Everyone loves a good top ten list. While I would be hesitant to call the topics on this list good- here are what I would call the top 10 challenges for humans
and a look at how extraterrestrial interaction with high-information sharing
could help in overcoming those challenges. Or not. With an emphasis on not.
Clean Energy Needs
Technology requires power. Developing countries need more
power. The US Government predicts that the world demand for energy will
increase 56 percent by 2040. Fossil
fuels supply 80 percent of world energy. While renewable and nuclear power production
is growing by 2 percent a year, it’s not anywhere near enough to keep up with
demand. The burning of fossil fuels has a major impact on climate change. The
eventual depletion of fossil fuels could lead to serious conflict. That’s why
energy is the number one concern. If we do make contact with extraterrestrials
someday, insight into their energy technology would probably be at the top of
our “ask” list. However, it is not likely that we would easily understand alien
science. It could take years of communication for alien advice to do us any
good. Our science is likely to be very different from extraterrestrial science. Merging the two, if the aliens were even willing to share, could be a long process. Even then, we need to consider the dangers of such information sharing- including how it could harm our civilization.The best bet could be to have aliens look at our technology and provide ideas
for improving our techniques in areas such as nuclear fusion and traveling-wave fission.
Climate Change
Humans finally seem to be grasping the enormity of
climate change. It currently impacts our weather, causing rippling effects
across the planet for humans and nature. Sea level rise is becoming a major concern in many nations. And yet we
have done little to respond. This was brought to the forefront recently at the UN. The primary actions driving climate change are the
burning of fossil fuels and food production. The changes needed to tackle these
issues will be hard on everyone. They will require a major investment of money
and people-power, and significant lifestyle adjustments for humans. Even if
aliens did help us with ideas on how to create clean energy, there would still
need to be massive changes to cope with the mess that we have already created. It's such a complicated set of Earth-specific challenges that it is unlikely alien technology could help much. We could ask for advice on how to change our atmosphere. Perhaps alien scientists would have a method for removing carbon dioxide? Unless it was a quick fix, humans would still need to deal with the current problems created by global warming.
Ecological Collapse
Climate change and other human-caused environmental
impacts are causing many species to go extinct. Some are calling it ecological
collapse. The attention to the subject has tended to focus on mammals. The bigger
issue may be insects. Scientists report a decline of more than 75 percent in
insect biomass across nature areas in Germany between 1989 and 2016. Insects are part of the foundation of our biological world. Another study shows a massive decline in the number of birds in North America. Our
environment is a fragile network of species working in concert. When species go
extinct in the insect world there is a direct and immediate impact on the
entire ecosystem, and that includes agriculture. It is unlikely that extraterrestrials
would have ideas to help us with our ecology. It is specific to our planet. We
have been studying Earth ecology for hundreds of years. The problems caused by
the extinction of species will be ours to solve.
Nuclear War
It is a sign of our times that I put the threat of nuclear
war behind these other challenges. It is just as dangerous a situation as ever.
The other challenges have simply surpassed it in the level of threat. I don’t
see alien interaction helping much in the area of nuclear proliferation. If
anything, we would run the risk of hawks wanting to put nuclear weaponry into space
to protect us from extraterrestrials.
Conventional
Warfare
Alien First Contact, especially high-information contact,
could create many stresses on human society. In the worst case scenario this
could lead to war between nations. The most important part of any alien contact
strategy would be to have all nations involved in the process and to quickly resolve
problems as they arise.
Famine and Illness
Climate change and ecological collapse could easily move
famine and illness to the top of the list. This is another area where humans
will be on their own. Aliens would be unlikely to have advice about human
agriculture. Illness is becoming a bigger issue with the rise of superbugs. Our
overuse of antibacterials has created drug resistant strains. This is rapidly
becoming a huge dilemma in developing countries, such as India, and the threat
is growing in many other nations. Human science will need to get us out of this
one, as well.
Human Migration
The movement of humans is already a source of major
conflict in the world. It is likely to grow worse as climate change renders
some areas of the Earth uninhabitable. We will need to work together to solve
all of these problems. The movement of humans from one country to others will
be a tough one to negotiate. Aliens wouldn't be able to help us with human migration. As with all human social dilemmas in the wake of alien First Contact, it would be our problem to solve.
Population Growth
Despite a decline in population growth, the UN projects
that there will be more than 11 billion humans on the planet in 2100. That
makes many of the other issues on this list much tougher to solve. Once again, this is something we would have to deal with on our own. One interesting side note- countries such as Japan may be facing a dangerous decline in population in the coming decades. There could be a solution found in human migration, if we can manage to put up with each other.
Repressive Governments
Repressive governments, and democratic governments
becoming isolated from the international community, will be significant impediments
in the quest to overcome the challenges I list here. Once again, there is not
much aliens could or should do about our governments. In fact, we would want to
make sure extraterrestrials didn’t interfere in any of our institutions.
Cybercrime
The wide-scale problems caused by cybercrime include everything
from the hacking of business and government computer networks to interference
in elections. It’s the latest example of how our technology can quickly be used
to hurt us. Perhaps aliens would have some insight for how to better protect
ourselves, but once again, the human Internet is likely a unique creation. We
will probably have to solve these problems on our own.
Conclusion
As you can see, I don’t think that alien information
would help in solving most of these human challenges. In the long-term, there
could be some technological benefit from interaction with extraterrestrials. In
the short-term, such a relationship would likely create more challenges than benefits.
That does not mean that we should stick our collective heads in the sand in
hopes that aliens will go away. The revelation of First Contact would be an
inevitable part of the growth of humanity. If handled correctly, it could be an
exciting step forward. Such steps do not come without conflict.
There is powerful part of alien First Contact that I have
left out- the impact to the human perspective. First Contact could lead to a
better understanding of our role in the universe. Perhaps we would then view
people from other countries, and humans from other races and cultures, as not
so different from ourselves. That could create better international
cooperation. The key will be how leaders react. If they rise above the fray,
and help humans to see the big picture, we could benefit greatly from First
Contact. If they fail, and lead us into greater conflict, we could suffer for
many generations to come. All of the issues on this list would continue to get
worse. So, how do average humans make a difference? They will need to stand up
and be heard. If the majority of people on the planet press for positive change
in the wake of First Contact, leaders will be forced to listen. First Contact
could be an opportunity for humans to choose a new path forward.
Photo by Srikanta H. U on Unsplash
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