- Location
- Europe
"Alien" has a literal meaning of "stranger". It is used broadly.
It is used for clearly terrestrial humans, such as foreigners (legal or illegal).
But "alien" is also applied to hypothetical/fictional nonhumans.
"Extraterrestrial" specifies "from outside Earth". It therefore avoids the baggage of "alien".
Suppose that people from Earth were to encounter beings that are clearly anatomically modern humans long settled outside Earth, and if they have any origin story from Earth or vice versa, it is not immediately relevant.
Informed speculation does not regard the existence of such groups of anatomically modern humans as a priori more likely. They believe existence of completely alien beings more likely.
So suppose that Earth humans do encounter anatomically modern humans settled elsewhere and previously out of contact with Earth. What would be your preferred term for them?
If Earth suffers an invasion of extraterrestrials and the invasion is going well for the invaders - no captive extraterrestrials and no corpses are left in the hands of Earth people, if they retreat from missions accomplished, they extract all their men and arms, though not their trash - what would prove to the people outside the attack that against probability, the invaders are people?
What would prove it to people held captive by extraterrestrials?
It is used for clearly terrestrial humans, such as foreigners (legal or illegal).
But "alien" is also applied to hypothetical/fictional nonhumans.
"Extraterrestrial" specifies "from outside Earth". It therefore avoids the baggage of "alien".
Suppose that people from Earth were to encounter beings that are clearly anatomically modern humans long settled outside Earth, and if they have any origin story from Earth or vice versa, it is not immediately relevant.
Informed speculation does not regard the existence of such groups of anatomically modern humans as a priori more likely. They believe existence of completely alien beings more likely.
So suppose that Earth humans do encounter anatomically modern humans settled elsewhere and previously out of contact with Earth. What would be your preferred term for them?
If Earth suffers an invasion of extraterrestrials and the invasion is going well for the invaders - no captive extraterrestrials and no corpses are left in the hands of Earth people, if they retreat from missions accomplished, they extract all their men and arms, though not their trash - what would prove to the people outside the attack that against probability, the invaders are people?
What would prove it to people held captive by extraterrestrials?