Extraterrestrial Contact: Identity Crisis

There could be plenty of challenges that arise if First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization occurs some day. Most of those challenges would be created by the nature of contact and the type of intelligent beings that we might encounter. The circumstances are impossible to predict. If First Contact ever does occur it could happen in a million different ways and would most likely surprise us in many respects. We’re imaginative, but not imaginative enough to consider all of the possibilities.

So, that leaves us to one challenge that seems likely in almost any scenario: a human identity crisis. We can’t predict what the aliens might be like, but we know what we are like. Our human frame of reference is based on the current truth: we are alone in the universe. A change in that frame of reference would likely lead to self-examination. We would need to acquire a new perspective. That sounds like a natural process and perhaps it would be. I doubt, and surveys seem to support this, that humans will freak out in the wake of First Contact. It’s the long-term consequences that I think could be most challenging.

The most obvious challenge in perspective would be an inferiority complex. If we meet an alien civilization with technology much more advanced than ours we will, for the first time, face a collective feeling of inferiority. The outcomes of that feeling are hard to predict. It could cause us to become isolationist. Fear would be a big part of that reaction. Inferiority can easily lead to a feeling of vulnerability. That could spur defensive actions. Another scenario is what I call the “star treatment”. In this case we are so in awe of alien technology that we begin to view the extraterrestrial culture as something to aspire to. This could be damaging to our own culture. The worse-case scenario would, over time, lead to a washing away of our scientific institutions. While I think this is a long-shot, I suppose it really depends on the star power of the aliens in question. Just how cool are they and how much do we want to be like them?

Of course, the most notable feature of an alien civilization might not be technology at all, but the cultural aspects of their society. Perhaps they have a religion, or faith of some sort, that we begin to admire? There’s certainly nothing wrong with admiration. However, you would worry about our own religions and faith. Jumping head-long into another civilization’s culture would seem a mistake at any level and in any manner.

It comes down to one important challenge: we will need to hold onto our culture and ways of thinking, while expanding our knowledge. We need to protect ourselves and still learn about the new civilization. We need to find out what they have determined about the universe and share what we have learned. This won’t be easy. We may have to institute something that the French have had for years- actual institutional actions to try and safeguard french culture. It seems a bit silly to us Americans at times, but it makes sense. In a world dominated by American culture in the media, the French are bombarded with an American perspective. They have fought to protect their language and culture. The same is true of the Canadians. Efforts to promote Canadian filmmaking and music go as far as to require a percentage of homegrown movies and music on television and the radio. An Earth-wide effort might be necessary in the wake of First Contact.

Why do we need to worry about this now? There is certainly no reason to worry. First Contact could be decades or centuries away. However, it seems prudent to consider the possibilities and ask some serious questions. What will we do when our perspective changes forever?

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Extraterrestrial Contact: Embracing the Weird

You could call it the ultimate exercise in diversity acceptance. If we have trouble understanding and accepting other races and cultures here on Earth, how would we handle extraterrestrial First Contact? Perhaps the most important step would be overcoming our expectations.

We have spent most of human history trying to conquer our surroundings. We seek to control our environment through agriculture, technology and science. We have expectations of how living creatures should live and sometimes its well apart from what nature has designed. There was an interesting article in the New Yorker recently by Elizabeth Kolbert called “Recallof the Wild”. She describes a nature preserve in the Netherlands that seeks to recreate a paleolithic ecosystem. As Kolbert describes it’s just the latest attempt at “rewilding”. Now, clearly this project shows human attempts to control and shape the environment. It also provides a flip-side to that idea. The ecologist largely responsible for the Oostvaarderolassen, as the preserve is called, has attempted to introduce species similar to those that would have been found in a Paleolithic ecosystem in that area of Europe. The idea is to let the introduced animals reproduce and settle in the nature preserve without much interference from humans. That has lead to die-offs, especially in the winter. Kolbert describes Dutch TV stations showing video of animals starving to death. It’s part of the natural process but one that humans find it hard to accept. There was outrage among many in the Netherlands. One could argue that a man-made ecosystem should have man-made controls to help prevent such harsh natural die-offs.  They have suggested her culling by shooting animals unlikely to make it through the winter. However, the entire debate shows our attempt to humanize nature. Humans like to see nature as a pastoral setting. We want to see the abundance of biological diversity, but we want it to behave as we think it should. Natural behaviors and outcomes can be brutal and sad from our perspective. We can’t truly accept that the natural system works that way. We even call nature “Mother Nature” in an attempt to anthropomorphize the natural environment.

So, what would we do if we were to meet aliens some day? It seems likely that we would make judgments about their appearance, actions and society based on our human characteristics. That makes sense- we have no other lens to consider extraterrestrial intelligence. However, that lens could also be problematic. If we have trouble accepting the brutal side of our own natural environment, how would we accept beings from a vastly different environment? Would we think less of them because they had characteristics that we consider unacceptable?

Extraterrestrial contact with intelligent beings would require a great deal of diversity understanding. We would need to set aside our human expectations and learn about aliens in an objective way. This may be fine for the academic community, which is used to considering challenging ideas as part of the job. For other humans it could be quite tough. The appearance, culture and actions of aliens could be off-putting. That could lead to public resistance to diplomatic relations.

A certain amount of caution from the public is to be expected and would be quite healthy. The last thing we would want to do is consider aliens to be better than us and seek to transform ourselves to better fit their way of being. There has to be a middle ground of learning and understanding, while also protecting who we are and what we hold important in our civilization. It will be up to world leaders, academics and scientists to establish this path and help the human race stay on course. There may be Oostvaarderolassen moments when it comes to what we learn about extraterrestrials. It’s critical that we keep learning and don’t let our human perspective get in the way.

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Extraterrestrial Contact: The Giggle Factor

This blog occupies a small slice of territory in the consideration of extraterrestrial intelligence. I don’t believe in alien conspiracies or that First Contact has already occurred. I do believe that First Contact is a distinct possibility in the future, in one form or another, and that we should have a sober and wide-reaching conversation about how it would impact humans and our civilization. This isn’t an easy conversation. I alienate (no pun intended) those who believe in extraterrestrial conspiracies. Folks on the other end of the spectrum think that consideration of extraterrestrial intelligence is a silly waste of time. They may very well be right. If there are no alien civilizations out there for us to contact, this is simply an amusing train of thought. However, if we do ever make First Contact our lack of serious consideration and preparation will be a major problem. So, a little proactive conversation on the subject seems worthwhile.

This “giggle factor” in the consideration of extraterrestrial intelligence was brought up by Dr. Mazlan Othman, the astrophysicist who directs the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). She is well acquainted with the “giggle factor”. A few years ago Othman prepared a paper for the Royal Society in London. The Royal Society is one of a few respected scientific bodies to take up the issue of extraterrestrial intelligence (the International Astronomical Union is another key supporter). The media got wind of the Othman paper, which proposed planning in the United Nations for extraterrestrial contact. The media twisted it around and the headline became a United Nations director announces herself to be the primary diplomatic contact for extraterrestrials. The coverage was harsh. Dr. Othman immediately backed away from the insinuations. If you read her paper there is no such proposal, it is merely a call for serious consideration of extraterrestrial contact at the international level.

The media had great fun with the story. A few months later the UN attempted to repair the damage by posting a thoughtful and interesting interview with Othman in the United Nations News Centre. Dr. Othman brings up an interesting point:

“…extraterrestrial life must take root as a scientific discussion. Once it takes root and people throw away the idea of it being frivolous or the work of charlatans, people will start seeing it for what it really is.”

This has been the work of the SETI Institute for many years now. Jill Tarter and Seth Shostak have championed a scientific, research based, approach in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. They have worked hard to make SETI part of the astrophysics community. That means distancing themselves from the conspiracy theorists and UFO buffs. The approach makes sense. But one wonders how long it might take. First Contact may be decades or even hundreds of years off. It could also occur tomorrow. Our lack of serious consideration leaves us ill-prepared to handle such an occurrence. There is not even agreement on what group might lead such a diplomatic effort.

We waste so much time and energy on the frivolous in our society that calling the consideration of extraterrestrial contact a folly is ridiculous. Let us spend one percent of the time, energy and money that we spend talking about Justin Bieber and the Kardashians. That alone would give us a solid foundation to move forward. 

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Religion, Extraterrestrials and Apocalypse

We recently had another bout of “end of the world” mania and yet we’re all still here dealing with the burden of reality. The high interest does beg the question- how would humans react to an astonishing event such as First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization? Would it be considered the end of the world? That question is an enormous one, probably too big to tackle in such general terms. So, how about religion? How would alien First Contact impact human religion and thoughts about the end of the world?

Theological scholars have been interested in what First Contact would mean for religion for some time. The results of most studies show that the revelation of extraterrestrials would have little impact on religious beliefs. The Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey showed that the majority of respondents, representing various religions, didn’t expect proof of extraterrestrial intelligence to change their religious belief or their religious traditions. Interestingly, 69 percent of respondents who did not identify as being religious thought that ETI knowledge would undercut religions, while only 34 percent of the religious thought so.

In another approach, the Alexander UFO Religious Crisis Survey focused on clergy members. Jeff Levin of Baylor University went back to the original 1994 data to take another look.  Across the spectrum of Judeo-Christian religions the results showed that clergy members thought that ETI revelation would not have a significant impact on religion. Leaving out Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist faiths is quite limiting in scope, however the results are interesting. It appears that religious leaders and religious followers are not particularly worried about aliens shaking the foundations of their institutions.

For many of us religious beliefs are deeply embedded in our lives as part of our faith and culture. The religious surveys seem to confirm what other polls have shown: humans will not freak out over proof of extraterrestrial intelligence. The general questions about religion, though, don’t take up aspects of belief related to prophecy and that may be where the real passion lies, at least for some religions. A 2010 Pew Research Center poll showed that 41 percent of Americans expect Jesus to return by 2050 with the number growing to 58 percent of white evangelicals. What does Jesus have to do with First Contact? People with apocalyptic religious beliefs often look for signs. It seems quite possible that the announcement of extraterrestrial contact might be considered a sign of impending apocalypse and the return of Christ. Fringe preachers and internet soothsayers could lead an apocalyptic reaction to First Contact that could catch on with more mainstream religious leaders and pontificators. Does the fire spread to the rest of the world? Hopefully, cooler heads in other countries and with other religions would help to calm us down. Americans are an excitable bunch when it comes to apocalypse.

To confuse matters even more, in the original Greek sense the word apocalypse would fit First Contact well. The originating Latin word apocalypsis means a disclosure of knowledge that has been hidden from humanity. That would certainly describe alien First Contact well.

People will not be rushing to their dictionaries if we have a dramatic First Contact event with visiting extraterrestrials or if we discover a far off signal that turns out to be engineered. Apocalypse and many other words will be thrown around without much thought. What will decide the day is how human perception coalesces after the turmoil dies down. What will we make of our future and of our faith in the wake of such a great revelation?

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Extraterrestrial Contact: Human Identity

Extraterrestrial contact would likely provide a new perspective for humans. It would probably be different from person to person. However, you could assume that, at the very least, extraterrestrial contact would cause us to perceive the universe differently and in turn our role in the universe. For some people this may be a simple process of understanding. For others it could be a conflict in thinking.

You would imagine that this change in perspective could also change our perception of humanity. No longer would we be the only race in the universe, but simply one group of beings. This could bring us closer together as a civilization and as a planet. That notion, though, carries with it baggage. Humans have wrestled with the idea of a joined humanity for some time now in popular fiction. It is often portrayed as a world society that has sanded away individuality. The primary concern seems to be that if we join together as a planet we will all become alike. There is certainly precedent for this. Suburban Italy or Moscow can look like the suburban United States these days as sprawl becomes a global characteristic. Races are intermixing in growing percentages.  English has become a global language. Granted, there is still plenty of interesting differences to go around. One could argue that the localism movement attempts to preserve regional cultural differences and prevent corporate homogenization. For every step in that direction there seems to be many more technological advances that make us more similar: Facebook, Twitter and cell phone use, just to name a few.

So, it seems possible that there will be human identity concerns in the wake of extraterrestrial First Contact. It would have very little to do with the aliens themselves, but rather the process that we would have to go through to respond to First Contact. Alien contact of any sort would require a global deliberation and probably a global response. I think it would be important to stress the point that joining together in a global response to First Contact does not have to mean losing identity. Depending on the nature of extraterrestrial contact (immediate and in our solar system, versus light years away) this idea of preserving what it means to be human and what it means to have a specific culture could be quite important. There will be those who fear extraterrestrial influence as a process that could weaken our identity as humans.

This may seem like a point of lesser importance, given the huge impact that First Contact would have on human civilization. I think that it might, though, be an important part of the conversation going forward. It is the type of thing to not get brought up directly, but linger in the back of people’s minds as they consider how to react to First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization.

I think we can maintain who we are and what we care about, while joining closer together as the human race. First Contact would finally bring to bear the reality of our situation: we are one people, one planet, citizens of the universe.

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