Fundamentalism and First Contact

The religious reaction to First Contact would be interesting to say the least. Some religions might be able to expand their horizons to embrace the notion of extraterrestrial life. Others may not take it so well. The big issue is not even so much which religion you believe in, but rather how you view the world in general. Fundamentalism cuts across religion and culture. It exists among Christians, Jews, Muslims and Hindus. It is a world-wide phenomenon and it could have a big impact on the world reaction to First Contact.

From Wikipedia: fundamentalism refers to a "deep and totalistic commitment" to a belief in, and strict adherence to a set of basic principles (often religious in nature), a reaction to perceived doctrinal compromises with modern social and political life.

Would fundamentalists consider the acceptance of extraterrestrial life to be a doctrinal compromise? And if so how would they react? With violence? With civil unrest?

If the reality of extraterrestrials is proved by science it would seem tough for any religious group to deny the fact. However, we know that is exactly what can happen in fundamentalist groups. Science can be denied and reality shunned. It’s hard to predict which group would be most likely to react this way. It could just as easily be Christians as Muslims.

In one sense it doesn’t matter. It is unlikely that First Contact will require any human to do anything differently in their lives. To a certain extent it will be a matter of choice. If you are a physicist your career and lifework would change greatly as new scientific principles unfold. If you are a computer manufacturer or a teacher, there will be much you have to learn and new opportunities to explore. Many people, though, will not have to change what they do for a living. A man selling spices in a market or a woman serving as a nurse in a hospital will probably find that little of their day to day life changes due to First Contact. So, for fundamentalists they will most likely be able to choose to ignore the reality of extraterrestrial life if they so wish. And if this is all that occurs, a portion of humanity denying the reality of First Contact, we would probably be doing well.

The other possibility is the aforementioned civil unrest. Fundamentalists could press nations to go to war. They could commit terrorist acts against extraterrestrial visitors and the governments that aid them. It could be a new age of terrorism, unlike anything we have ever seen. It all depends on that reaction. If extraterrestrials are viewed as “devils” or as a sign of apocalypse there could easily be trouble. It should be expected that some groups will take this view. The real question is how many groups and what percentage of the population.

There is no easy answer to this problem. Outreach and inclusion are probably the only hope. All religious groups and cultures need to be included in the First Contact conversation. It will take some bravery on the part of extraterrestrials and their human hosts, but there needs to be an active effort to travel to all portions of the globe and visit with many different groups. It is much easier to deny something that is viewed at a distance. Once a conversation is started at home it takes on new levels of understanding. The actual words may not even be that different from what has been heard before in the mass media. The very action of being in the presence of other beings may be enough to turn the tide.

This outreach and inclusion needs to start quickly. In a sense the proposed world welcome trip around the globe would be the start (as outlined in the proposal section of this blog). World leaders need to understand the fundamentalist reaction and be prepared to counter it immediately. Those who think the worst of First Contact will not hesitate. The fear is that without control entire nations could be plunged into chaos. This is a real danger and one that must be risked. If extraterrestrial life is out there and those beings want to say hello, quite frankly we are all just going to have to deal with it.

Xenophobia and First Contact

The fear of aliens or strangers is xenophobia. While this usually refers to humans from other countries or cultures, science fiction writers have picked up the term to describe people who are afraid of extraterrestrials.

When we look at how humans deal with people who are different, we can quickly surmise that there will be many, if not a vast majority of, humans who will have problems accepting extraterrestrials. This will probably have a profound impact on how people react after First Contact. If we have trouble just handling the relatively minor differences in human beings, how will we deal with beings that look and act very different from us? The key may be to look for similarities. I think it will be important for us to note the aspects of anatomy, psychology and civilization that we have in common with extraterrestrials. Do they have family units? Do they have a common religion? Do they have festivals and celebrations? How do they handle birth and death? Starting with commonalities will allow us to build a bridge to better understand the differences. Still, there will be many people who will not easily accept human interaction with extraterrestrials and these people might very well be in positions of power. You can imagine there will be a huge debate raging across the planet about how we should handle ongoing contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. It would probably enter into the political realm, as various leaders take sides regarding whether we should be open to extraterrestrial interaction or keep our society closed. This debate will be important and we can only hope that the outcome helps to foster new relationships and does not shut us off from the rest of the universe.

There is a flip side to xenophobia: xenophilia. It is an inordinate attraction to aliens or foreigners with a result that could be detrimental. There will be people who will treat visiting extraterrestrials in a reverential way. It would be easy to make gods out of beings who have the technology to do things we can only imagine. I think this is almost as dangerous as a xenophobic reaction. We must maintain a critical attitude during and after First Contact. It would be a mistake to assume that extraterrestrials are looking out for our best interests. They will have motivations, some of which may be hard for us to understand. They will also have flaws as all biological beings must.

Considering how hard it is for us to overcome racism in our society xenophobia and xenophilia may be issues that will have to be dealt with for many years, and perhaps several generations, after First Contact. We can hope that eventually our world-view will open up to a new larger universal-view, allowing us to find a kinship with other beings.

Who we are and what we become

Your world is carefully defined. You know who you are and your place in the greater cosmos. This has been built by your ancestors for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years. Each generation adds to the patchwork and with each generation it grows stronger in belief. And then a singular event changes everything in the course of a week.

This is what civilizations across Earth have experienced in the last 300 years. European explorers traveled the globe colliding with society after society in countries on many continents. The results were rarely positive for the native population. First Contact societies here on Earth seem to go through similar patterns of development, and not all of them are good. There is an initial time of trust and discovery. There is a period where the explorers, or the arrivals just after the explorers, begin to exploit the native population and the natural resources. The native society starts to disintegrate and some natives fight back against the oppressors. The Europeans dominate with technology and force. A colonial rule develops. After many years perhaps there is a push for independence. The native culture, which has been all but wiped out, may be preserved in some shallow sense in efforts by the native population. Still, the native society has been completely derailed and turned into a weak version of the European model.

Is this what awaits the people of Earth in a First Contact situation with an extraterrestrial civilization? Certainly many of the same points would apply. The visitors would have better technology and a more advanced society. The native population will be at first enraptured by this technology and see only benefit. It would be hard to argue that this would not be the case in First Contact with the Earth. The next step is the part that can be questioned. Will the extraterrestrial visitors arrive with the intention of exploiting humans and the natural resources of the Earth and our solar system? Or will they understand the dangers of First Contact and take a careful, thoughtful approach to make sure our civilization is not harmed in the process?

Much of the outcome of First Contact will depend on the motives of the visitors. However, we will decide the rest. There is no doubt that First Contact would join us closer together as a planet and a people. Getting there, though, may be rough. The United Nations is viewed as a secondary government of less importance than almost any federal, provincial or local government in the world. Unless you live in a country where the UN has an active ground mission, the only awareness most of us have is what we see on television. We think of the UN as famine relief, refugee centers, peace keeping missions and arguments over world security issues. After First Contact the UN will become the most important governmental body on planet Earth. This will not be something on which we will vote or debate. It will simply happen. There are many critics of the UN and those voices may rise in protest. It will not matter. There will be no choice. We can talk about improving the UN or changing the structure of the UN, but the UN will be the key to our contact with the outside universe. It is the only world governmental body we have. The United Nations will have to respond to the challenge in a way it has not in the past. It has been a body in search of a mission since the inception. After First Contact that mission will be quite clear.

It may be necessary to look at a democratic system of electing UN representatives, rather than the appointment system used currently. Perhaps the entire process needs to be revamped to a world-wide voting system, much like state and federal elections in the United States. Each country could vote for representatives and the entire world could vote on executive leadership. There is no doubt that the United Nations system will need to be rethought. But in the initial days, weeks and months After First Contact people on Earth will have to put their trust in the UN. If countries squabble over power and leadership during First Contact our unified voice will be lost and we will be starting a new relationship on a dangerous footing. What if the motives of the visitors are not pure? What if the decisions made here on Earth threaten to undermine our world economy? Without a strong and confident world government, we will be lost.

Within this greater cause we cannot forget the unique characteristics of the human. We need to work hard to maintain the individuality of cultures and countries here on planet Earth. It is possible to celebrate our differences and still join in a unified effort to speak as one people and one planet. We must become that strong patchwork quilt that reflects the diversity of our world and the unity of our common heritage.

How will the world react?

First Contact will hit the Earth like an information bomb. That bomb will create major problems in some areas of our civilization, while leaving others virtually untouched. The most vulnerable parts of our society will be the ones that change quickly. The world markets would be the first to react. In reality it will be impossible at first to judge which companies and business sectors will benefit from First Contact and which will be hurt. Speculation, though, will begin immediately. That speculation will likely send world markets into a frenzy of activity. This will be a global problem. Because of the interconnected nature of world trading action will need to be taken by the major world economies nearly immediately. Limits on trading and perhaps even closing some markets entirely may be necessary in the initial days after First Contact. In the end, the world economy will have to digest this new information and correct itself as necessary. In the long term that could lead to a world-wide recession as some sectors die and some grow. Probably the biggest winners in the economic shift will be aggressive, smart and small companies who will quickly realize new opportunity. However, you would imagine that giants such as Google and Microsoft will find new ways to prosper After First Contact. Even if there are tight constraints over how much new technological information we receive from the visitors, the very nature of the new universal outlook will create new opportunities for growth.

The world media will also be vulnerable in the aftermath of First Contact and the biggest danger will be misinformation. A revelation the size of First Contact will throw nearly everything we know into question. This is dangerous territory. As we begin to question our place in the universe, we will also begin to question everything we currently know. This will create an atmosphere ripe for fear and speculation. The media will suddenly be thrust into a landscape without familiar landmarks and precedents. The media needs those precedents to control how it reacts to new information. The media is connected much like the world economy. Each news outlet in each country is connected to dozens more in hundreds of other countries. The initial reports of First Contact will travel the Earth in minutes. After First Contact speculation and bad information could do the same. Perhaps a media outlet in India erroneously reports that Aliens have invaded a small town. Then a South African outlet says that people are dying of a strange disease. It won’t take much to get everyone worked up. News operations will have to be extremely vigilant in what they report and how they report it. First Contact will seem to throw all the rules into question. It really doesn’t. All skepticism that was applicable Before First Contact should be used After First Contact. We must view First Contact as an isolated event with a controlled set of circumstances. While the overall effect will seem to be massive in scope, and perhaps in the long term it will be massive, initially First Contact will have little practical impact. If it is carefully controlled it doesn’t really change anything concrete in our world. What has changed is simply in our heads. Our entire perspective of the universe will undergo a massive shift. The practical acts of daily life don’t have to change at all initially.

We must constantly return to this theme. We are like a small boat out on the ocean. The entire sky has changed and yet the waves beneath us and the wind in our sails do not have to be effected. The only way those concrete realities can change is if we change them through our reaction to First Contact. I personally hate the IMAX wide screen movie theaters. They often make me sick. If I go to a show I might enjoy a few minutes of the movie, but when things start to make me queasy I have a solution. I look down from the screen and stare at the floor. Despite the aerial acrobatics up on the screen on the floor everything is the same. As a society we will have to learn to keep turning our collective attention to the floor every now and then to regain perspective. Everything may have changed above us, but below us are still the comforting confines of the Earth, the structure of our society and the common bonds of our families and friends.

Protecting who we are

I called this blog First Contact for a reason. It's the term most used to describe alien contact with Earth. It's also the term used to describe native interaction with European explorers. When Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand he found a culture that could barely understand the concept of a masted sailing ship, let alone the idea of other cultures from thousands of miles away. The danger for native cultures is that the impact of the new civilization can be an explosion of sorts that jeopardizes native ways. The Maori in New Zealand found themselves swept up by British culture and quite literally swept away. In the last 20 years the resentment of the last 200 years is finally coming out. Tony Horwitz does a good job of describing this in his book "Blue Latitudes" in which he goes back to the sites of the original Cook voyages to examine culture today. The danger is two fold. It can occur when natives seek out technology and advances that the new cultures bring. It can also occur if the explorers are demanding and exploitive, which occurred in most European colony situations.

So, what lessons can we learn from our past, about the impact of first contact with an alien culture? It seems evident that steps must be taken to avoid a technology explosion. In order to reach Earth any alien civilization would have to be much more technologically advanced. If there is an open and immediate sharing of science we could find ourselves suffering from paradigm collapse in a number of fields. It seems imperative that a strict filtering system be set up immediately that could determine how information about technology will flow. There will be a massive grasping for new information on the part of scientists world wide. Someone needs to control what we receive and how we receive it. This will go against all normal precepts of open research and peer review. However, it must be established to prevent paradigm collapse. One idea could be a United Nations organized panel of scientific organizations. Most fields have well established organizations that represent scientists world-wide. It only makes sense to use these organizations to help establish a body to determine information flow. Since it will be different for all fields organizations would be the best method for determining impact to specific fields. These review panels should be established within the framework of already established protocols in each field and ultimately respect and uphold the scientific principles that have developed over the years.

The other issue is culture. As our entire view of the universe changes our perceptions of who we are and what is important to us will change as well. It's critical that there be a self-examination process to determine what we want to keep in our culture and what we want to pick up from new civilizations. This will not be a simple process. We are so used to protecting national, regional and local identity that the concept of human race identity may be hard to grasp at first. In the first weeks and months of first contact information must be limited to allow for an organic growth rather than a culture explosion. In the race to help determine our new human identity we must also be careful to make sure fragile cultures around the world are not swept away in the change. The Maori have a right to their culture no matter what the rest of the world, or universe is considering.

At first this will be criticized as censorship. The entire planet will be clamoring for more information. Thus the process and the need for the process must be discussed in the very initial stages of first contact. It also must be supported and understood by the governmental and scientific organizations that will ultimately need to nurture a careful information transfer.

For years we have seen the dangers of alien contact portrayed as invasions and enslavement. The threat to our culture and science is much more likely. And because it could come in the guise of open and caring dialogue between the Earth and alien civilizations it is actually much more dangerous.