Extraterrestrial First Contact: Impact on the Human Civilization

Wikipedia uses this definition to describe a civilization: “…any complex society characterized by urban development, social stratification imposed by a cultural elite, symbolic systems of communication (for example, writing systems), and a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment.”

I would imagine social scientists argue a fair amount about what determines a civilization. But let’s use the above definition to discuss the impact of extraterrestrial First Contact on the human civilization.

Urban development is exploding on planet Earth. Humans are drawn to cities and those cities are growing huge. It seems unlikely alien contact would have much influence over urban development. If we are given new technology by aliens it could help us to better sustain our massive population growth through more efficient cities. But as I will get to in a moment, there could be a high cost if we receive such help.

Social stratification is a source of conflict within all nations on Earth. The forms of stratification and the ability of people to move from strata to strata seems to be constantly changing. It is also different from culture to culture and nation to nation. First Contact could have an impact on social stratification. If we receive information from aliens that introduces us to how other civilizations in the universe organize themselves- we could gain a new perspective on our social stratification. That could lead to conflict and change. And social stratification could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Our forms of communication would certainly have to evolve if we had to learn new symbolic systems to talk to alien representatives. Even if extraterrestrial visitors spoke human languages, we would likely want to learn about their forms of communication. There could even be some adoption of alien terms into human languages.

And then there is the perceived separation and domination over the natural environment. Would aliens consider domination of the natural environment to be a good thing or bad thing? They could have advice for us about how to manage our domination without destroying our planet; or for us to better integrate our development with the natural environment.

The impact to the above mentioned parts of our civilization, in the wake of extraterrestrial First Contact, seem manageable.  Other elements of our civilization may not be as easy to manage. Science has become a major facet of the human civilization and under a certain set of circumstances the impact to science could be a serious concern. It all comes down to information. If we do meet aliens some day, how much information will they share with us? Will they discuss their version of science? Will they reveal flaws in our conception of physics, chemistry and biology? This would, of course, require communication and understanding. Even if they have the skills to communicate with humans there could be such a vast difference in our scientific understanding that teaching us their science could be beyond our comprehension. But if they decided to take the time to teach us, and put things into terms we could understand, would this be necessarily be beneficial to humanity? The popular answer has been yes. We imagine that aliens could help us solve our environmental challenges, perhaps by providing insight into clean energy sources or even assisting us to transform our planetary atmosphere by using technology. However, I believe there is a danger inherent in that line of thinking. Such assistance could put humans into a position of technical subjugation and that could be dangerous even if the aliens had altruistic intent. Human science is not an easy process. We imagine key discoveries just popping up every few years, propelling us forward to a better life. The truth is much grittier. We have to work hard for those discoveries. Scientists head down paths before a discovery is made. That is how the human scientific process works. The good news is that sometimes the research involved in even the dead end paths provides a bit of insight that helps us change direction or refine a process. Mistakes can even lead to new ideas, never before conceived. It is how human development works. The crazy part of it is that humans often need conflict to move the scientific needle. Wars, disputes and competition drive us forward. Consider the many scientific discoveries that have come from our wars. And not just the actual combat experiences, but also non-combative cold wars. For every weapon created there is so much knowledge achieved, that it spills out to other uses. I am not encouraging war. The threat of nuclear annihilation is so negative that it would seem to outweigh the benefits of nuclear physics thus far. My point is that we need the gritty human scientific process to keep us moving forward. If we are spoon fed information, without working for it, we could destroy our scientific system and dissipate our natural curiosity. One would hope that aliens would realize this and help us come to some safe method for sharing information. But we would be wise to find that method on our own.

There is another important aspect of humanity that is inherent in our civilization, but perhaps not as readily seen: perspective. Human perspective is behind much of our actions. A shift in perspective can create major changes in our society. An example can be seen in the #metoo movement. Sexual harassment and sexual assault has been a concern in the human civilization for a long time. But the perspective of people in a society makes a big difference in terms of how such things are handled. There have been individual reports of sexual harassment of decades. It first became a major workplace issue in America in the 1990s, largely due to perspective change sparked by allegations brought up during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings. But that didn’t change what was happening behind the scenes in some industries. It was the Harvey Weinstein case in 2017 that proved to be the latest catalyst. The high profile sex harassment accusations against the Hollywood studio mogul gained attention because celebrities were involved. Brave women had reported sexual harassment for years, but once a group of celebrities came forward to accuse Harvey Weinstein, himself a celebrity, the media paid more attention. This in turn helped to catalyze the wider movement so that more women came forward with allegations, in even more fields. Perspective change often requires conflict in the human society. When women stand up to be heard they are confronting the current power system. When other women and men join in that confrontation, the movement gains speed and weight. Eventually the overall perspective, of the majority of humans in a nation, begins to change. Has it changed that far yet when it comes to sexual harassment? Perhaps not. There is a long way to go in America and even farther to go in other nations. But many American men have taken a critical consideration of their workplace interactions with women, and that is a positive step forward. It’s sad that it takes the risk of shaming to do such things, but conflict is necessary for change.

My point is that perspective change can often lead to direct changes in the human civilization. The big question is: What happens if we have a massive and sudden worldwide perspective change? The discovery of extraterrestrial life, even microbes on a planet in our solar system, would be exciting and certainly spark a human perspective change. But the discovery of active and communicative, intelligent extraterrestrial life would be much more dramatic. It would not only provide a scientific shift in thinking, but also a religious shift. The discovery of traveling extraterrestrials could also change our perspective on safety. Right now we don’t worry about threats from outside of our solar system. The discovery of aliens would change that, depending on their ability to travel, and their proximity. The human perspective shift caused by alien First Contact could take place in many different ways. And the reaction could be problematic. It could create fear. It could disrupt the order of our institutions, including government and religion. It could create conflict between nations.

If alien First Contact does occur some day we will need to be very cognizant of what the revelation is doing to our civilization. We will need to quickly assess human thinking with surveys and polling. We will need to consider risks and benefits. We will need to put a process into place that protects our civilization while also allowing us to move forward. There will be a natural conflict between advocates of protectionism and those embracing change. This conflict could lead to the physical dangers of civil unrest and war between nations. The best way to manage such a situation would be through the academic social sciences working in alliance with local, state and national governments. These would be our first responders: political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and economists. I know this is a shift in thinking. We most commonly think of physical scientists as our alien first responders. That would certainly be the case if we discover a far off signal and need to decipher it’s meaning. However, Direct First Contact would be an entirely different animal, with a different set of challenges. My fear is that we are not considering this scenario with enough rigor. It is currently just fodder for fiction in movies and books.

The human civilization may seem monolithic from our individual perspective. But take a philosophical step off the Earth for a moment and have a new look. Human civilization is actually a fragile assemblage of process, agreements, and traditions. One massive change in human perspective could rock our foundation. If high information Direct First Contact does occur some day, we will need to take swift action to protect our civilization and help it to develop in a positive way for generations to come. Otherwise First Contact could be like a tsunami hitting a house of cards.

Photo by: Serge-Kutuzov-501664-Unsplash