Is The Term "Aliens" Derogatory to Extraterrestrials?

[Tommy]

Discuss. 

[Danny]

In a world where actual people are referred to as illegal aliens, this is dumb

[Cicero]

Demi Lovato has come across very bizarre after her overdose. 

I remember she thought having nutrition labels or having reduced fat, healthier options in groceries stores was fat shaming. 

[nudge]

53 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Discuss. 

Sounds like something an alien would say 

[Stan]

No.

 

/thread. 

[Azeem]

For the sake of keeping the thread alive. I'd argue for it. 

Yes, by saying aliens you are implying that extraterrestrial beings are not normal to our galaxy and some kind of outliers! It isn't inclusive . They may not be comfortable with that label. Also it's sexist because it has Ali in it and it's a male name.

[Pyfish+]

[Tommy]

Imagine being abducted by Aliens, and you wake up in their ship like "Wow! Hi, Aliens!", and they're like "Whoa, bro. There's no need for that language." 

[nudge]

It's also very cute to assume that extraterrestrials understand and speak English, of course  

[Stan]

9 minutes ago, nudge said:

It's also very cute to assume that extraterrestrials understand and speak English, of course  

And also weird to think Demi Lovato knows what aliens are thinking and presuming they are offended

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

Demi Lovato was more sane when she was a junkie, and that's weird and sad.

[Devil]

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Demi Lovato was more sane when she was a junkie, and that's weird and sad.

Hasn't she come out as non binary?

That in itself confuses me, I get some people are born feeling they were maybe born into the wrong sex group bit I'm totally confused by people who refuse to be judged under any category at all.

3 hours ago, nudge said:

It's also very cute to assume that extraterrestrials understand and speak English, of course  

I'd assume they would be that far ahead of us technology wise they'd be able to understand any language.

I also wonder if they are all one sex or do they reproduce like us humans.

[nudge]

5 minutes ago, Devil said:

I'd assume they would be that far ahead of us technology wise they'd be able to understand any language.

I also wonder if they are all one sex or do they reproduce like us humans.

It's an interesting topic to think about, isn't it? I'd say that regardless how advanced their technology was, the only way they'd be able to understand us is only if they had observed us for a looong time to record and make sense of the human languages, both spoken and written, and, more importantly, had extensive knowledge of our culture. If it's first ever contact? No chance... 

I imagine if there's life somewhere out there, then those life forms are completely different from what we know or even can imagine.

[Devil]

2 minutes ago, nudge said:

It's an interesting topic to think about, isn't it? I'd say that regardless how advanced their technology was, the only way they'd be able to understand us is only if they had observed us for a looong time to record and make sense of the human languages, both spoken and written, and, more importantly, had extensive knowledge of our culture. If it's first ever contact? No chance... 

I imagine if there's life somewhere out there, then those life forms are completely different from what we know or even can imagine.

I think we've been being observed for a long time myself, I'm not alien crazy but I'm a firm believer that if there is life on this planet then surely life is possible elsewhere.

Maybe their evolution has been different. Maybe their evolution has been pretty much the same but far more advanced than we are.

If that were the case they could maybe walk amongst us.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

34 minutes ago, Devil said:

Hasn't she come out as non binary?

That in itself confuses me, I get some people are born feeling they were maybe born into the wrong sex group bit I'm totally confused by people who refuse to be judged under any category at all.

I'd assume they would be that far ahead of us technology wise they'd be able to understand any language.

I also wonder if they are all one sex or do they reproduce like us humans.

I don't know if she has or hasn't - but I'm on the same page with you about all of that sort of thing. She recently started harassing a small ice cream (or cookies, I'm not 100% sure tbh) store because they had labeled some things as "non-fat" and "sugar free" and she thought it was horrific fat shaming. I don't really know all the details, tbh... but I felt for the business owners there - having a celebrity "call you out" because you want to have options for all sorts of people (which, I think is a pretty mindful thing for a business like that to do tbh) seems mental.

Led to the store getting harassed by thousands of her fans over "fat shaming" just for providing products that would let more health conscious customers be able to buy from them too. I think she eventually apologised... but honestly, too little too late when you start shit like that and you have a national/international platform and you're going against a small business.

She's just a hypersensitive weirdo, I think. As @Danny says... there's actual human beings that are referred to as "aliens" - so being a bit fucking worried about space people who haven't visited us having their feelings hurt over a word they might not (honestly, probably wouldn't but idk ) even understand... it's just mental tbh.

I honestly think people should pay less attention to what famous people have to say unless it's about something important and isn't a completely idiotic take. Because her being offended over something that's basically hypothetical is just fucking stupid.

[nudge]

4 minutes ago, Devil said:

I think we've been being observed for a long time myself, I'm not alien crazy but I'm a firm believer that if there is life on this planet then surely life is possible elsewhere.

Maybe their evolution has been different. Maybe their evolution has been pretty much the same but far more advanced than we are.

If that were the case they could maybe walk amongst us.

I do believe that there's life out there, but think the distances in the universe are too huge for any ongoing observation and potential contact with another intelligent life form.

As for evolution, it works by chance, not design - therefore, I would think it is very unlikely that another life form in the universe evolved in exactly the same (or at least in a very similar) way. Environments different from Earth would likely produce very different forms of life, and even in similar environments, there's a high possibility that selection and different sequence of events would lead to wildly different outcomes. Even if we were able to go back in time and restart the evolution on Earth from the beginning, there is very low chance of humanoids evolving again. There's nothing particularly special about humans - we just got lucky. Under slightly different circumstances, another species on Earth could have evolved to become as smart or smarter than us. It could have been dinosaurs building rockets and going to space  

[Devil]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I don't know if she has or hasn't - but I'm on the same page with you about all of that sort of thing. She recently started harassing a small ice cream (or cookies, I'm not 100% sure tbh) store because they had labeled some things as "non-fat" and "sugar free" and she thought it was horrific fat shaming. I don't really know all the details, tbh... but I felt for the business owners there - having a celebrity "call you out" because you want to have options for all sorts of people (which, I think is a pretty mindful thing for a business like that to do tbh) seems mental.

Led to the store getting harassed by thousands of her fans over "fat shaming" just for providing products that would let more health conscious customers be able to buy from them too. I think she eventually apologised... but honestly, too little too late when you start shit like that and you have a national/international platform and you're going against a small business.

She's just a hypersensitive weirdo, I think. As @Danny says... there's actual human beings that are referred to as "aliens" - so being a bit fucking worried about space people who haven't visited us having their feelings hurt over a word they might not (honestly, probably wouldn't but idk ) even understand... it's just mental tbh.

I honestly think people should pay less attention to what famous people have to say unless it's about something important and isn't a completely idiotic take. Because her being offended over something that's basically hypothetical is just fucking stupid.

Think she's fucked in the head mate, some people can take years of drugs and some people go insane from a short period.

Everyone is different but I think her head is fried.

[Devil]

4 minutes ago, nudge said:

I do believe that there's life out there, but think the distances in the universe are too huge for any ongoing observation and potential contact with another intelligent life form.

As for evolution, it works by chance, not design - therefore, I would think it is very unlikely that another life form in the universe evolved in exactly the same (or at least in a very similar) way. Environments different from Earth would likely produce very different forms of life, and even in similar environments, there's a high possibility that selection and different sequence of events would lead to wildly different outcomes. Even if we were able to go back in time and restart the evolution on Earth from the beginning, there is very low chance of humanoids evolving again. There's nothing particularly special about humans - we just got lucky. Under slightly different circumstances, another species on Earth could have evolved to become as smart or smarter than us. It could have been dinosaurs building rockets and going to space  

The key words here..

I would think.

Who is to say there isn't a mirroring planet with life evolving the same way.

 

[nudge]

2 minutes ago, Devil said:

The key words here..

I would think.

Who is to say there isn't a mirroring planet with life evolving the same way.

Well of course, we can only speculate because there's no way to know. It's just that it is extremely unlikely for life to evolve the same way, considering the randomness and unpredictability of mutations. Life evolved on Earth the way it did because it experienced very specific conditions in specific locations in specific times. If you change any of it even slightly, the end result will be completely different. So yeah, it is not impossible that on some Earth-like planet Earth-like life evolved the same way, but the chances of that are just extremely low.

[Honey Honey]

To be fair looking at the quote it could just be to stop using the word alien because of its derogatory connotation to others, rather than because it might offend an imagined alien. It's hard to tell.

It might be a more American specific cultural issue. Alien isn't commonly used in the UK other than in legal speak.

[Tommy]

1 hour ago, nudge said:

Life evolved on Earth the way it did because it experienced very specific conditions in specific locations in specific times. If you change any of it even slightly, the end result will be completely different. 

It turned out pretty shitty, all things considered, didn't it? I could be a Brontosaurus, just chilling, eating leaves and shit. Yet here I am, doing god knows what. 

[Cicero]

ET didn’t give a shit. 

[CaaC (John)+]

@nudge, there has got to be some of these up in space somewhere, surely, I would love to know how they (whoever) thought these characters up, maybe they are Alian's themselves and are on planet earth in disguise?  

Admiral Ackbar

Gredo

Jawa

Jabba The Hutt

[Stan]

5 hours ago, CaaC (John) said:

there has got to be some of these up in space somewhere, surely

Why? 

[Honey Honey]

5 hours ago, CaaC (John) said:

@nudge, there has got to be some of these up in space somewhere, surely, I would love to know how they (whoever) thought these characters up, maybe they are Alian's themselves and are on planet earth in disguise?  

Admiral Ackbar

Gredo

Jawa

Jabba The Hutt

Up in space? They look like past and present Newcastle United owners