Thought experiment

[tanithryudo]

If you were from a stereotypical advanced sci-fi race (or an advanced sci-fi Earth), what qualities would you test for in a less advanced race to see if they are ready for first contact/uplift/alliance? Assume that you've already confirmed that they are sentient/sapient, and is not too alien culturally to relate to your own values...

Typical sci-fi shows generally test for qualities like mercy, self sacrifice, love, empathy, honor, cooperation, etc.

What do you think?

Comments

[cashew.insanejournal.com]

Um, logic? If there's an alien race of possible alliance, the first thing I would want to confirm is that an alliance is even possible and for that to work, they would have to be capable of understanding things like trade, cooperation, reciprocity, etc. Following that I'd try to figure out if your classic reinforcement and punishment systems work. After confirming that behavioral shaping is possible, then we can talk about alliance. XD (*Is such a behaviorist at heart.*)

And what the fuck is honor anyway? How would you even test for honor? Isn't honor just an artificial human quality that we came up with because someone got drunk on too much booze and shit? :p

Anyway, going back to that list, what would be the point of testing for mercy, self sacrifice, and love? You don't need those for an alliance. All you need is for the other group/tribe/whatever to be aware enough of their self interest and recognizing that disregard of alliance rules will hurt said self interest and you're good to go.