What would be the perfect representative of earth look like?

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In summary: Anyway, I'll go with the "comatose" idea. In summary, the conversation discusses possible representatives of Earth in the event of contact with aliens. Suggestions include a woman, someone who is not religious or political, and a farmer. There is also mention of potential issues with cultural differences and the possibility of sending someone who is brain-dead or comatose to be underestimated by the aliens. There is some humor and debate about the best choice, with some suggesting a celebrity or someone with experience in communicating with aliens, and others suggesting no one should be sent at all.
  • #1
Genius of Physics
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What would be the "perfect" representative of Earth look like?

This is more of a poll.
I think it would be fun to know who would we choose.
If we could meet with aliens who do you think we would send and i do not want to be offensive for anyone if yes than I am very sorry

man/woman

religious/non religious

asian/african/european...

sportsman/scientist/politician
and so on

This is if we all could decide so give your opinion on the candidate characteristic.

thx
this is lame but
i suggest myself hehehe
 
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  • #2
Someone who wouldn't be able to say or do anything to show how stupid we still are as a species... we should have sent terri schiavo out in a cryogenic space-pod! (Boy am a glad that fiasco is over. Of course -- maybe the aliens would just fix a vegetable up and then he/she would open up and be stupid again.)

In my opinion, we aren't yet ready for contact -- we have enough trouble within species. Of course, that probably will always be the case... and things happen as they happen... that's history for ya.
 
  • #3
Most of the people would became crazy, when they now that the aliens exist.
 
  • #4
If you want a person that's most representative of actual humans (vs what we'd like to picture as the ideal human), I'd pick:

woman/religious/asian/farmer

The man/woman choice is almost the flip of a coin. The role in providing a cultural tradition to the children is the biggest factor and those roles aren't universal. I think women might play the more significant role in more cultures than men have.

Religion, spirituality, superstition still play a larger role in human behavior than science and logic. I think the latter two are inspired by the same desire to explain why 'S**t happens', but the first three still dominate for most of the people in the world.

I picked Asian because I think they're more numerous, but that's still kind of vague. I don't think that choice is very significant and didn't put much in depth thought into it.

The choice between farmer and hunter was almost a coin flip. Farmer seemed the better choice because its in between our most primitive cultures and our most advanced cultures. Culturally, I think we're still influenced by great agricultural civilizations.

I almost tossed 'slave' in there as a qualification, since slaves are what enabled most of our earliest great agricultural civilizations.

Another choice would have been sailor, since travel and communications have so much influence on who we are.
 
  • #5
BobG said:
The choice between farmer and hunter was almost a coin flip. Farmer seemed the better choice because its in between our most primitive cultures and our most advanced cultures. Culturally, I think we're still influenced by great agricultural civilizations.
Good call...you don't want your diplomats coming home with a new trophy for the wall!
 
  • #6
I vote for Jodie Foster.
 
  • #7
George W Bush.
 
  • #8
Definitely not religious or political.

No celebrities/athletes/mimes.
 
  • #9
Evo said:
Definitely not religious or political.

No celebrities/athletes/mimes.
No mimes? :frown:

How about human statues?

Or how about the human statues that stand motionless just until someone comes up for a closer inspection awed by how lifelike the statue is? (Hmmm, :uhh: maybe not a good idea if the aliens were armed.)
 
  • #10
I don't know, mimes might be best, especially for overcoming language barriers. Of course, then the alien diplomats will show up to all the parties with gifts of white face paint for the hosts, and we'll have to avoid offending them by promptly applying it to show how much the gift is appreciated...:uhh: Okay, no mimes.
 
  • #11
We will look stupid regardless of who represents us.

So, let's save ourselves the trouble and not send anyone.

Anyways, BobG has the best criteria so far. Well thought out.
 
  • #12
JasonRox said:
We will look stupid regardless of who represents us.

So, let's save ourselves the trouble and not send anyone.

Anyways, BobG has the best criteria so far. Well thought out.

So your choice of who best to communicate with a race capable of interstellar travel is a farmer?

Right, no culture gap there. I would pick someone from NASA... it would be the only choice that ensures a good starting point in conversation (Hey, what's this doowiggy do?). I wouldn't even pick a physicist because ideas would be harder to trade (if they have different mathematical notation/ideas, perhaps they started with a different set of axioms and use a completely different form of math than us, we wouldn't know), but technology seems like a safe place to start, since we both would be trying to manipulate the same set of rules in the end. Plus, I bet the NASA guy would come back and build some wicked cool stuff for us
 
  • #13
I say we send Danger. Of course I hope the alians have a great sense of humor.
 
  • #14
I'd pick someone truly brain-dead, someone on the verge of a coma.

It never hurts to be underestimated.
 
  • #15
Obviously, all earthlings are humans. That's a given. :rolleyes:

__________________
"If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity." -John F. Kennedy

"I know that the human being and the fish can coexist peacefully." -George W. Bush
 
  • #16
Rach3 said:
Obviously, all earthlings are humans. That's a given. :rolleyes:

Unless they are here illegally.:biggrin:
 
  • #17
twisting_edge said:
I'd pick someone truly brain-dead, someone on the verge of a coma.

It never hurts to be underestimated.


Huzzah! Another reason we should have sent out Terri! :biggrin:
 
  • #18
Evo said:
Definitely not religious or political.

No celebrities/athletes/mimes.

But Jodie Foster already has experience at this. Now how many people can make that claim? :tongue:

Absolutely no mimes. Also, no lounge singers.
 
  • #19
Ivan Seeking said:
But Jodie Foster already has experience at this. Now how many people can make that claim? :tongue:

Absolutely no mimes. Also, no lounge singers.
And no performance artists.

We don't want to frighten these people away. But I'm seriously leaning towards what twisting_edge said
I'd pick someone truly brain-dead, someone on the verge of a coma.

It never hurts to be underestimated.
There is great wisdom in those words.
 
  • #20
Yea! Tally-count of 3 for someone brain-dead! :cool:

I'll admit -- I'm keeping count of this vote.
 
  • #21
Ivan Seeking said:
But Jodie Foster already has experience at this. Now how many people can make that claim? :tongue:

Absolutely no mimes. Also, no lounge singers.

Well i don't think it would be clever to send someone who follows the manuscript cos humans aint, but the coclusion must be a peacefull average woman?
So are you supporting feminism or what? Is that what intelligent people stand for.

Im just kidding on both last subjects.
 
  • #22
i would pick someone calm of nature.

someone with infinite wisdom, a larger perspective of everything, one with a strong will and self control.
 
  • #23
Actually, I was thinking we could pick someone with limited experience, a boiling xenophobia, and more than three firearms in his basement
 
  • #24
In order to be a hundred percent politically correct, the perfect earthling representative should be a mixture between black, white and asian. Regarding the religion, he/she should be jewish, christian, muslim and hunduist all at once. Further on, the preson should be gay, or bisexual, but gay is preferred. And now, regarding the gender, well, he/she should be a gender changed person, so you can always say he/she once was a woman/man, if the topic about being sexist because of sending a man/woman instead of a woman/man comes up. :biggrin:
 
  • #25
Jenna Jameson..

What alien could possibly want to hurt us after seeing her? :-)
 
  • #26
Milo Hobgoblin said:
Jenna Jameson..

What alien could possibly want to hurt us after seeing her? :-)

Might be, but if it were a reverse situation, I'm not sure if I'd like to see what the alien Jenna Jameson looks like. :biggrin:
 
  • #27
How about a little girl?
 
  • #28
Andre said:
How about a little girl?
Can we put her in a coma, first?
 
  • #29
hypatia said:
I say we send Danger.
twisting_edge said:
I'd pick someone truly brain-dead, someone on the verge of a coma.
Are these intentionally next to each other? :grumpy:

twisting_edge said:
Can we put her in a coma, first?
:rofl:
 
  • #30
Gender - Depends on their culture, but probably female because women are usually less threatening.
Skin color - whatever is closest to that of the aliens
Religion - athiest or agnostic, since most Earth religions are anthropocentric
Sexuality - straight, to minimize confusion surrounding reproduction
Nationality - Irrelevant and shouldn't be discussed with the aliens. We want to appear strong and unified.
Profession - Scientist, probably an astronomer or physicist, since they're the most likely to be familiar with (or at least understand) the things that are familiar to the aliens.

Essentially, we want to appear strong, but as non-threatening and comfortable as possible.
 
Last edited:
  • #31
radou said:
Might be, but if it were a reverse situation, I'm not sure if I'd like to see what the alien Jenna Jameson looks like. :biggrin:

Let's just say I don't want to see what the aliens do to Jenna Jameson.
 
  • #32
SpaceTiger said:
Gender - Depends on their culture, but probably female because women are usually less threatening.
Same reasoning as mine, so I'll go along.
SpaceTiger said:
Religion - athiest or agnostic, since most Earth religions are anthropocentric
I disagree completely. We want a New Ager of some kind or another. The moment they start going on about crystal pyramids, the aliens will completely write off Earth technology as a useless hoax. We may be able to catch them out with it later.
SpaceTiger said:
Sexuality - straight, to minimize confusion surrounding reproduction
Why give away any free information? You never know how it will be used against you.
SpaceTiger said:
Profession - Scientist, probably an astronomer or physicist, since they're the most likely to be familiar with (or at least understand) the things that are familiar to the aliens.
Zzzzt! wrong: lawyer. We want to be sure they believe we are incapable of ever getting anything useful done. Note that restirting our search to lawyers also increases our chances of finding someone in a suitably coma-like state. If nothing else, they will have had to listen to the lawyers before and after them audition for the spot.
 
  • #33
Maybe we can send Jenna Jameson to law school and then induce the desired coma-like-state by her drug-of-choice (LSD or coke?). I've heard her films described as "new age." Of course -- maybe she'll give out too much info on sexuality when she wakes. :biggrin:
 
  • #34
We would totally send a group of young rich male scientists. Why would you pick a female asian farmer? She would go insane! Training? Intelligence? We need the person(s) to tell us what happened.
 
  • #35
physics girl phd said:
Maybe we can send Jenna Jameson to law school and then induce the desired coma-like-state by her drug-of-choice (LSD or coke?). I've heard her films described as "new age." Of course -- maybe she'll give out too much info on sexuality when she wakes. :biggrin:
Who the heck is Jenna Jameson? Every site that comes up is blocked by the computer system's firewall.
 
<h2>1. What physical characteristics would make the perfect representative of Earth?</h2><p>The perfect representative of Earth would have a humanoid form with two arms, two legs, and a head. They would also have a medium-sized body with a balanced physique, neither too muscular nor too thin. Their skin would be a combination of various shades, representing the diversity of human skin tones found on Earth.</p><h2>2. Would the perfect representative of Earth have any special abilities?</h2><p>The perfect representative of Earth would not possess any supernatural abilities. They would have the same physical and mental capabilities as an average human being. This is important in order to accurately represent the human population on Earth.</p><h2>3. What cultural and societal values would the perfect representative of Earth embody?</h2><p>The perfect representative of Earth would embody values such as empathy, compassion, and respect for diversity. They would also have a strong sense of community and a desire to work towards the betterment of society as a whole.</p><h2>4. How would the perfect representative of Earth communicate?</h2><p>The perfect representative of Earth would have the ability to communicate in various languages, as language is an important aspect of human culture and communication. They would also have the ability to understand and adapt to different forms of communication, such as body language and nonverbal cues.</p><h2>5. Would the perfect representative of Earth have any flaws?</h2><p>The perfect representative of Earth would not be flawless, as humans are not perfect beings. They would have their own unique flaws and imperfections, just like any other human being. This would make them relatable and human-like, accurately representing the human population on Earth.</p>

1. What physical characteristics would make the perfect representative of Earth?

The perfect representative of Earth would have a humanoid form with two arms, two legs, and a head. They would also have a medium-sized body with a balanced physique, neither too muscular nor too thin. Their skin would be a combination of various shades, representing the diversity of human skin tones found on Earth.

2. Would the perfect representative of Earth have any special abilities?

The perfect representative of Earth would not possess any supernatural abilities. They would have the same physical and mental capabilities as an average human being. This is important in order to accurately represent the human population on Earth.

3. What cultural and societal values would the perfect representative of Earth embody?

The perfect representative of Earth would embody values such as empathy, compassion, and respect for diversity. They would also have a strong sense of community and a desire to work towards the betterment of society as a whole.

4. How would the perfect representative of Earth communicate?

The perfect representative of Earth would have the ability to communicate in various languages, as language is an important aspect of human culture and communication. They would also have the ability to understand and adapt to different forms of communication, such as body language and nonverbal cues.

5. Would the perfect representative of Earth have any flaws?

The perfect representative of Earth would not be flawless, as humans are not perfect beings. They would have their own unique flaws and imperfections, just like any other human being. This would make them relatable and human-like, accurately representing the human population on Earth.

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