Extraterrestrial Contact: The Four Levels of an Extraterrestrial Relationship

This title may sound like a funny article about dating aliens, but please consider it in a different way. We hope to make contact with an extraterrestrial civilization someday for one primary reason: we, as the human civilization, want to communicate with them. That would be a relationship, albeit a really complex relationship. A relationship sounds cozy, but in reality it should not imply any positive or negative attributes. We would need to be careful at any level of contact with members of an extraterrestrial civilization.

That given, aliens may want nothing to do with us. Or they may not want to disturb our fragile human institutions by making contact. If they did decide to talk to us, communicating with them could be quite complicated. However, if we were able to communicate well, such interaction could be categorized in terms of how much information they are willing to share, and the impact that information could have on the human civilization.

Level One- This would be the most basic form of relationship. An extraterrestrial civilization would simply tell us their intent in contacting us, and whether they come in peace or with a threat. That intent could just be to say hello. Perhaps they would also inform us if there are any other extraterrestrial civilizations in the universe. In this level of interaction they may not share much beyond those basic points. This would be tough for humanity to handle. Speculation would run wild. The lack of information could fuel reactionary behavior. Some form of preparatory defense may make sense.

Level Two- In this scenario, the level of information flow increases as the extraterrestrials share their history. They could also have a more substantive reason for contacting us. This means they are trying to accomplish something in the relationship. They could be warning us about another civilization or giving us advice on how to handle our current environmental challenges. And with greater information we would need to use greater caution. We would always want to ask ourselves why extraterrestrials are doing something. That would involve a close examination of their stated reason and an investigation as to what might be a hidden agenda.  I am not suggesting full paranoia and a reactionary response After First Contact, but a little paranoia is quite practical in unknown situations. As in Level One, some form of preparatory defense may make sense.

Level Three- This would involve extraterrestrials actively sharing science and technology insights, perhaps at a rudimentary level at first. It would necessitate the gatekeeper framework for communication that I recently discussed in the Initial Working Groups posts. One would assume that at this level of information sharing there would be less of a direct threat from traveling extraterrestrials. However, the possibility of manipulation through cooperation would increase. We would also need to be careful about what information we receive and how we disseminate it to the world population. The impacts to our society, both positive and negative, would increase with each bit of information we receive, even if extraterrestrial intentions are benevolent.

Level Four- This level would be an expansion of Level Three. It would necessitate the need for a much more robust framework of gatekeepers. It could start with the Initial Working Groups, but eventually need to expand to include long-term solutions. This type of communication could have a significant impact on the human civilization, perhaps leading us in new directions as a species. Humanity would need to be aware of this dynamic and create safeguards for how that information sharing would progress. With a high degree of extraterrestrial involvement in our civilization, we could become very different beings in a few hundred years. We need to think about that now.  There would be a high risk of reliance on extraterrestrial intervention. We would need to decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing for the human civilization, and take measures. The possibility of extraterrestrial manipulation of humans would increase dramatically in a Level Four relationship. 

The use of words such as sharing and relationship may make this discussion seem warm and fuzzy. It is not. The decisions humans make in the very first days of alien First Contact could have a profound impact on humans for generations to come. Human beings would need to start an extraterrestrial relationship with eyes wide open, and that means applying critical thinking to each and every step we take.

Photo by Guillaume Jaillet on Unsplash