien craft, doesn't mean they know where they come from, what they want or how to stop them. Revealing that beings from an unknown origin were violating our airspace at will, with technology we can't comprehend, doing whatever they wanted to people, messing with our military hardware, etc, and that there was absolutely nothing anyone could do about it, might create a panic and destroy that government's credibility.

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Why would it create a panic and destroy a government's credibility?

Obviously you don't make that announcement unless you have proof, but I've heard the "cause a panic" argument thousands of times, but never understood it. Why would it actually cause a panic, and what would this panic take the form of?

Let me put it another way: we can imagine all kinds of horrible scenarios, but what evidence do we actually have that society would crumble upon learning of beings from other planets?

I think there's a big difference between learning that they exist, and learning that they exist here.

If some alien force with incomprehensible power and an unknown agenda, has been acting at will on Earth for who knows how long, then humans are not the dominant form of intelligent life on Earth, and have possibly never been in charge of their own destiny. What are we, then? Animals in a zoo? Specimens in a lab? Playthings? Food? If a government admits there's nothing they can do about it, they're basically ceding their own sovereignty to this alien power. A state that can't police its own borders or airspace isn't credible. No one would trust it.

This is just assuming one particular scenario happens to be true. If alien contact turned out to be a unique event, then people's reactions might be different. Given how prevalent the topic is in science fiction and popular culture, it could be argued that humanity has been indoctrinated against the possibility. But even then, knowing that's just fiction makes it comfortable.

But the shock of actually learning we're not alone would be an event of such import, we would need to restart the calendar and consider it a new age, year zero Anno Contactum (or whatever). I think humanity would experience the collective form of a fight or flight response - a mortal animal fear at discovering the sudden gaze of a predator in the tall grass.

To paraphase Agent Kay, "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."

Like I said, we can speculate over what might or might happen all day, but do we have any evidence?

Just seems like you're doomsday fantasizing...

history has shown us that we humans are so afraid of other humans that are not exactly like us, that we readily sacrifice values that are absolutely essential to the advancement of society, and our well being in general.

the knowledge of uncontrollable alien life forms visiting us, and maybe interacting or interfering with our lives, would very likely cause a world wide panic of epic proportions.

>but do we have any evidence?

I'm not aware of any. The problem is, this would be such a unique occurrence that, like speculating on the nature of alien life based on Earth life, anything worth calling evidence might be impossible to find.

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