I never got back around to giving a serious answer to this one.
Some good ones have already been listed, that I agree with.
I am assuming that the purpose of the questions is not to verify that they are truly aliens. I assume that I am to take the scenario as knowing for certain that they really are alien visitors. I am also to assume that I will be the only person they ever talk to, so that my questions can't lead to more questions. No "Can you talk to this guy Stephen Hawking for a while?" questions. I ask, they answer (I or they can write the answers, to make sure I can relay the answers accurately), and they go.
Very interesting...
These are listed in no particular order. The numbers are simply for identification. Anything that is a yes/no question assumes that not only will they answer yes or no, but that they will offer a detailed explanation.
Some good ones have already been listed, that I agree with.
I am assuming that the purpose of the questions is not to verify that they are truly aliens. I assume that I am to take the scenario as knowing for certain that they really are alien visitors. I am also to assume that I will be the only person they ever talk to, so that my questions can't lead to more questions. No "Can you talk to this guy Stephen Hawking for a while?" questions. I ask, they answer (I or they can write the answers, to make sure I can relay the answers accurately), and they go.
Very interesting...
These are listed in no particular order. The numbers are simply for identification. Anything that is a yes/no question assumes that not only will they answer yes or no, but that they will offer a detailed explanation.
- Where exactly are you from?
- How did you get here?
- Do you have a detailed understanding of how gravity works?
- Is time travel possible? (How?)
- While here, how do you communicate with your homeworld? (This assumes they are not time travelers from our own world. In fact, all of my questions assume that they are not time travelers from our own world.)
- Is there violence in your world? (This is an extremely important question. Do other sentient and intelligent beings also need to at times resort to physical force to resolve intractable differences? The answer could tell us a lot about ourselves.)
- Have you been here before? (The answer should explain whether or not some past reports of aliens are true.)
- How do your computers work? (I'm expecting them to give me a HUGE book in response to this question.)
- What sort of government do your people have?
- Is there life in the universe other than just us and you?