When the first travelers came on their giant ship,
they brought with them their weapons and their faith.
They had no provisions, however,
nor shelter from the coming winter.
So we fed and cared for them,
and they were
thankful.
The alien men soon tried teaching their ways to us,
and we obliged and reciprocated,
both in fear and in curiosity.
We learnt their language,
and they spoke ours.
They were pilgrams from far away,
who had came across a storm from the heavens.
Over food and wine, they sang songs from home,
and cried bitterly over their unintended
banishment.
Soon they announced that other ships would arrive,
to which we waited in dread.
For now we realized that they had also brought their diseases,
and their corruption upon our lands.
We knew not how to turn them
away.
We died in our thousands,
in the years ahead,
as they came and landed on our shores,
and took from us all we had.
Our skins boiled under the sun,
our children massacred,
our women raped,
our gods
forsaken.
Violence for the masses,
death to the rest.
In this grandiose casino royale,
of mutilated cards and bloodshot poker chips,
the House always
loses.
–
“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach.
If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the American Indians.”
- Stephen Hawking
