Ask a guy from Mars anything.

[Niya]

I have a confession to make. I'm not human. I'm from the planet your scientists have come to call Mars. 3 Years ago our scientists discovered that this planet, which you call Earth, actually has "intelligent" life. We've known for a while now that this world was vibrant with all kinds of life but the last time we checked, there weren't any humans, at least not like the ones that dominate your planet now. I was sent about 2 months after the discovery of intelligent life here to get to know this new race of tool makers and I must say, your culture is intriguing. And now in an attempt to foster the beginnings of Earth's foray into interstellar cultural exchange, I will take any and all questions regarding me and my civilization.

So ask me anything. Anything at all.

[dee-u]

Can I speed up binding with the RichTextBox that came from WPF Extended Toolkit?

[Niya]

I know as much as any guy here about VB.Net maybe even less. VB is a product of human innovation. In fact, the concept of a programming language is something I find quite fascinating. We have no need programming languages on Mars. Typing in codes to program a "computer" as you call it is a rather primitive concept.

However, even if the answer to your question is yes, from my perspective its still no. Your computers are unbelievably slow compared to ours. So even if databinding with an RTB can be sped up, it would still way way way slower than any equivalent my people can conjure up.

[namrekka]

the discovery of intelligent life here

Ehh....where did you find?

[Niya]

Ehh....where did you find?

Where did I find what ?

[TysonLPrice]

I have a confession to make. I'm not human. I'm from the planet your scientists have come to call Mars. 3 Years ago our scientists discovered that this planet, which you call Earth, actually has "intelligent" life. We've known for a while now that this world was vibrant with all kinds of life but the last time we checked, there weren't any humans, at least not like the ones that dominate your planet now. I was sent about 2 months after the discovery of intelligent life here to get to know this new race of tool makers and I must say, your culture is intriguing. And now in an attempt to foster the beginnings of Earth's foray into interstellar cultural exchange, I will take any and all questions regarding me and my civilization.

So ask me anything. Anything at all.

You picked up English very well. Can you speak all dialects? How did you get here, I'd like to see your ship. Acutally "scientists have come to call Mars" isn't true. It got it's name from the same type of loons that think Jesus Christ is a God. By the way, he is in charge on Mars? Anybody getting POed that we started turning Mars into a junk yard

[namrekka]

Where did I find what ?

"Intelligent life here"

[Niya]

You picked up English very well. Can you speak all dialects? How did you get here, I'd like to see your ship.

While our physiology is similar to yours in that we're bi-pedals that walk upright with two arms and two legs we're too different to just blend in with your people. So a project was commissioned specifically to overcome this. We have a technology where we can project our consciousness into the mind of a human. My consciousness was placed into a human being. It suppresses the human consciousness and allows me to take over the body. A nice benefit of this is that I gain all the knowledge of my host so I speak what ever my host can speak and whatever dialect he/she speaks in. As for my ship...well its not really my ship. You could say the ship belongs to my government. I'm just one small part of an entire institution that is responsible for exploration. Its has a crew just like any sea ship on your world. The ship doesn't need to land or even enter your atmosphere for our activities. As for seeing it....you can't. This ship is not detectable by any technology you possess. Your understanding of the universe is based completely on observing electromagnetic phenomenon(light in laymans terms). Our ships have the ability to avoid causing electromagnetic disturbances. Its basically cloaked.

By the way, he is in charge on Mars?

I'm going to assume you meant to ask who is in charge on Mars. We have a government like any nation on your planet. Its ruled by a council of elders specifically bred for the purpose of ruling. They are the final say on anything that gets done on Mars of any great significance.

[Niya]

"Intelligent life here"

LOL....Haha. Well maybe intelligent is the wrong word here. But basically what I mean is a species that possesses "theory of mind" as your scientists call it. Along with the ability to use tools and think abstractly. I think even the most stupid among you qualifies .

Seriously, don't be so hard on your race. We too once fought and spilled oceans of blood over made-up Gods like you do. We were once a savage warlike race as you are now. We too fought over stupid nonsense like land, resources, mates, race(yes we had racism too). You name it, we were every bit as barbaric as you are yet we moved past it and entered into enlightenment and permanent peace. If we could do it, so could you. I have every confidence in your species.

[TysonLPrice]

We were once a savage warlike race as you are now. We too fought over stupid nonsense like land, resources, mates, race(yes we had racism too). You name it, we were every bit as barbaric as you are yet we moved past it and entered into enlightenment and permanent peace.

I remember your predecessor, Gork, telling me about that. Gork said all of Mars issues were cleared up by killing all the lawyers and Republicans. After that evryone got along.

[Niya]

Well someone named "Gork" couldn't have been my predecessor. For one thing, we stopped using names that distinguishes themselves by the configuration of the vocal chords used to produced them(basically we don't use "sound" names). We communicate mainly with telepathy now. And secondly, the technology that I'm using to reside in a human host is fairly new, at least in this application. Whoever this "Gork" is...he conned you guys.

[TysonLPrice]

Well someone named "Gork" couldn't have been my predecessor. For one thing, we stopped using names that distinguishes themselves by the configuration of the vocal chords used to produced them(basically we don't use "sound" names). We communicate mainly with telepathy now. And secondly, the technology that I'm using to reside in a human host is fairly new, at least in this application. Whoever this "Gork" is...he conned you guys.

The human he took over was Gork, thus becoming Gork. He took me back to Mars as an ambassador from Earth for awhile. You must not have been born yet. One of the gifts he left me was a lifespan of about 20,000 earth years. Let's see, King Tut was a baby then, so that was a while ago.

[Niya]

Oh really ?.....what was the name of middle city ? It had a spoken name when we used to speak using primitive vocalizations like humans. And yes, the name can be rendered with the latin alphabet.

[namrekka]

...well its not really my ship. You could say the ship belongs to my government.

Hmm...we have to pay taxes for a company car (in the Netherlands). Its about 14%...20% of the value of the car added to your income. How is that with your car....I mean ship.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Nobody is surprised by this, though I did think you were from Jupiter rather than Mars.

[homer13j]

We have a government like any nation on your planet. Its ruled by a council of elders specifically bred for the purpose of ruling.

Our leaders are similar except they only think they're specifically bred for the purpose of ruling.

[Spoo]

Do you plan to introduce any new candy bars?

[Niya]

Hmm...we have to pay taxes for a company car (in the Netherlands). Its about 14%...20% of the value of the car added to your income. How is that with your car....I mean ship.

Our economy is nothing like yours. There is no such thing as money. Our economic system can be best described as an advance form of communism. Every thing we have like ships, and other machines actually belong to everybody. I said earlier that the ship belongs to my government but its a little more complicated than that. It belongs to the government for a time. When the ship gets back to Mars and it docks its re-registered as "open". That means any member or institution of our civilization can now petition for its use and they would be granted the ship provided that no one else petitioned for it before they did. For example, if this system was used here on Earth, you could petition for a plane to take your family on a vacation if you wanted. You don't have to worry about "fees" or "rent" or any of that foolishness. All you have to worry about is if you could fly the thing. The plane would be the property of every member of your civilization where only one entity at a time can use it but all are eligible to use it.

Nobody is surprised by this, though I did think you were from Jupiter rather than Mars.

Jupiter is a gas giant with an immense gravitational field. We cannot survive there anymore than you could.

Our leaders are similar except they only think they're specifically bred for the purpose of ruling.

Your people have a lot to learn about governments. Your leaders fall to temptation to easily and this undermines every system of government you have. The main thing that you do very wrong is grant your leaders exclusivity. There is nothing that our leaders can do or have access to that any normal citizen on my world cannot. We long discovered that when you grant certain privileges exclusively to specific people, it will breed elitism which leads to these people thinking they deserve more than the rest which leads to them taking advantage of their privilege to gain even more privilege. No society that embraces this as normal will every have a healthy government.

Do you plan to introduce any new candy bars?

Wouldn't you rather have interstellar engines ?

[Spoo]

Interstellar engines .. been there, done that .. your Milky Way bar.
Got anything new?

[Shaggy Hiker]

Jupiter is a gas giant with an immense gravitational field. We cannot survive there anymore than you could.

Ah, I see. It must have been the similarities with Jupiter that had me confused.

[Niya]

Interstellar engines .. been there, done that .. your Milky Way bar.
Got anything new?

Well we got a glucose supplement that we use for energy. I'm not sure how it would taste to you though.

Ah, I see. It must have been the similarities with Jupiter that had me confused.

Oh haha very funny...make fun of the Martian. You people, always mocking those different from you. Just remember, we got nukes too.

[TysonLPrice]

Well we got a glucose supplement that we use for energy. I'm not sure how it would taste to you though.



Oh haha very funny...make fun of the Martian. You people, always mocking those different from you. Just remember, we got nukes too.

You seem to be forgetting about the great War of the Worlds.

[Niya]

Your science fiction does have an interesting take on aliens but to real aliens, a lot of it is laughable. First of all, even if we were still a warlike race, we wouldn't have any real interest in conquering a relatively primitive species like humans. You simply have nothing we want. Your culture is quite interesting and we are curious about you guys but you have nothing an advanced culture like ours would want to take from you. And although we haven't fought a real war in millenniums, we are more than capable of defending ourselves against aggression and won't hesitate to do so to preserve our civilization. As long as you guys don't get any funny ideas about fighting us, you don't have to worry about walkers in your streets melting people lol

Oh and some of you might be tempted to think we might want to take natural resources from your world. Dispel those thoughts. Hydrogen is the most valuable element to our people and its very abundant in the universe. The upper atmosphere of the sun alone can provide many many many times what we need and certainly way more that your planet can provide. This also applies to other elements and compounds which we can scavenge in great quantities from other celestial bodies, all providing many times more than your world alone can provide.

Yep, as much as your science fiction likes to tout humanity as some place worthy of conquest by more advanced cultures, its just self-important posturing. No one really wants to conquer you lol.

[dee-u]

Anya ti us-usto nga nagan ko?

[Niya]

Just because I'm a Martian doesn't mean I can read randomly arranged latin characters on a screen

[dee-u]

That is not latin and that is not randomly created? =) That's our local dialect which means "what is my real name?"

EDIT:

How are did you survive living in Martian in the undergrounds?

[Niya]

That is not latin and that is not randomly created? =) That's our local dialect which means "what is my real name?"

EDIT:

How are did you survive living in Martian in the undergrounds?

Cute dialect

We live in a subterranean complex which is comprised of three large domed cities that cover an area roughly equivalent to your North American continent. The domes have an artificially generated environment that is similar to your atmosphere in that the air is Nitrogen/Oxygen. The middle city is the largest and most citizens there deal with administration of our empire. The outer cities are where the grease monkeys are. They're the guys that keep the whole thing working. They also maintain our interstellar fleet, and any and all equipment related to off-world mining operations.

[TysonLPrice]

This thread reminds me of the move "The Terminator" where Reese is interrogated by the psychologist and he says something like "this fantasy is great, it doesn't require a shred of evidence". Where you have failed is the Martian KGB has been tracking you and you broke your oath of silence about Mars. You are ordered to return immediately and to stop interacting with humans.

Or at the very least let this thread die a natural death.

[Niya]

Yeah, it does seem like the police station scene in Terminator, except......this is no fantasy. Do I have to show you my ray gun ?

[boops boops]

I'm going to have to report this to the moderator. Si, an entity claiming to be a sentient being from another planet appears to have invaded the persona of our well-known friend Niya -- you know, the guy with the dirty pics. The impersonator is now uttering thinly-veiled threats to other members of the forum. I am certain that ray guns are contrary to forum rules. I can only assume that that he/she/it has cracked the password system and is trying to steal all those precious green gems. To be on the safe side, may I suggest temporarily replacing all Niya's green gems by a red one. Given that the entity concerned claims to be able to answer any question thrown at him/her/it whether or not he/she/it knows anything about the subject, it is not inconceivable that the impersonator is already a member of the forum (tell us it isn't true, Dunfiddlin).

[Shaggy Hiker]

Or at the very least let this thread die a natural death.

Why should it be more lucky in death than it was in life?

[si_the_geek]

I'm going to have to report this to the moderator. Si, an entity claiming to be a sentient being from another planet appears to have invaded the persona of our well-known friend Niya -- you know, the guy with the dirty pics. The impersonator is now uttering thinly-veiled threats to other members of the forum. I am certain that ray guns are contrary to forum rules. I can only assume that that he/she/it has cracked the password system and is trying to steal all those precious green gems. To be on the safe side, may I suggest temporarily replacing all Niya's green gems by a red one. Given that the entity concerned claims to be able to answer any question thrown at him/her/it whether or not he/she/it knows anything about the subject, it is not inconceivable that the impersonator is already a member of the forum (tell us it isn't true, Dunfiddlin).

We have evidence of being sentient, but have no evidence of whether Niya is from this planet or not.

As far as I can tell, the ray gun was just an attempt of proof of being martian... but it certainly would not convince me.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I'm not afraid of any ray guns anyways. I've got my ray-bans.

[Witis]

Now that is a giant threatening Martian ray gun you have there Niya!

[Niya]

I'm going to have to report this to the moderator. Si, an entity claiming to be a sentient being from another planet appears to have invaded the persona of our well-known friend Niya -- you know, the guy with the dirty pics. The impersonator is now uttering thinly-veiled threats to other members of the forum. I am certain that ray guns are contrary to forum rules. I can only assume that that he/she/it has cracked the password system and is trying to steal all those precious green gems. To be on the safe side, may I suggest temporarily replacing all Niya's green gems by a red one. Given that the entity concerned claims to be able to answer any question thrown at him/her/it whether or not he/she/it knows anything about the subject, it is not inconceivable that the impersonator is already a member of the forum (tell us it isn't true, Dunfiddlin).

OMG Don't...The host is fine and you shouldn't punish him for my intrusion. And no, I didn't actually mean any question, just ones about my people. Just because I'm an alien from a super advanced culture doesn't mean I know everything.

We have evidence of being sentient, but have no evidence of whether Niya is from this planet or not.

As far as I can tell, the ray gun was just an attempt of proof of being martian... but it certainly would not convince me.

I'm not Niya, I'm just borrowing his body. Also, my ray gun comment was tongue in cheek. Ray guns...lol who believes in such things. Seriously though, I'd prove to you I'm a Martian by having my ship transport you up but it's against our laws to tease primitives.

I'm not afraid of any ray guns anyways. I've got my ray-bans.

lol

Now that is a giant threatening Martian ray gun you have there Niya!

LOL.....You humans have such vivid imaginations. If only real life were that silly.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I'm not Niya, I'm just borrowing his body.

Will he be getting his deposit back? Do you have adequate rental insurance? Are you taking your pets with you when you go?

[Niya]

Rents and deposits lol...I can't wait till you guys build your first interstellar engine and go out there with that. I'd love to see the look on the faces of the more experienced races when they try to grapple with the concept of continually and indefinitely paying someone just to borrow something they own instead of simply trading for ownership of it.

Oh, and what pet ? I didn't bring any pets.

[boops boops]

Rents and deposits lol...I can't wait till you guys build your first interstellar engine and go out there with that. I'd love to see the look on the faces of the more experienced races when they try to grapple with the concept of continually and indefinitely paying someone just to borrow something they own instead of simply trading for ownership of it.

Oh, and what pet ? I didn't bring any pets.

No pets? How many sexes are there on Mars?

[Niya]

Actually you'd be surprised that we have two sexes as you do. However, we are an oviparous species(egg layers). Each female can lay up to three eggs per reproductive cycle although its not unheard of for some females to lay as many as 6 and before we abandoned religion, we had a specific female deity(probably based on someone real) that is said to have laid up to 30 eggs. Most Martians think its ridiculous but our historians are still trying to determine if there is any truth to this legend.

Also, despite having two sexes, our species is capable of asexual reproduction but only the females can do this.

[Spoo]

Getting back to ray guns ..

Have you ever shot yourself in the leg with one?
I hear that some Earthlings do this with a Glock.