[chris (OP)]

Josip has written to say:

Question: What are we going to do to the inhabitants when we find another planet (we will call it Eden).
Answer: We will put the native inhabitants in chains and keep them on an island.

Do you agree?

[Kryptid]

Why in the world would we do that?

[jeffreyH]

It depends upon which species is more advanced. They might be the ones putting us in chains.

[evan_au]

What are we going to do ....when we find another planet

We have found many new planets over the past few years.
Most are more like Hell than Eden - not the sort of place you would want to go for a holiday!

It will require radically new technologies to visit planets around other stars.
A manned base on Mars would be possible by forseeable extension of current technologies, but a manned mission to Europa would require considerable development of our current technologies.

the native inhabitants...

I agree that humans do not have a good record for our treatment of other humans, other species, or ecosystems. However, space agencies are actively trying to avoid contamination of potential life-bearing sites by sterilizing Mars probes (as far as possible), and crashing the Cassini probe into Saturn later this year, and Juno into Jupiter when its mission finishes.

At present, we are at the stage of identifying the extrasolar planets themselves, and in the next decade we may be able to make a lot of progress in identifying the chemical composition of their atmospheres.

But as yet, we have not identified any native inhabitants (microbial or larger) even on planets in our own Solar System; we have not really tried, as yet. We are a long way from identifying (let alone imprisoning) inhabitants of other planetary systems.

The hope of SETI is that any alien civilizations at a similar level of technology to us will announce their presence using techniques that we can detect, so we don't have to find them all on our own.

The fear of SETI is that we have already announced our presence using techniques that are detectable by civilizations at a similar or more advanced level of technology; a more advanced civilization may have the technology necessary to come here and enslave us.

[Kryptid]

If the OP's reasoning is that humans have enslaved and oppressed other humans when we have encountered them in the past, that's not a good analogy here. Given that we will no doubt be centuries advanced both technologically and culturally by the time we are able to go to planets inhabited by intelligent beings, slavery will be massively antiquated by then. It simply isn't practical to use forced labor when machines can do the work for you much more efficiently. We have also become much more geared towards conservation and basic humanitarian rights as we have developed as a civilization.

[jeffreyH]

If the OP's reasoning is that humans have enslaved and oppressed other humans when we have encountered them in the past, that's not a good analogy here. Given that we will no doubt be centuries advanced both technologically and culturally by the time we are able to go to planets inhabited by intelligent beings, slavery will be massively antiquated by then. It simply isn't practical to use forced labor when machines can do the work for you much more efficiently. We have also become much more geared towards conservation and basic humanitarian rights as we have developed as a civilization.

Hmmm.! North Korea?

[Kryptid]

Hmmm.! North Korea?

It's a general trend. I never said there weren't any exceptions. Besides, North Korea isn't exactly on the cutting edge so we wouldn't expect them to be the ones to make it to another planet first. If anything, we'd probably end up becoming a Type I civilization with global cooperation and environmental management before we are able to travel to other inhabited planets. We would no doubt have learned a few things by then.

[alancalverd]

1. Eliminate the small ones with insecticide

2. Turn the big ones into alcoholics

3. Give them influenza and syphilis

4. Teach them religion so they kill each other

5. Appropriate their resources (why else would we have gone there in the first place?) 

6. Apologise

The best thing that can happen to the universe is that humans stay on this planet.

[PmbPhy]

Josip has written to say:

Question: What are we going to do to the inhabitants when we find another planet (we will call it Eden).
Answer: We will put the native inhabitants in chains and keep them on an island.

Do you agree?

No. I highly disagree. That's not something that happens with advanced civilizations like ours. We have never enslaved any people. Granted, there was a time in American history when they enslaved Africans. But not only didn't that last but we've become repulsed by the idea. It's not as if when we've found a new tribe out there that we enslaved them. Slavery has no place in an advanced civilization.

When we find a new planet with intelligent beings living there we will only visit them with their permission and when we do we will only do so if we can follow their laws.

[David Cooper]

Would their equivalent of bacteria kill us and would ours kill them? If so, it would make it difficult for us to share the same space as them without a lot of reprogramming of their and our genes.

[alancalverd]

That's not something that happens with advanced civilizations like ours. We have never enslaved any people. Granted, there was a time in American history when they enslaved Africans. But not only didn't that last but we've become repulsed by the idea. It's not as if when we've found a new tribe out there that we enslaved them. Slavery has no place in an advanced civilization.

Slavery, forced labor, call it what you will, but it was the order of things in Nazi Germany, Russia and China during the last century and is still a serious problem in London (domestic slavery) and throughout the EU (indentured agricultural gangs). Rumor has it that a fair chunk of the less civilised world considers it normal. The Anti Slavery Society is as busy today as it ever was because human nature stinks.Fortunately it is confined to this planet.

[PmbPhy]

Slavery, forced labor, call it what you will, but it was the order of things in Nazi Germany, Russia and China during the last century and is still a serious problem in London (domestic slavery) and throughout the EU (indentured agricultural gangs).

Which of those do you call an advanced civilization? Please recall what I said Slavery has no place in an advanced civilization. Domestic slavery has nothing to do with this subject since crimes of individuals do not determine what is allowed by the law of the state. For example; When we go to a new world will we kill the people there? No. Of course not. That assumes that "we" refers to the civilization going there and not an individual in that civilization. Sure. Some scumbags might go there and murder an alien but that's not the "we" the OP had in mind when the question was asked.

Rumor has it that a fair chunk of the less civilised world considers it normal. The Anti Slavery Society is as busy today as it ever was because human nature stinks.Fortunately it is confined to this planet.

Which has nothing to do with my point or the subject of this thread. E.g. an advanced civilization does not allow/legalize murder. Does that meant that some organizations, criminal of course, such as the Mafia doesn't murder people? No. Its a basic premise here that when we are able to travel to another planet having a civilization on it that no state on Earth would allow the slavery of such a civilization. Does that mean that there won't be some putrid organizations on Earth who wouldn't want to? No. It doesn't.

That said, where on this planet is there a country having an advanced civilization, where it is legal to own a slave within the last 50 years? Do you have any evidence that a country will legalize slavery in the future? If so please provide such evidence.

However I'd like to keep an open mind. Please describe a scenario where our civilization (i.e. one or more states which is capable of interstellar travel) would go to an inhabited planet and put the native inhabitants in chains and keep them on an island. Exactly how would that be done?

[PmbPhy]

Would their equivalent of bacteria kill us and would ours kill them? If so, it would make it difficult for us to share the same space as them without a lot of reprogramming of their and our genes.

It might be their germs would have no effect on us whatsoever. Or it may be that any of their germs would kill a human. There's simply no way to tell what would happen without knowing the biology of their world.

[SquarishTriangle]

We have non-human species on this planet that we already fail to treat well, let alone non-Earth non-humans. Anti-slavery laws and anti-murder laws only apply in the context of human-human interactions (in certain countries). Given that we have a tendency to treat non-humans on Earth as inferior, as being of a lower priority to ourselves, as having less 'rights' to humane/decent treatment, and that we even deny their ability to feel pain, suffering, empathy and other emotions (refer to invertebrate animals, fish, plants, bacteria, protozoa etc.), I wouldn't expect humans to treat non-humans from another plant with any more decency than we do to, say, a farm animal.

[PmbPhy]

We have non-human species on this planet that we already fail to treat well, let alone non-Earth non-humans. Anti-slavery laws and anti-murder laws only apply in the context of human-human interactions (in certain countries). Given that we have a tendency to treat non-humans on Earth as inferior, as being of a lower priority to ourselves, as having less 'rights' to humane/decent treatment, and that we even deny their ability to feel pain, suffering, empathy and other emotions (refer to invertebrate animals, fish, plants, bacteria, protozoa etc.), I wouldn't expect humans to treat non-humans from another plant with any more decency than we do to, say, a farm animal.

This thread is not about how we treat animals. The subject regards the question regarding highly intelligent life forms (i.e. a civilization), not merely life in general. I.e. the OP wrote ...native inhabitants in chains .. which does not refer to lower animals.

I'm sad to see that you have such a low opinion of humans. Modern Human civilization does not treat intelligent members of a civilization like we do cows. There's nothing to suggest that we do. In lower life forms there is ample evidence that we (i.e. civilization, not scumbag individuals) we have a great deal of empathy for the pain of animals.  In the US there are laws protecting animals from cruelty. There will always be unavoidable pain, even in humans.

Sorry to see that you don't recognize that fact.

[SquarishTriangle]

Really? From "inhabitants", you read "highly intelligent life forms (i.e. a civilization), not just life"? That is quite the imaginative extrapolation.

Sorry, I am just not fortunate enough to live in whatever utopia you reside in. But I work with suffering animals everyday, as well as the people who are quite content to allow them to suffer in the interest of their own hip pockets.

Your attitude towards "lower life forms" (whatever that means) is a perfect example of why humans cannot treat others well, or even as equals, when they differ by species, by race, by gender, by educational status, by socioeconomic status, and eventually, by planet of origin.

[PmbPhy]

Really? From "inhabitants", you read "highly intelligent life forms (i.e. a civilization), not just life"? That is quite the imaginative extrapolation.

And from putting them in chains on an island you thought the OP was talking about animals? If so then in that sense and for that reason your imagination is infinitely greater than mine.

How are you justifying your assumption. And why not ask the OP what he meant and ask others why they assumed the same thing.

In discussion forums you have to know what the OP really wants to know rather than what he literally posts. In this case his intention is quite obvious since he wrote We will put the native inhabitants in chains and keep them on an island. Why would you assume he was talking about all forms of life on a planet being kept in chains on an island when that'd be impossible for any civilization to do? How and why would you put a bacteria on chains? Now that's something I'm anxious to hear you explain. To be more precise, what did you think he meant when he wrote We will put the native inhabitants in chains and keep them on an island. and what proof do you have of it?

Come on. Let's be a little more realistic and understanding of what the OP wants to know.