Tuesday, April 1, 2014

A is for Alien

My A to Z Theme: The Wonders and Oddities of our Universe
 
A Is For Aliens
 
Quick: What is your image of what an alien would look like the very first time you see one? Green. Slender. Big bulging eyes. Bald. Really long fingers. We come in peace. E.T. Close Encounters of the Third Kind? A.L.F.?
 
This is what a lot of people would say. Or you might be inclined to picture a hideous monster from your worst nightmares. Predator. Alien. War of the Worlds. The Blob. Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
 
But Realistically: If we ever did encounter an alien life form, it most likely would not be made of flesh and blood. Or whatever extraterrestrial creatures are made of. If they do indeed exist.
 
Rather, E.T. would probably be a machine. An advanced self replicating robotic space probe, one of possibly thousands or millions, sent to and fro across the universe in search of intelligent life. If found, the machine would communicate back to the mother ship, and then maybe E.T. would visit us. This would be the most likely first encounter with an alien life form.
 
In Theory: A self-replicating spacecraft could be sent to a neighbouring star-system, where it would seek out raw materials (extracted from asteroids, moons, gas giants, etc.) to create replicas of itself. These replicas would then be sent out to other star systems. The original "parent" probe could then pursue its primary purpose within the star system. This mission varies widely depending on the variant of self-replicating starship proposed. Reference.
 
If we as the human species were to search out and investigate planets outside our solar system, we would do so with such machines. Trivia
 
Question: Remember the TV show ALF? The name is an acronym for A.L.F. What is it?

82 comments:

  1. Hadn't thought of it like that but you're right, much more likely approach to space travel. Although I still expect ET to speak English when he gets here. (I always wondered why Charlton Heston didn't figure out he was on Earth when all the apes spoke English).

    mood
    Moody Writing


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  2. This makes sense, as this is how we would also explore. Far easier to send a machine than even a monkey, which of course we tried once. ALF? Sorry, no idea!

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  3. Hi Stephen .. ALF .. Alien Light Future .. but no idea! Aliens .. sad they won't speak English, I'd be surprised if they spoke A for Albanian .. but I wouldn't know either!, or that they'd be a machine and not be flesh and blood .. I just prefer us humans - though some are not as nice as others! Cheers Hilary

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  4. ALF: abstract Life Form? lol I've no idea either.

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  6. I had no idea it would be ALF, I expected E.T to kind of speak to me in English. .

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  7. I do remember the show, ALF, but I didn't know it was an acronym. Could it mean alternate life form? Usually when I think of an alien my first thoughts are always E.T. All other movies are too scary for my mind to want to remember, but that being said, I am now having visions of that horrible alien creature from the movie Alien. I don't think I would care to meet any extraterrestrials, if they look like that! Fun & brilliant "A" post! I am now following ~ GFC, Google+, and Twitter!

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  8. Did it stand for alien life form?

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  9. i cant remember what alf stands for, but i knew it was something funny!
    aliens - i picture them depending on their environment, a sea planet would have fishy qualities, a cold planet, hairy beasts; like all the wondrous aliens in star wars! yay for your a post! and awesome theme!

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    1. Tara, glad you like the theme. Its a lot of fun putting these together. And I'm learning new stuff too.

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  10. Alien Life Form!
    Replicators like on Stargate would be scary.

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  11. Thanks all for stopping by! This is a fun topic and we'll have a great time with it!

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  12. I think it's more scary to have machines running around, multiplying and invading us, than aliens. No, this idea doesn't do me at all...shivers and shakes her head as she's writing.

    MJ, A to Z Challenge Co-Host
    Writing Tips
    Effectively Human
    Lots of Crochet Stitches


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  13. Alien Life Form...I loved ALF as a kid, even though he always wanted to eat the cat!

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  14. Never saw Alf. I like the ET version of an alien.
    Cheers for another A to Z challenge
    A Plus!

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  15. I enjoyed watching Alf with my kiddos. Does it stand for Alien Life Form? No?

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  16. Hi, Stephen. I always picture extraterrestrials as being like the species in Star Trek and Star Wars. The universe is so enormous that it makes sense there would be many different species! Some human-like, some machine-like, some animal-like. Why not? We have all that on our own planet! :)

    Happy A to Z-ing! from Laura Marcella @ Wavy Lines

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    1. Laura, there could also be E.T. that has taken on mechanical and computing elements in order to help them survive the harshness of space. We just don't know but its fun to speculate.

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  17. I see A to Z is off the another awesome start! I'll be busy today just trying to visit everyone who stops by here.

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  18. Loved the show ALF, and from my understanding it means Alien Life Form.

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  19. I wonder why so many movie makers have aliens hairless. If they are in a colder planet, they would need to be super hairy!
    Play off the Page

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  20. I loved ALF. I used to have a stuffed ALF.

    Aliens might not even be carbon based, either.

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    1. Diane, you're right. They could even be more spirit type beings than physical.

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  21. I don't know if I'll be adequately be able to reciprocate visits to my blogs let alone hit the list. What a great start we have.

    I like your theory about what we might encounter in the way of aliens. I don't think there will be any monstrous forms such as those portrayed in film

    Lee
    Wrote By Rote
    An A to Z Co-host blog

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  22. Haven't a clue what A.L.F. stands for, didn't really watch the show, but did see some episodes. Little green men is the first thing I think of, then I go to Star Trek images. I was so disappointed when I saw the inside of the Space Station. Nothing like the Enterprise.

    As for collecting samples and probing with robots, isn't that more or less what we are doing anyway?

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    1. Jo, those are no frills stations we put up there. Space, money, and resources are all at a very steep premium.

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  23. This is why, if there is E.T., how they could visit us and we would never know it. Their machines could blend right in with us so perfectly, gather information, stop up our sewers, reverse street signs, and steal all our left shoes. Okay, that's a line from Lilo and Stitch.

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  24. I have a stuffed ALF I rescued, almost brand new, out of a dumpster! If I recall, I think ALF stood for Alien Life Form.

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  25. I would love to encounter ALF. He is my favorite alien. Unless you throw My Favorite Martian, Uncle Martin in the mix.Great start!

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    1. Gregg, long time no see. I tried stopping by your blog and couldn't find it. Is it still up and running?

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  26. How freaking fascinating! Makes sense in my head that our first encounter would be a machine...a self replicating one? Genius!
    ALF! I liked that show growing up, and of course E.T. was cool. And A.L.F. was it for Alien Life Form?

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  27. ALF was one of my favourite shows when I was a kid!

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  28. It's great to see a lot of people from the past. That's what's so great about the A to Z Challenge. Reconnecting with other people.

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  29. Self-replicting anything both excites my imagination and terrifies me. Unstoppable comes to mind. As to ALF. . .I never saw that show, but it had to stand for alien life form, right?

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    1. Cheryl, hopefully they would only be probes and not unstoppable machines of war with millions of years of technology built into them.

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  30. Alien Life Form? I remember it being something simple and obvious...but I only watched the show one.
    The theory about the probes is a really interesting one. As in that could actually work. I think our first alien encounter would be with something completely non-humanoid, so we might not even recognize it as alien. IF there are aliens...which I haven't made up my mind about.
    Tina @ Life is Good
    A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014

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  31. I vaguely remember watching ALF, but it wasn't one of my favorites. Great post idea!

    A to Z: deborahdera.com & writingforpeanuts.com

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  32. That is so logical, but I never thought about it that way. I mean, we sent the rover to Mars, not people. All the movies and books write the first contact with actual live beings, but the more I think about it, the less sense that makes. Great post that really gets me thinking.

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    1. Sarah, great point! I didn't think of this, and yet here we are a s a race doing the same thing.

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  34. To be honest , even I portray aliens just the way the films show. I really never thought of them like how they looked until I read this post. And am so sorry I don't know anything about ALF .. But really interesting post.

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  35. Sarah make a great point. Look at Voyager I and II and all the other probes we've sent out. And self replicating bots are in the R&D stage in facilities around the globe.

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  36. I love ALF. They were playing the repeats on the HUB channel. I'd like to think that there are many different kinds of E.T.'s out there. Not just Greys, Robots, or whatever. Maybe they all exist. I'm sure my imagination couldn't come up with what lies out there. Evolution of species depend on the environment, right. So, who knows?

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  37. Another blog had A for Alien. Aliens must be the popular choice. :) I never watched ALF . . . I was obviously deprived as a kid. :P

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    1. Chrys, I've seen quite a few alien blogs. Yeah, its a very popular topic these days.

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  38. :) Very interesting.

    I reckon we would find them spending their days lazing around and doing nothing else. I mean "A.L.I.E.N" must surely mean "A LIE IN" pronounced the lazy way some people have of dropping syllables...

    :p

    Great post

    Fe

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  39. I never watched ALF but I can only think of the evil replicators from Stargate fame when you mention aliens coming in that form.

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  40. Interesting thought. At first I wasn't sure of the self-replicating part, but with as vast as space is, that would be a requirement. At our rate of exploring the galaxy, the chances of us finding something is so remote that it doesn't exist. By the time our probes get somewhere, the aliens would have died off and so would we.

    Stopping by for the A to Z Challenge. We are highlighting amazing authors this month. Check us out HERE.

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  41. Interesting post. I loved the show ALF!

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  42. Never watched the show, I hate puppets - of any kind! Phobia!

    Aliens would be beautiful - not the ugly scaly things we like to imagine - but beautiful and most likely deadly! LOL

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    1. Yolanda, I would think aliens come in a variety of shapes and colors and such. Regardless, I think half the human race would be fascinated while the other half terrified if they ever visited us.

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  43. Stopping by from the A to Z challenge. Interesting post. I saw something, I think through Netflix, about what would happen if we sent probes out. It was fascinating. I think you have a good point here too. I don't think the first contact would necessarily be with a biological creature. They may send probes to look at us as we would to them. Very interesting post here.

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  44. A to Z is off to another rocking start! Thanks again everyone for stopping by. I'll have some fun and interesting stuff about anything and everything this month. Something for everyone.

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  45. Alien Life Form? Alf was entertaining.

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  46. Nice Idea for Alien encounter, but I never saw ALF so have no idea about full form of ALF.

    My Contribution for April A-Z

    Story Teller

    http://vikaskhair.blogspot.com/2014/04/paths-to-death-for-accident.html

    http://vikaskhair.blogspot.com/2014/04/paths-to-death-b-for-bullets.html

    My Third Eye

    http://cameramythirdeye.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-for-amusement-park.html

    http://cameramythirdeye.blogspot.com/2014/04/b-for-books.html

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  47. Advanced Life Form?
    I like your theory that machines would precede the living aliens. To paraphrase, I believe they are out there.
    Aloha.
    Gail visiting for AtoZ

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  48. I am so glad I have a teenage son because through him I have discovered aliens I had missed growing up, like the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy ... I am of the Mork and Mindy era, I was a bit too old for ALF...and lived in Europe when it was at it's peak, but I remember visiting the States and seeing the show. I am making the A - Z fun and random, I did love alien, swing by and visit me if you can at http://4covert2overt.blogspot.com/

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  49. I hope they look like Mathias Hues from I Come In Peace!

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  50. Thank you, Stephen, for stopping by my blog at www.cobourgcobbie.blogspot.ca and leaving such a warm welcome for me. It is appreciated. As for your post, as long as 6 of 9 is coming for me then, all will be good. :)

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  51. I look at the diversity of life people imagine from outside our solar system, and they come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Tall, small, bald, wooley, big eyes, antennas. Maybe they're not even carbon based. But if there is indeed intelligent life out there, it is a very large and diverse universe. So it would make sense the inhabitants would also be very diverse.

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  52. I think the aliens we see in our lifetimes will be things more similar to bacterium and viruses :) But that's just me...

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  53. I always picture aliens to look just like us. I like the mirror planet idea. I pray they are not killer clowns.

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  54. Hi there, I'm Jamie from the A-Z Challenge, great article! Kudos! Looking forward to many more enjoyable posts. Thanks. =)

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  55. Alf = alien life form?? Fun post! Thanks for all the hard work you co-hosts put into the A-Z Challenge. It's my first and already having a blast!

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  56. A.L.F. stood for Alien Life Form and his name was Gordon Shumway. He's always been my favorite alien :)

    KC @ The Occasional Adventures of a Hermit
    hermitadventures{at}gmail.com

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  57. Believe it or not, but I have never seen an episode of ALF!
    But I do love ET!

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  58. I like your theme! I, too, am interested in things like that.

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  59. I'm late to the game, but Alien Life Form it is... they kept it sweet and simple. Fun post, with a great topic!! :)

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  60. Personally, I think it would be very egotistical of us to think we are the only intelligent life in the entire universe. I enjoyed your post.

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  61. Winding things down. I'm juts now able to catch up on comments. Been a busy day, but I'm sure it has been for you too. Thanks really for taking to the time to stop by and say hello!

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  62. I dropped in late, but have to say you have an interesting theme.
    Tina from Twinkling Tina Cooks

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  63. Thinking of ALF always makes me laugh. It's great when others "get" that reference. I think we Earthlings will win any alien life form over with chocolate. Thanks for popping over to my blog & the follow. Much appreciated.

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  64. OMG! ALF was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid! ALIEN LIFE FORM! And he was always chasing the cat because he wanted to eat it.

    I'm not opposed to the idea that aliens exist. And I think you're right about first contact. What'll be interesting is when their probes meet our probes and have to figure out that neither is actually a living being, and that both are merely representatives. Wonder what kind of trouble THAT will cause???

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  65. Andi-Roo, its often the newbies that pose the best questions. Thanks for stopping by and saying hello. Wow! What of our probes met theirs? Let then fight it out for bragging rights.

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  66. Hello,
    If aliens exist they would look nothing like us, and that first contact would be the hardest thing to decipher for both sides. Haven't watched ALF, but loved ET.
    Best wishes,
    Nilanjana.
    Madly-in-Verse

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    1. Nitanjana, ironically there are a lot od people who think an intelligent form of life would look remarkably like ours. At least they would have two arms, two legs, a torso, head, and walk upright. Who knows. Maybe they would be a giant pink pulsating brain like on Futurama.

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  67. I hadn't thought of it this way, but it makes a lot of sense.

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  68. For some reason this seems like mindless propagation to me. And we have minds, so why wouldn't they?

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  69. OMG. Look, I was the last person to post on this last year! And here I am a year later looking at the same post, that I remember! This is too much fun, thanks to A.J. Lisa, co-host AtoZ 2015, @ http://www.lisabuiecollard.com

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