Meerkat Prompts: Alien Contact
It is said that governments around the world have protocols in place to handle first contact with an alien civilisation. Precisely what those protocols are is kept secret, and it is also said that there is no international consensus on what to do if an alien empire gets in touch. It may well be that such a pivotal event in human history would entirely depend on where aliens land, if they actually land anywhere at all.
So, what should we do as a species if we receive a transmission, or even a visit from an extra-terrestrial spacecraft?
Much of what we do may depend on what the aliens do. If they arrive with peaceful intentions, the bid should obviously be to establish communications, and to do with we’d need to find some form of common ground. The language of maths has often been spoken of as the obvious choice, as there are certain universal constants underpinned by maths. The same could be said of the laws of physics, the composition of the elements, and so on. These fields could be used as the basis for translating languages.
The key challenge would be in deciphering how an alien intelligence might think. In sci-fi, no matter how imaginative the writers, it is impossible to truly think like an other-worldly being. Would they experience emotions the way we do, if at all? Their concepts of culture, morality, politics, all of it would truly be alien to us, and our ways of thinking would be completely alien to them. Could we communicate, beyond rudimentary exchanges of obvious mathematical truths?
Assuming that we could connect to an alien intelligence in a substantial way, what then? If the contact is long-distance, with years between signals, it may be nothing more than an exchange of ideas and ideals. If by some amazing, terrifying set of circumstances we are visited upon by powerful alien spacecraft, we would then have to contend with the concept that we are not in control of the situation. Any alien species that could build ships capable of interstellar travel would have technology akin to magic in our eyes, and we would be at their mercy. This would be frightening for humanity, but if such a species were peaceful, we could yet find ourselves experiencing some tremendous revelations about the universe.
What may prove to be up for debate is precisely who is placed in charge of handling communications. If an alien ship landed in say, France, would it be right and just for the French to handle everything on behalf of the entire human race, or would we be better served by handing over these duties to the United Nations? What would the governments of say, the USA and Russia do if the aliens decided to establish an exclusive relationship with Japan or China? Again, we might not be in charge of proceedings, and that may not sit well with everyone.
If aliens arrived as would-be conquerors, we would face a simple choice. Surrender (assuming aliens would understand the gesture), or be rendered extinct. If they can get here, they’ll have technology that we simply could not compete with. The policies of world leaders in those circumstances would probably be to throw ordinary people under the bus, for the sake of striking deals, though again, would an alien intelligence even consider such a notion? It may even be that an advanced alien empire might view us in the same way we regard bacteria, and cleanse earth of humans, without so much as a single attempt to say hello.
I doubt we’ll find out how any of this goes within my lifetime. Part of me is dismayed by this, and part of me is pleased. First contact will be a turbulent time, no matter what happens.
‘Kat Comments