The human response to the spread of the coronavirus named
COVID-19 provides some interesting examples of the importance of communication
during a crisis and the danger of misinformation. What does that have to do
with Direct First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization? Plenty. The epidemic
is an event of worldwide significance drawing much attention. Communication is
important so that hospitals and health agencies can respond. The lack of
communication in China in the first few weeks of the epidemic, and in fact the
suppression of communication, may have aggravated the problem by slowing
response. Now health organizations are dealing with the dangers of
misinformation. Those broad challenges could be issues in a Direct First
Contact event.
The United Nations and World Health Organization are trying
to counteract COVID-19 misinformation with a new coordinated public relations effort. Some of the rumors about COVID-19 include that it was produced by a
nation as a weapon and that it can be stopped by eating garlic. Rumors are
dangerous. If people are busy eating garlic, thinking that it protects them
from the virus, they may not be doing the things they should be doing, such as
washing their hands regularly. The more toxic rumors, such as COVID-19 being a
bioweapon, spreads fear and distrust of authorities. And that makes it tougher
for those authorities to respond to the outbreak in order to protect the
public.
You can imagine the rumors that would fly during a Direct
First Contact event. Social media sites across the globe would be flooded with
rumors and misinformation. The UN response to misinformation in this health
epidemic can provide a road map for possible human response during a Direct
First Contact event. I often look at crisis events through the lens of alien
First Contact. It may be our only hope in trying to plan for such an event. And
I realize that the discovery of a far-off alien signal would be much less of a
safety and public relations concern. However, Direct First Contact, where
aliens come to our solar system to say hello to humans, would provide both
excitement and anxiety in the human population, similar in many respects to a global
public health threat. It’s impossible to say how Direct First Contact may
occur, if it ever does occur, but we can study human events to see how humans
may react and determine what may be necessary in response.
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