I have presented
many reasons for why an extraterrestrial civilization may not want to contact
humans. One of them is an old idea, made popular in TV show Star Trek: the
Prime Directive. The concept is simple: don’t use your advanced technology to
influence a developing civilization. Any alien civilization capable of
traveling to our solar system would have technology far more advanced than
ours. If they introduced us to alien science, religion and philosophy, we would
not develop in the same way as we would if we made our own scientific
discoveries and had our own cultural evolutions. Even worse, with our
scientific muscles taken out of action, we would not truly be developing our
own science. At some point, without alien assistance, we could be helpless.
Visiting aliens
with a concern for such matters would have a few options when coming to our
solar system. They could avoid us entirely, or perhaps just watch from afar. If
they did decide to make contact with humans they could simply say hello and
very little else. They may also be able to share their own history, without
giving up scientific principles. There are risks involved for the aliens. If
you can’t share much with humans, you could just end up making us mad.
Why would aliens
even bother? The best reason to say hello could be to give us a nudge in the
right direction. The human civilization is fragile. There are many ways we
could falter and die-off. Some of those ways are natural disasters, such as a
massive meteorite hitting the Earth or a gigantic volcanic eruption. Global
warming is our own doing. Scientists have shown that through fossil fuel
emissions we are creating greenhouse gases. Those gases are altering our
atmosphere and the effects could be dramatic in coming years. And yet we have
done little to act. There is still a great debate. It’s hard to ask people to
sacrifice now for a problem that won’t fully impact us for another few decades.
We could really
use a nudge.
I know that’s a
lot to ask of extraterrestrials. But it could be a unifying moment for
humanity. If outsiders viewed our situation as dire, then perhaps we would
finally take action. Is that interference that would violate the Prime Directive?
Perhaps. The best solution for solving global warming will be our own. But a
nudge doesn’t have to give us the solution. It could merely point out the
problem. Could we handle such a thing? Would we be incensed to know that
critical aliens have the knowledge to solve our problems, but refuse to do so
for our own good? Perhaps. But a kick in the pants can sometimes go a long way.
I think we would eventually be able to understand the alien reasoning and be at
peace with the decision, and hopefully with a better atmospheric outlook to
show for it.