If an alien race came to earth and they only got time to see on earth city, which one would you choose to best show the magnitude of human civilisation. My pick would be Tokyo.

Good call... Or perhaps Singapore for more serenity and orderliness

Depends though... are we trying to impress them with how advanced and civilised we are, or are we giving them a true taste of all humanity?

If its the latter maybe New York or London...

In fact if you show them London you can show them 2,000 years of history, buildings from every period, people from every corner of the globe, and dizzying contrasts between the haves and have nots... a real microcosm of the earth and its human history.

and drunk 14 years old girls

yeah!!












ill show them new york

Show them Bagdad
Let them see the nature of destruction in the human race

I would show him Canberra or Sydney. From any point of angle in those cities you get a perfect shot. It's just amazing!!!

Varginha, from the infamous "alien crash", in Brazil :laugh:

Show them Bagdad
Let them see the nature of destruction in the human race

Well, if you're a downer maybe...

I'd have to agree with an above post and say Singapore. Toronto for biased reasons.

I will show them the dirtest and poorest city so they will say "forget it those are not worth invading".

Guantanamo. Lets show them how civilized our leading nation is... :lol:

[QUOTE=rocky;13633282]and drunk 14 years old girls

yeah!!]


sorry buddy. those are everywhere...

In fact if you show them London you can show them 2,000 years of history, buildings from every period, people from every corner of the globe, and dizzying contrasts between the haves and have nots... a real microcosm of the earth and its human history.

Agree wholeheartedly, there are many old cities out there, but none as alive and vibrant as London. 2 Rolls Royces passed me by in London as well, around Gloucester Rd and Sloan Sq.

Tokyo. :D

There can't be a more salient statement about the human condition at the moment than Washington and Baghdad.

Note that in neither city would you get within hundreds of metres of the guy calling the shots.

It depends on what kind of food they like :D

For many of the same reasons as London, having diversity in architecture spanning many centuries, medievil to post-mod scrapers, etc., incredible transit coverage, impressive density (moreso than London even), but I also like the symmetrical layout. I feel that since symmetry is something that is appreciated across cultures, perhaps its could even be appreciated across species.

There's also a more obvious reason of course. Many people consider Paris to have the most beautiful built form of any major city, so why not show off a little? If they're advanced enough for space travel, then there's nothing of ours that could impressive them technologically. But beauty is something that can be appreciated regardless.

Of course, there's no guarantee that aliens would have the same taste as us. Maybe they woud find Paris hideous. lol

^^

Yeah. We might appreciate our history, but there's no guarantee that extraterrestrials would. We may look at a neo-gothic or baroque cathedral and smile, but an alien might scoff. If I were an alien, I would want to see how advanced Earth was, not its history.

It really depends what kind of aspect you want to bring to them. If you want to show them vibrancy, day and night, then show them Shibuya. If you want to boast our supertalls, then go for Hong Kong or Chicago.

If you show an alien a city, chances are they'll make it the first to be destroyed.

very interesting thread, many well thought out, unique posts, unlike those bandwagon threads where a large majority disagree or agree.

as for me, I would show them Dubai, a city of amazing and eye dropping buildings+projects+islands

Depends what facet of our humanity we wanted to show them.

History:
London or Beijing

Technological advances:
Any of the sky scraper meccas: Chicago, Hong Kong, New York, etc.

Big Things:
Dubai

Most beautiful places:
Monaco, Honolulu,

Economic inequality:
Capetown, Manila, Rio

Advances in plastic surgery:
LA

Hell on Earth
Dallas or Houston :-D (I kid, I kid)

Amsterdam
Smokin pot and drinkin beer with the Aliens :)

Good call... Or perhaps Singapore for more serenity and orderliness

Depends though... are we trying to impress them with how advanced and civilised we are, or are we giving them a true taste of all humanity?

If its the latter maybe New York or London...

In fact if you show them London you can show them 2,000 years of history, buildings from every period, people from every corner of the globe, and dizzying contrasts between the haves and have nots... a real microcosm of the earth and its human history.


thanks tuberman, for remmember singapore
well, singapore is order and clean, but i think singapore still can do better.
i think tokyo wld be good. clean, hitech and uniquely strange.

I think Hong Kong, New York or London would display human kind in motion quite brilliantly. Beijing, Paris or Rome would be great for showing our civil development though time.

But if it's true perfection we want to flaunt, real urban utopia with all the things that define the urban species on planet Earth, then there is only Tokyo.

I'd Show - London -history and vibrancy
Tokyo - Crazy dense city
Baghdad- How shit the human race has become.

http://image2.sina.com.cn/dy/w/2003-08-31/1_1-1-21-21_2003083183658.JPG

The best place and most beatiful in the world >>> İSTANBUL

Depending on how nice the aliens are

nice and intelligent alien
- Paris
- NYC
- My hometown Melbourne

Nasty & flesh eating alien
- hmm - anywhere like war torn cities?

If they come with good pourposes:

definitely an historic path:

-Cairo

-Athens

-Rome

-Amsterdam

-London

-NYC

-Tokyo

-Shangai


if they come with bad ideas:

-Baghdad

at least they go away. :D

Rome or Athens

Collectivist aliens: Pyongyang.

It depends on how advanced their technology is. If their technology is 2000-3000 years advanced from us, I'd probably show them Paris, Rome, Kyoto, Athens, New York City, Barcelona and major UNESCO World Heritage Sites that are cities. If their technology on the other hand is lagging, ooops, I just realized it as of typing this, if their technology is poor, they won't even probably reach the planet.

I'd like the idea of "Alien" Tourism.

Collectivist aliens: Pyongyang.

Haha lol, yeah they might be in love with communsim and like
'screw NY and Paris."

It's about Human Civilization and not only modernity, so:

Carcassonne
http://dolphyns.free.fr/images/Cathares/Carcassonne.jpg

Angkor
http://www.summilux.net/calendriers/2007/kermadee-Angkor-Vat-800.jpg

NYC
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/LM/aerial1.jpg

Brasilia
http://www.sfu.ca/~westerka/workshops/brasilia/brazilliamap1.jpg

The best place and most beatiful in the world >>> İSTANBUL

:blahblah:

In your unbiased opinion...

Come on, we were doing so well with some decent intellectual answers... we do not need people stating their hometown because its "the most beautiful in the world". No knocking Istanbul, its lovely, but a little more thought please...

http://image2.sina.com.cn/dy/w/2003-08-31/1_1-1-21-21_2003083183658.JPG

Where is that?

I think North Korea, Pyongyang!

^^ That's the infamous, unfinished, Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea.

London. It's got history, modernism, diversity. Paris would be a close second.

Where is that?


it's pyongyang North Korea

The aliens will probably feel at home in Kuala Lumpur with the Petronas Towers :banana:

I'll show them Area 51!

Definitely Tokyo!

It's about Human Civilization and not only modernity, so:

Carcassonne
http://dolphyns.free.fr/images/Cathares/Carcassonne.jpg

Angkor
http://www.summilux.net/calendriers/2007/kermadee-Angkor-Vat-800.jpg

NYC
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/LM/aerial1.jpg

Brasilia
http://www.sfu.ca/~westerka/workshops/brasilia/brazilliamap1.jpg

in that case, you should point at Brasilia and ask the aliens if they can annihilate it!

Dubai for sure

I'll show them Area 51!

Then Vegas, for sure. Ply them with liquor and hookers and maybe they'll get so blissed out they won't invade the planet.

Wacky-looking central Barcelona -- yay !!!

Paris, NY or Tokyo.