FifthView
Vala
A disease is scary because it might end you without you being able to fight it, but it isn't conscious about itself unlike humans. A wild animal will kill you if it sees you as a threat, but it does this out of self-preservation and will not try to mess with your mind. The same can not be said for humans.
For some time now, I've thought about the appearance of extraterrestrials in this way:
A lot of people imagine an ET-The Extraterrestrial or else advanced/benevolent/disinterested extraterrestrials and look forward to actually meeting them someday. My own opinion is that, depending upon how first contact happens, the vast majority of humans might be extremely terrified. This would be especially true for any instance of 3-4 ETs just appearing in a field beside your home or walking into view from a wooded area.
You can look at it like this. Imagine you are at home and up early for the day, with the sun just beginning to rise, with your spouse and children still asleep. While starting a pot of coffee, you glance out your back window at your backyard. Now imagine seeing one of these things walking about in your backyard:
- A familiar neighbor calling to his pet dog.
- An unfamiliar, stray dog of a large breed.
- A black bear. Alternatively, a mountain lion.
- A group of three unknown young men who look scruffy and are tatted up, walking toward your house.
- Three non-human beings walking toward your house, obviously intelligent—extraterrestrials.
To my mind, this is a list ascending in order from least scary to most scary. Familiarity plays a large role in determining scariness; but, so does knowing what to expect.
The neighbor is quite familiar and will probably head back to his house after collecting his dog (who probably got out from the fence.)
The stray dog will probably wander off and, in any case, can't get into the house. Even if you opened the door, it might be spooked and run away. Possibly, it could be rabid or just a mean dog, however. But it's a dog.
The wild predators (bear/mountain lion) can't get in the house but maybe could try if they spot you at the window, and you wouldn't want to open the door while they are there. You have less knowledge of how they would react to your presence—but, you know they are wild animals, so can expect some general types of actions/reactions.
The group of three unknown young men are where they don't belong—your backyard—at a time when they would have no reason to be there. Are they planning to burgle you, to break in and attack you? Any group of strangers, of a certain look, would be frightening under these circumstances. (Although a young mother and two young kids might have you thinking their car just broke down or something.) Not knowing what they are about or planning is frightening. They could easily break in, perhaps, and for all you know might be armed.
Now, if a group of three human strangers in your backyard, approaching your home, can be frightening, just imagine what it would be like to see a group of extraterrestrial beings in your backyard approaching your home. These are intelligent beings, so are capable of deciding to do anything. But because they aren't human, you have almost no real ability to guess what they might be up to.
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