Extraterrestrial First Contact: The Story of First Contact

It’s a common refrain among social scientists these days: humans need a new story. What kind of story are we talking about? The grand stories that give us a reason to get up in the morning. Storytelling helps us to create our personal identities. They can be just for us, a story that reflects your family history and your personal experience. They can also be shared stories, joining millions in a common theme.

Religions tell such stories. Nations often tell compelling stories. The American Dream is a common story that drove much of the country in the 50’s and 60’s. In the last 20 years, there is talk of the Chinese Dream, the story of China’s growth into a role of international leadership. One story that we lost in the 1990s was the battle between communism and capitalism. It just doesn’t seem relevant in a world where practical capitalism embraces many elements of socialism and Chinese communism has incorporated a new capitalism. The fall of the USSR is often cited as the dramatic end to that story.

Humans need multiple stories to find meaning in life. Change creates the need for new stories and humans are experiencing a period of great tumult. COVID, climate change, political battles, the loss of biological habitats and species; all of these problems weigh on us. Joanna Macy calls it the Great Unravelling. Anxiety creates the need for new stories. The stories can help us to cope with our feelings and be proactive in our response to the challenges.

First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization would be a new story for humanity, no matter how it would occur. Discovery of a far off signal would be one type of story, profound, but perhaps not immediate. Direct First Contact, if aliens were to visit our solar system, would be another type of story, both profound and immediate. Direct First Contact also would bring with it feelings of fear and concern.

The First Contact story doesn’t have to replace religious or cultural stories that we have as humans. It would be a mistake to do so. I think humans will keep many of their stories, based on religions and cultures, After First Contact. However, First Contact would be a powerful new story and it could help people find new meaning in life.

Now you’re worried. The aliens will provide us new meaning in life? No, not the aliens themselves (or more likely their Artificial Intelligence representatives) at least not from my perspective. The discovery of an extraterrestrial civilization and the fact that we now have evidence that we are not alone in the universe is the new meaning. We may or may not like alien representatives that we meet and they may or may not like us.  Either way, humans will have to find a new perspective and make changes to our civilization to respond to the needs of First Contact. In the case of a far off signal being discovered, those changes may be primarily existential. In the case of Direct First Contact in our solar system, we would need to make substantive changes and do so very quickly.

Yuval Harari explains the need for humans to have stories in his book “21 Lessons for the 21^st Century.” He also examines the elements of those stories, which he narrows down to two important parts. “To give meaning to my life, a story needs to satisfy just two conditions. First, it must give me some role to play…Second, it must extend beyond my horizons.”

I’m leaving out a lot in between, so please read his book. It is an excellent examination of the challenges facing the human civilization, both now and into the future.

Let’s discuss the first part of a story: it must give me some role to play. I would argue that every human has a role to play After First Contact. The impact of First Contact would change human civilization. How that change happens- how we react and what we do in response- is not a matter for scientists and world leaders to decide on their own. All humans should have input. I know in the immediate sense that would not be possible, but the premise is important, because it establishes the concept that the scientists and politicians should listen to the wider human community. And in the case of Direct First Contact, that need would increase as immediate decisions would have to be made and a framework for further contact established.

I break down the role of humans in these two ways: every human alive and aware of their surroundings at the time of First Contact would be part of what I call The Bridge Generation. These would be the only humans to know life Before First Contact and After First Contact. That unique perspective will be critical for decision making. Scientists, world leaders, and people watching at home would all be part of the Bridge Generation.

The First Generation is what I would call those who are born into the world After First Contact. They will never know what it was like Before First Contact. Their perspective will be critical because they will not have the same baggage as the Bridge Generation. And yes, those different generations would most likely come into conflict as the First Generation comes to power.

The Bridge Generation and First Generation would set the foundation for human development for hundreds of years. And that is the second of Harari’s story elements: the story must extend beyond my horizons. The decisions we make, especially in a Direct First Contact situation, would impact future generations. Our stories will need to move us forward to a positive future. But if we fail, our human stories could just as easily cause us to shrink from the wider universe and dissolve into conflict and chaos.