Is an alien (from outside earth) a someone or a something? [closed]

If I am pointing across the room and there is an animal (let's forget about writing animals in the context of humans - no Animal Farm references) - I would point and say, "there is something over there."

In that context, if I said, "there is someone over there"... well that would be odd and wrong.

However if there is an alien across the room and I point is it a someone or a something?

Solution 1:

Depends on where you consider the line between intelligent life and just animals. Overall it depends on your own perception of the alien standing before you.

I'd also like to mention a common trope in many horror movies and even some other pieces of media where someone will say:

"There's someone, or something..."

to build suspense about what the person (or thing) really is. Also, I'd also have to add that if what you're pointing at is ambiguous (it's in shadow, it's around a corner, etc.) you'd probably be more likely to say something rather than someone as you need to know if something is an intelligent lifeform before calling it the latter.

We can only really answer this question concretely when humans have found an easy and reliable way to tell apart intelligent life from other lifeforms. You may want to keep waiting :D