Please assume we can only ask them to do something and not to request any access to their existing knowledgebase. Suggestions of practical errand requests to a hypothetical space visitor(s) invited in the objective the improving space flight development.
To start the ball rolling, my requested favour is:
1. Please would you place this one piece 500 tonne cannon (consisting of a milled hollow tube with the traditional "pusher plate" arrangement left to seal off one end) in a stable earth orbit?
Reason: The maxium payload performance maturity curve has declined and never exceeded over 100 tonnes.
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GoogleNaut
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RE: If spacevisitors came what favour would u ask4
I don't know. That's a tough one. Assuming that technologically related questions were a no-no, then I might try learning about what makes them who they are.
Assuming that they were friendly (of course--atleast not hostile) and mutually interested in us, I suppose I would be interested in learning their history, philosophy; what they think of as art or literature. It sounds boring--but to really know the spirit of a people, you must appreciate their art. Learn their history and their language--immerse yourself in their culture. Assuming you could--this would be one way that a mutually respectful relationship can develop. A model for this process is our own Ambassadors to Foreign Countries--our own US Consolates basically provide this function. I would imagine that with Extra-Terrestrials a similar process will evolve. Once the tensions associated with First Contact have decreased, and a feeling of mutual trust and friendship have been established, then the way is paved for establishing some kind of diplomatic ties. This can lead to further mutual understanding and eventually exchanges--such as our Foreign Student Exchange programs.
I don't know about asking them for 'favors.' Certainly it wouldn't be out of the question to simply ask for an opportunity to establish a repore and continued opportunities to mutually learn from each other.
Of course, all of this assumes that such complex communications are possible. Even wildly different cultures on Earth have the basic commonness of being human. However, dealing with a first contact with an ET does not have this sense of 'common ground.' It's likely to be a completely different ball game altogether.
What common ground could be found between cultures where the differences in technological maturity are measured in millions of years? If we were the less technologically advanced culture, we would atleast have the knowledge that what we were witnessing was actually a technology--not magic, as a more primitive human culture would likely just assume. It seems unreasonable to think that a cultural dialoge as 'equals' could be possible with such a technologically advanced ET.
