We should stop depicting aliens as hostile in movies

We have gotten used to movies that depict aliens as bad, hostile or evil. I think this is a very big misconception, and I think that aliens actually are friendly instead. It is us humans that think badly about other species, and we thus fear them and most likely would fight them. But this is a foolish reaction as we do not know their situation. Why do I think that aliens are friendly instead of hostile, why are us humans considered hostile by them and why do we need to stop depicting aliens as such in movies?

Image by Garik Barseghyan from Pixabay

Why do we like hostile aliens?

Most Hollywood movies that make a lot of money, are those with aliens being the villain. It means that the aliens are hostile, as it gives the most destruction and thus the most pleasure for most of us. And from this point of view our brain is pumped full of the notion that aliens must be bad and dangerous. So now our natural reaction towards aliens is that we fear them and thus we must fight them. This is a very dangerous assumption, as if we think that then we will act like that - while their intentions are benign. So if there would be first contact, then we act from this fear and thus we act foolish.

Are aliens really hostile or benign?

There is good reason to say that aliens are friendly aka benign. They once were on the point of their evolution to go into space, and were confronted by bad aliens or did imagine meeting hostile aliens. Their natural reaction would be fear and thus if they wanted to go into space to find intelligent lifeforms, they would investigate by going in stealth. If it was assessed that the new species was of benign nature, then they would join their friendly alien group. But if it was assessed that the new species was of bad intent, then they would avoid them. The good alien group would grow, while the bad alien group would be left alone. The good aliens for sure would have the advantage in many ways, and thus would grow in strength and quantity. And thus it is safe to state that aliens are benign aka aliens are friendly!

Humans have signaled to be hostile instead

Now there is a problem with humanity. We are fighting all the time, and we have killed millions in WWI and WWII. Especially the end of WWII is important, as we signaled with three atomic bombs our presence in the fast galaxy, and we signaled that we are armed and dangerous. And we will react with only a push of a button, killing many with mass-destruction weapons. And this is the first signal they got from us, and that wasn't a good impression. From the alien point of view, humans are the hostile species. But it is our first time we used it as such and must be considered as a mistake. If you make a mistake once, then you aren't seeing the consequences of your actions. But if you see the consequences then you must correct your actions so that it doesn't happen again. As using mass-destruction weapons was a big mistake that mustn't happen again, then we as a species were put in this system as we need to prove ourselves. And this is something important for you to understand: "we can only get out of here if we change our actions". This doesn't mean you personally, but we need to show the correct signals collectively. And as we have been put in here due to our mistakes at the end of WWII, then we can stipulate that the only way to get out of here is by not using mass-destruction weapons ever again. It is the only signal that aliens will understand that we have changed. If we want to have a future within the stars exploring the most beautiful places, then we need to make the first step by actually showing our intent. And our intent must be friendly.

Personal gain of the few

Personally I think that the majority of people and families are of friendly intent. People simply try to make the best of it. But there are things happening in the World - often caused by the personal security of the few, the strengthening of their power or success - which lead to crises in any form Worldwide. And thus the many suffer due to the actions of the few. And this seems to be a re-occurring situation on Earth. But as these crises are gradually increasing in severity and quantity, the majority of people get used to it and don't act on it. Especially big wars, can result in big conflicts potentially resulting in the usage of nuclear weapons. So the power, success and gain of the few can result in Worldwide destruction, and that must change.

Show aliens our friendliness

If we as Earthlings want to succeed and strive then we must show the aliens that we are friendly. They will not show themselves when we remain the same way and don't change. So if we want to join their alien galactic society, then we need to make the first step. No change would mean no candy for us. And it is us that needs to change, as we made the big mistake in the first place. You can only get away from the finger trap by giving in, and not pulling on it constantly. And giving in means change, means disarmament, means being nice and kind again. For the mental state of humans it is important to show within movies or documentaries that aliens are friendly, so instead of fear we start to show empathy towards them.

We aren't the first species reaching for the stars

For thousands of years mankind has been gazing up to the stars, and now we do have the opportunity to reach for them as well. It seems to be the normal way of evolution to start exploring the universe. But we need to think about how we do that and when we do it. You might say we can reach for the stars already, but can we really? We might be able to do it from our technological knowledge in a few decades, but there is more that we need to prepare. Aliens will instantly know what we are about, by just scanning our leaky mind. So if we live in peace, in equality and everyone has the same chances with opportunities, then we make a good impression, but if there is much inequality, starvation, wars and de-location of people then do we still make a good impression? 

Humanity has just arrived

It would be very selfish to state that we are the first species reaching for the stars. Our galaxy is billions of years old and there are also billions of stars and exoplanets that potentially have intelligent life. And they might have evolved millions of years before humans have. So they have reached for the stars, whilst earth still was trying to survive with dinosaurs. Regarding exploring the galaxy and reaching for the stars, humanity has just been born and we still don't know how to act and how to use appropriate technologies. But at the same time aliens have been through it all. They have evolved into logic based friendly extraterrestrials. I specifically say this, that they are logical and kind, as it is the obvious way for intelligent life to evolve. I will explain.

Logic based thinking

When a species evolves, there will be a point in time when they would have looked and analyzed their own methods or reacting to problems. An example is human emotion and how these emotions influence decision making. Many decisions we make are based on emotions alone, and in many cases these decisions are bad ones. Think of decisions made out of love, fear or hate which can have disastrous consequences. If one takes control of ones emotions, then these negative consequences can be avoided altogether. For this you need to get into a state of mind where you feel emotions come and go, but they don't influence how you think or how you act. When you are able to do that, then you can make decisions which purely are based on logic. Aliens most likely have evolved through this as well, and thus their decision making purely is based on logic. If we want humans to be able to talk with aliens, then we need to take emotions out of the equation, aka we need to learn how to make good decisions based on logic without being lead by emotions. This doesn't mean we can't be emotional, but we need to separate decisions from emotions.

Aliens are benign

I assure you, you don't have to be afraid of aliens and that has a good reason. Aliens have just like us once been in the situation to reach for the stars, but also for them the question arose what to do if they would encounter hostile aliens. With this there are two options to occur:

• they feared such an encounter and thus they would take appropriate measures to protect themselves;
• they did explore the universe and consequently encountered aliens. But they met hostile aliens which ended badly and thus they won't want to repeat that situation by protection.

The obvious question is how would they protect themselves? You might say with weaponry, and they most likely have it as a last resort simply for protection. But this isn't the primary way to protect oneself. They would use stealth aka come in secret without the visited species knowing about it. That way they know for sure they are protected and can determine in safety if the new species is benign or hostile. In that case there are also two options occurring:

• the visited species is considered hostile. In this case they simply would let that species alone;
• the visited species is considered benign. Here lies the opportunity for the aliens. They would make first contact and most likely would invite the new species to join the alien society.

This last point has many advantages. The good aliens would be a growing group of good species, sharing their technologies and knowledge. It is the best way to defend oneself as a benign species against threats. The hostile aliens on the other hand would not get the opportunity to join the alien society and thus wouldn't have all the advantages. The hostile aliens would develop very slow and their numbers would be minimal compared to the benign alien group. From this we can stipulate that aliens are benign, friendly and kind.

Humans have to change

Previous two reasons show what aliens are like. They make decisions based on logic and reasoning, and they are kind. Now you can say, we are like that for sure. Then I would ask you: "Are we really kind and are we really logical?". To answer this question you must open your eyes and see what is going on this World. And the message you see, isn't a good one. There have been Wars in many countries, people have been chased out of their homes and countries, there is poverty everywhere with a small rich group not caring about the rest. If an alien would see this happen, then what would they think? Would they think we are friendly and kind, or would they think we are difficult, unfair, hostile and armed to the teeth? I guess you know the answer to that yourself. We are considered the hostile aliens here and from that point of view the aliens wouldn't want to do anything with us. So per definition we are separated from the good alien group, unless we change. An additional problem is that we use emotional based thought and decisions made from that in many cases are faulty. If we really want to communicate with aliens, then we need to use logic without the emotional factor. This would mean we need to train in having equanimity so that decisions aren't based on our emotions.

Read furthur in: Why should we change for Aliens?

Humans want to reach for the stars, why do we need change?

Humans are fascinated by the stars and how our planet revolves around the Sun and how our solar system interacts with the galaxy. Especially the idea that there might be alien life outside our planet, seems to be fascinating for many. It is the origin of many Hollywood movies, but sadly with the depiction of hostile aliens. We gaze up to the stars expecting to find amazing things on exoplanets and other being or entities. We cannot start to imagine what is up there and thus we want to find out. So if we start to explore the stars and exoplanets, then can we expect aliens out there and are they friendly?

Are there aliens?

In our galaxy alone, there are billions of stars with every star potentially having planets. For the sake of argument if every star has an average of 4 planets around them, then what is the change of having life. Say on 0.01% has life, then there would be 4*1,000,000,000*0.01% = 400,000 planets with life. And if only 0.1% of those planets with life have intelligent life, then there still would be 400,000*0.1% = 400 planets per 1 billion planets with intelligent life. This means there is a good chance that there are planets with sentient beings who eventually in there evolution have been looking up to the stars and think what is up there? And as they might have evolved thousands or millions of years before us, then there obvious will be aliens with more advanced technologies who already have reached for the stars. In this perspective Earthlings have just put the first step on the galactic evolutionary ladder. And with their advanced technologies they most likely can scan the universe for abnormalities indicating life. This means that they already have detected our presence within the galaxy.

They know what we think

Intelligent aliens for sure would use reasoning and logic in any form for making up their minds. We humans in almost all cases use emotions to make up our minds, but many decisions made with emotions such as love or fear are wrong decisions. And so logic dictates that aliens would have evolved out of emotional decision making into logical decision making. And it is with this logical thinking that they will judge other species such as Earthlings. The most basic method for aliens to see if other species are benign or hostile is by looking at how they treat their own species. Benign species treat each-other with dignity, equality and peace, but hostile species can use mass destruction weaponry on their own. If we want to reach for the stars and encounter them, then they simply scan our leaky brain and know how we treat our own kind. So aliens would know instantly that we are benign or hostile. They know what we think, just by listening to our thoughts.

Aliens are friendly

In their evolution, aliens would also have gazed up the sky with awe to know what is up there. But just like us, they would have had the fear as well to encounter species with hostile intent. And they actually might have encountered bad species as well and decided not to have anything to do with hostile species like that again. And thus they would search for alien life, in stealth. If they would find benign species, they would make first contact so that they can join them. But if they would encounter hostile species, they wouldn't make contact at all. So this means that there is a growing group of friendly aliens out there, and a small separated group of bad aliens. And as the good group works together then they have all the advantages. This means that the chance is very high that if we encounter aliens, then it would be with friendly intent.

Are we friendly?

How we act on Earth defines if we are considered benign or hostile. Many people believe in love and peace, and that would be the message that we should spread. But there are also people who only seek power and prospect for themselves, which in many cases results in war. And this is the signal that we send out to them. We are fighting each-other all the time and potentially can use nuclear weaponry. This situation as an act, can only be interpreted as hostile. And as we treat our own species like this, then aliens can only expect that we will treat them the same way.

We need to change on Earth already

As aliens will know, then there is no need for us to reach for the stars now. You only see the news about what happens on this Earth and how people treat each-other to understand that we need to change and must change now. If we want to meet aliens, then we need to make a very positive first impression. And that impression for sure would be a very bad one at this moment. The World has many crises with potentially nuclear war at our horizon. That must be prevented at all cost, as such an act will set us back into the stone age for sure. But if we stand up together and make a voice for Change then that could have an impact. And we need to change now, as - looking at the World events - time has run out!

How can we make a good first impression?

Institutions like NASA, UN as an example should stand up for equality and the same chances for everyone, and a World without poverty, homelessness, hunger. If these organizations only want to seek power, without changing the World as well for the better, then we still would make a very poor impression. It is amazing that we can land space aircraft's on the Moon, Mars or Venus, but we cannot help our own people from starvation and disrespect. So if we really want to make a good impression, then we need to change, and we need to change now. These and other organizations should work together in improving life on Earth for everybody first. And if in many decades we have our Earth in order, then we can reach for the stars making first contact with aliens.