Alien Invasion

What if the Hubble telescope, or any other telescope for that matter, spotted a large alien invasion fleet approaching Earth? What would we think about that? What would we do about it?

The reason I ask this is because if humans do decide to explore and colonize the galaxy, we could end up invading an intelligent species' planet. If we go by human history, we would consider them inferior and would take over their planet. I don't think that I have to mention all of the incidents in which European colonization did just that to indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa and even the Far East.

Would we expect any better treatment from a more advanced alien civilization? This is both an ethical as well as a strategic question.

I seriously doubt that a more advanced alien civilization will come here to Earth and eliminate us. We are only one tiny spec in a vast galaxy of habitable planets. Only a nearby civilization would be able to know that we're here. We are effectively insignificant. This is despite the fact that ancients thought that we were the only intelligence in the universe. Until just recently, religions told us that we are the only intelligent species in the universe. That everything about the universe would take place here. They had no idea!

Will we eventually go out into the galaxy to find habitable Earth-like planets? I think we will, but I have no idea what that would entail. Presently, we have no means to do that. We need the warp drive engine at the least. Traveling at near the speed of light would require a self-contained Earth-like environment in a spacecraft that would see several generations before arriving at a suitable planet. The only other possibility is hibernation. Presently, human hibernation is theoretical. Depending on how far humans would need to travel, it might take a combination of warp drive and hibernation to go out to other planets.

Even if all of this could be realized in the near future, would it be successful? That's a good question. It would require a large expenditure and international cooperation to achieve such a feat. I'm not sure that the governments of the Earth will be willing to commit to any long term exploration and colonization of nearby solar systems.

What ever happens, I hope that by then humans will have gotten over their petty differences and would have a more humane approach to dealing with alien species. It's the right thing to do.

Thanks for reading.