Extraterrestrial Contact: Bypass the Government

My advice to extraterrestrials considering a visit? There should be no “take me to your leader” moment. Any extraterrestrials interested in making First Contact with humans should bypass governments all together. Why? No government represents the majority of humans. Governments are messy, slow-moving, bureaucratic machines that don’t respond well to change. Humans, however, are remarkably resilient and we respond well to change. So, bypass the government and go straight to the people.

Now, all of that said, I don’t have any indication that this is something likely to happen anytime soon. And if First Contact does occur it will most likely be thanks to the hard work of scientists dedicated to finding an engineered signal in far-off space. Under those circumstances there will not be any dramatic moment. It could be years of research in deciphering such a signal and perhaps designing a response.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say that an extraterrestrial civilization was interested in saying hello. How would they best accomplish such a greeting? Clearly, the primary consideration would be their motivation for making First Contact in the first place. Let’s assume, though, that they want to start a relationship with humans. You would imagine it would be best to forge that relationship without the entanglement of politics. We Americans love to assume that extraterrestrials would make contact with Americans. We often self-appoint the President of the United States as the defacto representative of the planet. This is insulting to the rest of the countries on Earth and quite naïve. I love America, but like every other country on the planet we are wrapped up in a variety of political complications. First Contact with America could set the Arab world against visiting extraterrestrials. It would most certainly make the Chinese and Russians quite unhappy.

So, my advice- bypass governments and go straight to the people. How do you best do that? I’ll talk about that next week. In the meantime, this topic is featured prominently in my new science fiction novel “The Ashland City Landing”. Alex Morrison has made a new friend on the Internet. It’s a relationship that could drive his wife and friends half-crazy and that’s if federal agents and newspaper reporters don’t blow it wide open before the big moment. Can Alex hold it all together before The Ashland City Landing?

The Ashland City Landing is a sometimes-funny, sometimes-serious, science fiction novel about the practicalities of meeting space aliens and having to save the world from itself and also perhaps those very same aliens. Alex fights to keep his sanity, while concocting an introduction that will change the course of human civilization. He’s being pursued by a journalist desperate for a cover story. Alex’s best friend is a real ass and sometimes his psychologist. Alex’s wife does her best to be the Southern belle, but that’s not going too well. And yet he needs them both to pull it off. Along the way Alex enlists help from a burned-out astrophysicist and meets federal agents who are definitely not amused.

The Ashland City Landing is available in printed and Kindle electronic format through Amazon USA, Amazon Europe affiliates and through Nook at Barnes and Noble.

Extraterrestrial Contact: Are the Chinese Better Prepared?

It’s easy to see conspiracy around every corner when it comes to the Chinese government. Censorship does that. If you take action to control what your people see and hear, it’s easy for the rest of us to assume things. I think the issue of extraterrestrial First Contact falls into this category of assumption. For a while now, I have noticed that my blog has very few readers in China. It is a dramatic difference. Out of thousands of readers over the years, from dozens of countries, China has only had one or two instances of readership, according to Google analytics. It would be easy for me to jump to a conclusion. Perhaps the Chinese don’t want their people reading about alien First Contact issues? The answer is actually quite simple and quite frankly much worse. As you might know, the Chinese have blocked Google Blogger content for three years now. Blogger is just one of many websites blocked by the Chinese government. Most people realize that the Chinese government routinely blocks the Chinese people from viewing certain types of Internet content; however I had no idea how widespread that censorship has become.

So, with all of that secrecy and censorship it would be easy to jump to other conclusions. Does the Chinese government have a detailed plan for extraterrestrial First Contact response? Russian Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka recently spoke on Chinese television to say that the UN and the Chinese government have “detailed instructions” about how to handle alien contact.

All of the articles I can find in regards to that interview pretty much stop at that little tidbit. What I find suspect about the statement is the UN side of things. We would have no idea what the Chinese government has decided, unless they wished to share such things. The UN, however, faces much more scrutiny and operates in a way that allows people open access its decisions. Every article I can find shows that the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space has tabled or failed to take action on every request for extraterrestrial First Contact protocol development. A number of scientists and scientific bodies have brought it to the Committee on a number of occasions. Perhaps the UN does have such secret directives, but why then would Dr. Mazlan Othman, Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, risk reputation and career, as she did two years ago, to bring the issue up for discussion? Perhaps it is a decision kept secret, but something tells me that the lack of imagination on the part of the United Nations makes lack of interest and lack of decision much more likely.

So, back to the Chinese, do they have such a First Contact protocol? And perhaps the Russians, for that matter? Cosmonauts would seem to be in a position to know. However, there may exaggerating cosmonauts in the same way we have exaggerators in all walks of life. Or we may just be taking his short statement far too seriously. Perhaps the protocol is simply: “If you run into aliens while in space, be friendly and call in for further instructions.”

We do know the Chinese are taking astrophysics and astronomy much more seriously. For the first time a Chinese scientist is leading the International Astronomical Union bio-astronomy Commission 51. Sun Kwok stresses that the search for extraterrestrial life means trying to find signs of life on other planets and moons. The Mars Curiosity mission is that amazing science in action each and every day. It’s no wonder the Chinese want to participate. The discoveries in astronomy, just in the last few years, have been astounding. Let’s just make sure that the closed Chinese society doesn’t cause us to misinterpret their actions.

Join me in a discussion of First Contact issues on the Alien First Contact Facebook page.

Extraterrestrial Contact: Worry

Worry is a balance on the part of human beings. Worrying can help keep us safe and it can also make us miserable.

David Ropeik points out in a New York Times article this weekend that human nature can also cause use to worry more than we should in some circumstances and less then we should in other cases.

Why do I bring this up? There would likely be plenty of worry involved in any extraterrestrial First Contact situation and it’s something leaders will need to understand in planning a human response.

Ropeik mentions a “risk perception gap” that comes into play when we are overly worried about something. After all, fear can cause us to do all sorts of irrational things. It’s certainly something to consider from a First Contact perspective. If humans react in an overly fearful way to extraterrestrial contact, it could cause us to take military action where none was warranted. And that could lead to catastrophic reactions on the part of the aliens; a situation that could have been avoided.

Of course, worry exists for a reason. It puts us on our toes and responsive to potential threat. It would similarly be unwise to view seemingly unaggressive aliens as not threatening. Threat can come in a myriad of ways. Friendly aliens could worm their way into our society and create all sorts of intended or unintended havoc. A little skepticism would go a long way in First Contact.

And that appears to be Ropak’s main point. Humans often respond instinctually and emotionally. He describes neuroscience research as showing that we “feel first and think second.” The fight or flight part of the brain receives a signal before the deliberate, critical thinking part of the brain. That can leave us in trouble when it comes to complex situations. I can’t say much about First Contact with any certainty, but I can say that like most things in life it will be complex, despite what the initial appearance might be. Seemingly aggressive aliens might be less of a threat if we stop to consider their reasoning and actions. Seemingly unaggressive aliens could, as pointed out previously, provide plenty of threat, no matter what their motives.

Our governmental, military and scientific leaders will have to exercise caution and careful consideration in any First Contact situation. If it’s a dramatic and direct First Contact event that could be tough. In the end, it will be up to all humans to try and take a deep breath and get beyond that architecture of the brain.

What worries you about First Contact? Let us know on the Alien First Contact Facebook page.

Extraterrestrial Contact: Debunking Hollywood

Hollywood is probably an easy target when it comes to criticism about extraterrestrial themes. They’re in the business to entertain and these days that means special effects, whether it is giant battling robots or the destruction of cities. Hollywood digs blowing stuff up. So, George Michael taking on Hollywood themes in Skeptic Magazine is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel.

I salute Skeptic Magazine for not dismissing extraterrestrial considerations automatically, but rather applying logical thought and scientific knowledge to questions. Michael runs through a gamut of popular Hollywood themes and asks if those themes could one day be a reality. The first argument, and one that is a thread throughout the article, is how energy and time consuming space travel would be- even for an advanced civilization. Thus, the idea that aliens might want to plunder Earth for our natural resources is rather ridiculous, considering that the same elements would be available to aliens much closer to their home. The same could be said of aliens wanting to inhabit our home. It seems likely that there would be inhabitable planets closer to their original home. It might also be easier to transform a marginal planet then to destroy human civilization to take our planet.

How about the old chestnut plot line of aliens wanting to eat us? Michael points out that interstellar travel would entail a high degree of engineering skill and bioengineering would most likely be included in that skill set. So, why wouldn’t aliens just create their own snack farm of human-like creatures, rather than spending the time and energy to travel here?

Michael sums up the article with a call for a more concerted consideration of possible alien motivations and our response to such motivations. There could be plenty of complicated scenarios that might seem positive at first and then lead to trouble. I have said for some time now that perhaps we shouldn’t be so worried about the aliens and be more concerned with how humans will react. While surveys show that individuals will be able to handle extraterrestrial First Contact, institutions and fringe groups are another matter entirely. We could very well be our own worst enemy.

What do you think? Chime in on the Alien First Contact Facebook page.

Extraterrestrial Contact: Chaos

Riots in Cairo. Violence in Libya. Chinese protests calling for war against Japan. Has the world gone crazy? Can a video really inspire such social unrest? Should a territorial dispute over a small island lead to calls for military action?

The world has not gone crazy. It’s merely humans surrendering to fears and then whipped up by dissidents and opportunists into frenzy. Let’s not be naïve. The violence in the Middle East is not just the result of a stupid and insulting video. It’s just the latest pinprick in a conflict between the Muslim world and Christian world that has burned for hundreds of years. The Chinese protests over the ownership of small Islands in the East China Sea are not just a reaction to longstanding national land disputes, but also Sino fury focused on a nation that brutalized Chinese during World War Two.

So, what’s my point? The same simmering conflicts, and many others that exist all over our little planet, could come into play in the wake of First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. That may be hard for folks to understand. We like to view extraterrestrial contact as an event that would join humans together. And while that may ultimately be the case, along the way there would likely be plenty of conflict. That conflict would not come from humans freaked-out over extraterrestrial contact. Many surveys have shown that individually humans would probably be calm in the wake of extraterrestrial First Contact.

However, this isn’t just a question of individual reactions. Those same opportunists and dissidents whipping up frenzy today could decide that there is an opportunity to make a point and gain advantage in the wake of First Contact. Media reports say that the Chinese government may be fueling the fire in the Japan protests. In Libya, there are suggestions that political dissidents may have used the video as an excuse to stage a planned attack on the American Embassy.

This is the reality of life on planet Earth. Depending on the nature of First Contact, social unrest could be a big issue in the weeks and months following such an event. The nature of contact, of course, has a lot to do with it. If scientists discover an engineered signal and take years to figure out what that signal means and where it came from, it seems unlikely that there would be immediate unrest. In the wake of Direct First Contact, meaning we meet up with extraterrestrials in our solar system and have a high-information exchange, it seems more likely that we would have human relations problems here on Earth.

That said, there is a window of opportunity in such a dramatic event. Direct First Contact might lead to a period of stasis, brought on by humans individually and collectively being stunned by the news. People would naturally want to watch and learn at first. Wall to wall media coverage would focus on the discovery. It could take days, weeks or even months for the old conflicts to come to the surface After First Contact. But as people begin to consider how they want to take advantage of the First Contact situation and old rivalries are inflamed by the possibilities raised by First Contact, it seems likely that human hostilities would come to the forefront once again. An active effort to join humans during the stunned period could help to alleviate those hostilities, especially if it is possible to show how out-dated such long-rooted hostilities are After First Contact.

First Contact could provide a new perspective for humans, hopefully rendering many old conflicts moot. Why would you bother fighting over an island in the East China Sea when the future lies out in the universe? The presence of extraterrestrials should show humans that religious differences are really a matter of tiny degrees of difference, not a great gulf, as compared to differences with extraterrestrials.

The end result will depend on individual humans. If we let the dissidents and opportunists whip us into frenzy there may be conflict and social unrest. We are the keepers of our own world. If we choose to ignore those angry voices and look for a wider perspective, we may have a calm and yet exciting future. It will be our choice.

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