Extraterrestrial Contact: A List of Experts

It would be essential for humans to review the situation After First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization and develop a framework for moving forward. This may not be a priority if First Contact comes from the discovery of a far-off signal. There would be plenty of time to consider what to do next. However, it would be important, and need immediate attention, in a high information First Contact scenario, where aliens visit our solar system. 

There is no one with expertise in such matters. Very few people have even considered the issue. What follows is a list of people who have considered First Contact and the implications. While there are many SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) researchers represented, the people on this list were chosen not only for their experience in SETI exploration, but also their consideration of the larger issues likely to become challenges After First Contact. These radio astronomers, astrophysicists, and astrobiologists have thought about First Contact and are among the best prepared to consider how to move forward. There is also an effort to include members of the social sciences, which may have the most important role After First Contact. Some of the largest space agencies are represented at the administrative level. They may have First Contact oriented experts within their ranks that should be added. The list also includes science fiction authors. Their ideas and imagination would be critical to developing a path forward After First Contact.

This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list. I am most likely missing some important people. I did my best to search for international representatives and women. However, as I am sure the women can attest to, this has been a male dominated field for many years. The United States has the most active SETI research and thus is dominant in representation. The final tally in this list is 60 people total, 43 men, 17 women, 32 USA, and 28 international.

Frank Drake, Emeritus Professor, University of California at Santa Cruz

Jill Tarter, former director of the Center for SETI Research, SETI Institute board member

Paul Davies, Arizona State University, and SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup - International Academy of Astronautics

Dan Werthimer, Berkeley SETI

Andrew Siemion, Berkeley SETI

Bill Diamond, SETI Institute

Seth Shostak, SETI Institute

H. Paul Shuch, SETI League

Richard Factor, SETI League

Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

Claudio Maccone, Chair, International Academy of Astronautics Permanent SETI Committee

Michael Garrett, University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, UK

Leonid Gurvits, JIVE, the Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC, The Netherlands

Douglas Vakoch, president of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence)

Catharine Conley, NASA Planetary Protection Officer

Carol Oliver, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, University of New South Wales, Australia

Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal, UK

Alan Penny, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK
Avi Loeb, Harvard University

L.M. Gindilis, Moscow State Forest University, Russia

M.Yu. Timofeev, SETI Science and Culture Center of the Tsiolkovsky Academy of Cosmonautics, Russia

Kathryn Denning, York University, Canada

V. Radhakrishnan, Raman Research Institute, India

Hisashi Hirabayashi, JAXA Space Education Center, Japan

Lori Walton, Tigerstar Geoscience Research, Canada

Sun Kwok, Dean of Science, University of Hong Kong, China

David Raitt, European Space Agency

Nathalie Cabrol, Carl Sagan Center

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, School of Earth & Space Exploration, Arizona State University

Iván Almár, Konkoly Observatory, Hungary

Bruce Jakosky, NASA Astrobiology Institute, University of Colorado at Boulder

Jim Bridenstine, Administrator, NASA

Dmitry Rogozin, Roscosmos State Corporation (Russian Space Agency)

Tang Dengjie, China National Space Administration

Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Director General, European Space Agency

Kailasavadivoo Sivan, Indian Space Research Organization

Guillermo A. Lemarchand, UNESCO Division of Science Policy and Capacity Building

Jim Pass, Journal of Astrosociology

Kathleen D. Toerpe, Journal of Astrosociology

Michael Varnum, Psychologist, Interplanetary Initiative, Arizona State University

Debra Fischer, Astronomer, Yale University

Shannon Lucid, Chief Scientist, NASA

Eugene L. Tu, Director of NASA Ames Research Center
Renee Kraan-Korteweg, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Elisabeth Piotelat, SETI League Regional Coordinator, France

Bill Nye, Planetary Society

Heidi Hammel, Planetary Society

Bijal (Bee) Thakore, Planetary Society

Nick Bostrom, Future of Humanity Institute
Anders Sandberg, Future of Humanity Institute 

Jann Tallinn, Future of Life Institute


Susan Schneider, University of Connecticut

Michael A.G. Michaud, Author

Jame Funaro, Anthropologist, Cabrillo College; board member, Cultures of the Imagination

Penny Boston, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology; board member, Cultures of the Imagination

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City

Michio Kaku, Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York

Yuri Milner, Breakthrough Initiatives

Cixin Liu, Science Fiction Author

Connie Willis, Science Fiction Author

Ted Chiang, Science Fiction Author

Groups:

International Academy of Astronautics

SETI Permanent Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics

International Astronomical Union

International Institute of Space Law

Committee on Space Research

Royal Society

SETI Institute

SETI League

SETI Science and Culture Center of the Tsiolkovsky Academy of Cosmonautics

SETI Section of the Astronomy Council, Russian Academy of Sciences

 

Photo by Denis Degioanni on Unsplash

Extraterrestrial Contact: Six Questions for the First Communication

If we make First Contact with members of an extraterrestrial civilization someday, it would be good to remember the basics of journalism: who, what, where, why, when and how. That handy reminder has been drilled into the brains of reporters for generations. And it could be the start of a conversation with aliens, whether it be through signal based communication with a far-off civilization or a meeting closer to Earth.

Who: Who are you? Are you an artificial intelligence or a biological being?

Why: Why are you making contact with humans?

Where: Where are you from and where are you located now? Are there any members of your civilization in our solar system and if so, where?

What: What do you represent: a nation, civilization or federation of civilizations?

When: Is this the first time you have contacted humans? If not, when was the first time and what was your purpose then?

How: How do you hope this contact with humans will proceed? What do you think should happen next?

These are, of course, quite simplified questions for what would likely be a complicated conversation. But it could be a starting point. It would be easy to get lost in the enormity of such a situation. Starting with the basics could help.

Most of these questions are self-explanatory. The last two, however, are more nuanced than they may appear. The question about when human contact was first made will be important for context. If the aliens claim that this is the First Contact with humans, we could set aside (for a while) the questions of what they have done on Earth previously. I don’t believe in alien conspiracies, but given the number of people reporting abductions over the years it would be important to get aliens on the record immediately, especially if they are visiting our solar system. The question goes to issues of trust and fear. Humans will feel some threat with the revelation of an alien civilization. That concern would grow if the aliens are in our solar system. Of course, aliens could lie, just as humans do. No matter what the initial answer given we would have to be cautious moving forward.

What do you think should happen next? It seems like a conciliatory question for aliens and one that puts us in a position of subservience. But the wording is important: What do you think should happen next?? It doesn’t say that we will agree to what aliens would like to happen. It does explore the intentions of aliens on a long-term scale. The answer to why could be quite simple: we are here to say hello. The how question gets at their long term interest. Would they like to have a relationship with humans? Are they inviting us to be part of a federation? Are they warning us to stay in our solar system?

It would be easy to get excited and focus solely on who they are and where they come from. If First Contact comes via communication with a far-off civilization that focus would be fine. There is much less threat to humans from a far-off civilization. However, in the event of First Contact in our solar system, safety and security would be of primary importance. We would need to establish ground rules for further contact, and communicate our intention to protect our autonomy. Once a set of procedures for contact was agreed upon we could have some breathing room to explore the rest of the questions in depth. Oh, and don't forget to snap a few pictures. People always forget to do that when they're chatting with aliens.

Extraterrestrial First Contact: Impact on the Human Civilization

Wikipedia uses this definition to describe a civilization: “…any complex society characterized by urban development, social stratification imposed by a cultural elite, symbolic systems of communication (for example, writing systems), and a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment.”

I would imagine social scientists argue a fair amount about what determines a civilization. But let’s use the above definition to discuss the impact of extraterrestrial First Contact on the human civilization.

Urban development is exploding on planet Earth. Humans are drawn to cities and those cities are growing huge. It seems unlikely alien contact would have much influence over urban development. If we are given new technology by aliens it could help us to better sustain our massive population growth through more efficient cities. But as I will get to in a moment, there could be a high cost if we receive such help.

Social stratification is a source of conflict within all nations on Earth. The forms of stratification and the ability of people to move from strata to strata seems to be constantly changing. It is also different from culture to culture and nation to nation. First Contact could have an impact on social stratification. If we receive information from aliens that introduces us to how other civilizations in the universe organize themselves- we could gain a new perspective on our social stratification. That could lead to conflict and change. And social stratification could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Our forms of communication would certainly have to evolve if we had to learn new symbolic systems to talk to alien representatives. Even if extraterrestrial visitors spoke human languages, we would likely want to learn about their forms of communication. There could even be some adoption of alien terms into human languages.

And then there is the perceived separation and domination over the natural environment. Would aliens consider domination of the natural environment to be a good thing or bad thing? They could have advice for us about how to manage our domination without destroying our planet; or for us to better integrate our development with the natural environment.

The impact to the above mentioned parts of our civilization, in the wake of extraterrestrial First Contact, seem manageable.  Other elements of our civilization may not be as easy to manage. Science has become a major facet of the human civilization and under a certain set of circumstances the impact to science could be a serious concern. It all comes down to information. If we do meet aliens some day, how much information will they share with us? Will they discuss their version of science? Will they reveal flaws in our conception of physics, chemistry and biology? This would, of course, require communication and understanding. Even if they have the skills to communicate with humans there could be such a vast difference in our scientific understanding that teaching us their science could be beyond our comprehension. But if they decided to take the time to teach us, and put things into terms we could understand, would this be necessarily be beneficial to humanity? The popular answer has been yes. We imagine that aliens could help us solve our environmental challenges, perhaps by providing insight into clean energy sources or even assisting us to transform our planetary atmosphere by using technology. However, I believe there is a danger inherent in that line of thinking. Such assistance could put humans into a position of technical subjugation and that could be dangerous even if the aliens had altruistic intent. Human science is not an easy process. We imagine key discoveries just popping up every few years, propelling us forward to a better life. The truth is much grittier. We have to work hard for those discoveries. Scientists head down paths before a discovery is made. That is how the human scientific process works. The good news is that sometimes the research involved in even the dead end paths provides a bit of insight that helps us change direction or refine a process. Mistakes can even lead to new ideas, never before conceived. It is how human development works. The crazy part of it is that humans often need conflict to move the scientific needle. Wars, disputes and competition drive us forward. Consider the many scientific discoveries that have come from our wars. And not just the actual combat experiences, but also non-combative cold wars. For every weapon created there is so much knowledge achieved, that it spills out to other uses. I am not encouraging war. The threat of nuclear annihilation is so negative that it would seem to outweigh the benefits of nuclear physics thus far. My point is that we need the gritty human scientific process to keep us moving forward. If we are spoon fed information, without working for it, we could destroy our scientific system and dissipate our natural curiosity. One would hope that aliens would realize this and help us come to some safe method for sharing information. But we would be wise to find that method on our own.

There is another important aspect of humanity that is inherent in our civilization, but perhaps not as readily seen: perspective. Human perspective is behind much of our actions. A shift in perspective can create major changes in our society. An example can be seen in the #metoo movement. Sexual harassment and sexual assault has been a concern in the human civilization for a long time. But the perspective of people in a society makes a big difference in terms of how such things are handled. There have been individual reports of sexual harassment of decades. It first became a major workplace issue in America in the 1990s, largely due to perspective change sparked by allegations brought up during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings. But that didn’t change what was happening behind the scenes in some industries. It was the Harvey Weinstein case in 2017 that proved to be the latest catalyst. The high profile sex harassment accusations against the Hollywood studio mogul gained attention because celebrities were involved. Brave women had reported sexual harassment for years, but once a group of celebrities came forward to accuse Harvey Weinstein, himself a celebrity, the media paid more attention. This in turn helped to catalyze the wider movement so that more women came forward with allegations, in even more fields. Perspective change often requires conflict in the human society. When women stand up to be heard they are confronting the current power system. When other women and men join in that confrontation, the movement gains speed and weight. Eventually the overall perspective, of the majority of humans in a nation, begins to change. Has it changed that far yet when it comes to sexual harassment? Perhaps not. There is a long way to go in America and even farther to go in other nations. But many American men have taken a critical consideration of their workplace interactions with women, and that is a positive step forward. It’s sad that it takes the risk of shaming to do such things, but conflict is necessary for change.

My point is that perspective change can often lead to direct changes in the human civilization. The big question is: What happens if we have a massive and sudden worldwide perspective change? The discovery of extraterrestrial life, even microbes on a planet in our solar system, would be exciting and certainly spark a human perspective change. But the discovery of active and communicative, intelligent extraterrestrial life would be much more dramatic. It would not only provide a scientific shift in thinking, but also a religious shift. The discovery of traveling extraterrestrials could also change our perspective on safety. Right now we don’t worry about threats from outside of our solar system. The discovery of aliens would change that, depending on their ability to travel, and their proximity. The human perspective shift caused by alien First Contact could take place in many different ways. And the reaction could be problematic. It could create fear. It could disrupt the order of our institutions, including government and religion. It could create conflict between nations.

If alien First Contact does occur some day we will need to be very cognizant of what the revelation is doing to our civilization. We will need to quickly assess human thinking with surveys and polling. We will need to consider risks and benefits. We will need to put a process into place that protects our civilization while also allowing us to move forward. There will be a natural conflict between advocates of protectionism and those embracing change. This conflict could lead to the physical dangers of civil unrest and war between nations. The best way to manage such a situation would be through the academic social sciences working in alliance with local, state and national governments. These would be our first responders: political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and economists. I know this is a shift in thinking. We most commonly think of physical scientists as our alien first responders. That would certainly be the case if we discover a far off signal and need to decipher it’s meaning. However, Direct First Contact would be an entirely different animal, with a different set of challenges. My fear is that we are not considering this scenario with enough rigor. It is currently just fodder for fiction in movies and books.

The human civilization may seem monolithic from our individual perspective. But take a philosophical step off the Earth for a moment and have a new look. Human civilization is actually a fragile assemblage of process, agreements, and traditions. One massive change in human perspective could rock our foundation. If high information Direct First Contact does occur some day, we will need to take swift action to protect our civilization and help it to develop in a positive way for generations to come. Otherwise First Contact could be like a tsunami hitting a house of cards.

Photo by: Serge-Kutuzov-501664-Unsplash

Extraterrestrial Contact: Interaction Between the Biological and the Artificial

Biological creatures, including humans, represent the only intelligence on planet Earth thus far. We may some day be joined by robust, human level of consciousness, artificial intelligence (AI) of our own making. We could also some day be introduced to AI that originated from outside of our solar system. The question is how the two forms of intelligence, artificial and biological, will interact and perhaps conflict. I’m not discussing the often-examined idea of AI trying to wipe out humans, but rather how biological humans will interact with robust AI.

Why is this important to the consideration of Alien First Contact? If we do communicate with alien intelligence some day it could very well be machine-based intelligence, whether artificially originated intelligence (AOI) or biologically originated intelligence (BOI). Machine based intelligence could be better able to handle the challenges of interstellar travel. Understanding the issues connected with machine-based intelligence and the interaction with biological intelligence could better help us understand aliens. It may also help us better consider our own future.

TV shows and movies often portray human intelligence being somehow “uploaded” into a machine host. It is a decades old notion. As technology catches up with science fiction, one must ask: what is the nature of human intelligence? Is it simply a consciousness that can be quantified, captured, and moved to another host? Or is it intrinsically wrapped up with our body? If one considers the brain, a very biological host, we see that all sorts of biological functions impact thinking. Chemistry is a great example. We control our moods with medications designed to alter our chemistry. Chemistry is an important part of how we think.

That’s a very biological reality.  Important parts of our biology also derive from genetic factors, which are of course tied to other biological beings. And what of our appearance in deciding our personalities? Men and women have differences that are based on biology. Someone who is quite short or quite tall probably has personality traits that come from that reality. Biology impacts psychology and psychology impacts consciousness. What happens to us when those biological constraints are gone?

And then there are the intrinsic drivers of biological humans- survival and reproduction. How does one separate a consciousness from these most basic of human instincts? Both have a huge role in the design of society. Reproduction leads to strengthen bonds between individuals, which often leads to families. Families are the basic unit of society. What happens if none of that is a part of existence? It seems likely that machine-based, biologically originated beings would seek to keep some of those biological behaviors at first.  There could be a transition period between enhanced biologically based intelligence and full machine-based intelligence. Some of those biological behaviors could be recreated in a machine-based environment: family, sex, competition, wealth, and athletics. One scenario is to recreate human biological existence in a machine environment, allowing beings to use virtual bodies to continue biological practices. This was dramatized in the TV series Black Mirror in the award-winning San Junipero episode. But would such choices last over the years? And how would machine created intelligence (AI) interact with biologically created machine based intelligence. Would the bio beings control the AI? How long would that last? Perhaps the lines between the two would blur at some point?

I think the design of a machine-based intelligence world would depend on what remains of individuality. If humans decide to keep individuality as part of the fabric of machine-based living, do they provide individuality to AI? Or is AI kept perpetually in servitude? You can see the inherent conflict in such a society.

If that isn’t complicated enough, there is the consideration of hard reality (I use this term as opposed to virtual reality). What physical actions need to take place on Earth (or another planet) to keep machine-based intelligence platforms working? Underground computer banks would still need real-world upkeep and maintenance. Would that work be done by AI? Would it be conducted by bio-humans?

You can imagine that there would be a backlash to machine-based living. There would likely be humans who would choose not to live in a virtual world. There may even be humans who are forced to live in hard reality, due to economic constraints. It seems likely that the virtual world would be reserved for the rich at first. How long would that continue and what conflicts would arise?One could imagine a war between biological humans and machine-based intelligence, especially if resources were of short supply. It could take an immense amount of energy to support a virtual reality with billions of different beings.

So, if this is a possible future for humans, what has happened with aliens in their development? If we do communicate with aliens some day they could hundreds of years ahead of us in development. They could have moved to a fully machine-based world that does not include human concepts of individuality. They might even dislike such ways of being. Perhaps aliens don’t even want to waste their time with us until we are fully machine-based and freed from the shackles of biology? They could even have a mandate to help us achieve that machine-based state, leaving people who wish to remain biological in a tough position.

These ideas should be considered. Technology continues to race forward. If we allow a multitude of unconnected technological developments lead us blindly into the future, we may be quite unhappy with the results. And we could find ourselves not existing at all. It can be argued that the end of the need for human bodies is also the end of humanity, with a new intelligence arising. What will become of us?


Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash

Extraterrestrial Contact: A Relationship with Artificial Intelligence

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Some scientists have theorized that if we contact alien intelligence someday it may be machine-based artificial intelligence (AI).

Why? One reason is that it may be the way biological civilizations develop. Humans are moving to machine assisted living and robust artificial intelligence. AI already exists in elemental forms. Most analysts say the full realization of the AI age will be the point at which AI is as intelligent as a human. Some say that may occur in the next 40 years. Others are more reserved and for good reason.

So, if alien civilizations have traveled the same developmental path as humans, they too could enlist AI technology. There are practical reasons for using AI to explore. Machine-based artificial intelligence would be better able to travel through the universe. One could design machine-based intelligence to withstand cosmic radiation, which is a real threat to biological beings. Machine-based intelligence would also have the ability replicate and repair, something more complicated for biological life.

There are two types of machine-based intelligence to consider when it comes to meeting alien technology. For the discussion let’s use two terms. AOI: Artificially Originated Intelligence and BOI: Biologically Originated Intelligence. BOI is intelligence that was originally in a biological form that moved to a machine host. AOI would be a being-like intelligence created by a machine. The question is this: would there be a schism between the two states of being? Would the biological machine-based beings feel superior, as they were original? Or would the AOI beings feel superior because they were never encumbered by biological thinking? Does it matter? I think it does. I think our reaction will be more cautious if we are greeted by AI. Our popular fiction has always focused on biological beings making First Contact. AI might be more intimidating. We are already considering AI safeguards here on Earth.

What kind of perspective would AOI beings have? Would they even care to communicate with humans? They could be waiting for humans to design AI they can relate to. They might even be advocates for AI control and the end of biological life. It’s all just speculation. We have no knowledge base to be able to answer such questions.

One thing we can say for sure- we humans would like to stay in control of our world. We might cede parts of our civilization to the actions of AI, but we want to be in charge. That perspective is likely to change, because humans are changing. Like it or not, our future is cybernetic. Parkinson’s symptoms can be alleviated with electrodes in the brain. Cochlear implants allow some people to hear. The prosthetic limb has become an advanced technological device. It seems likely these types of technology will continue to grow, meaning more and more of our biological functions will be handled by electro-mechanical means. Designers are working on biologically housed brain-Internet interfaces as we speak. Once the Internet is in your brain, how human are you? The move to full BOI seems likely in a few generations. Why would we bother repairing fragile biological bodies when we could inhabit artificial bodies? Why even bother to have a body if you can manipulate the physical world through other means?

These issues are important to consider. If we do meet AOI or BOI beings someday, one of our first thoughts will be threat. Even if they are perfectly nice, the idea of beings without biological bodies will be scary. It will certainly have an impact on our relationship. There is certainly the possibility that the first aliens we meet some day will be purely biological. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

Extraterrestrial Contact: Types of Alien Travelers

If we do encounter alien intelligence some day, it could fit into one of these basic categories:

Biological Being: Primarily biological creatures. They could be enhanced by technology or even be hybrid life forms.

Controlled Probe: A machine that requires signals from elsewhere to make decisions

AI Probe: A probe controlled by localized artificial intelligence, able to make its own decisions.

Artificially Originated Intelligence: An artificial intelligence with the sophistication to be considered a life form, but housed in a machine-based host. I’m going to call this AOI in upcoming posts.

Biologically Originated Intelligence: Biological beings housed in a machine-based host. I will call this BOI.

This could further be broken down into beings with a sense of individuality and beings from a hive system. There could also be a variety of these types of categories in any one civilization.

Why do we care? The physical nature of intelligent aliens would have much to do with their way of thinking and likely have a big impact on their relationship with humans.

Extraterrestrial Contact: Paranoia

We’re used to paranoid ramblings on the Internet. They have become a loose string in the fabric of our society. There are many blogs and websites about alien conspiracies. But what would happen if the situation flips some day? What if aliens do make contact, either via far off signal or by coming to our solar system to say hello? How would the paranoid people react? How else might paranoia play out?

Amanda Hess hosts the “Internetting” video blog for the New York Times. She and Shane O’Neil put together this fun piece examining the impact of the Internet on paranoia and extremism. As she points out, the Internet is a great platform for people claiming conspiracy. You have instant access to other paranoid people, which can provide your fan base. You can edit photos, videos and even database information to your liking. You can easily turn a small kernel of truth into something completely fictional with just a bit of creativity.

But how far can that activity go? Some researchers argue that the Internet is not a good place for creating wide-spread conspiracy theories, because of the compartmentalized nature of social media networks. This is often called the “echo effect.” You are preaching to the choir- your friends already agree with you and other groups may reject your ideas. Cambridge University Professors John Naughton, Sir Richard Evans and David Runciman have examined conspiracy over decades and conclude that to a certain extent the Internet can help to debunk conspiracies, because often the truth and proof is just a few clicks away. We’ll get back to that in a moment.

Why do people believe conspiracy theories? Professor Viven Swami with Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K. said belief is tied to feeling disaffected and alienated. If you don’t believe in your government or institutions, you may be more likely to believe outsider information.

There are two basic definitions of paranoia. The first is specific to a psychological condition and focuses on delusions of persecution and an exaggerated sense of self-importance. But there is a wider definition which is closer to how we often use the word: suspicion or mistrust of people and their actions. If you use the wider definition, paranoia can be seen in more than just individuals; groups can be paranoid as well.

Paranoia would be a big issue in the wake of First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. People would be concerned about alien influence on human governments and potential alien domination of society through open actions or subterfuge. Religious groups could consider aliens to be a threat to their beliefs. There will be legitimate concerns in any First Contact situation and that will make it all the more confusing. Confusion will make it easier for conspiracy promoters to attract attention.

However, paranoia wouldn’t be limited to some crazy people whacking away diatribes on a computer in the basement.  Governments will be actively paranoid, as will the military and intelligence wings of those governments. First Contact would provide potential threats in many different areas. And it won’t just be concerns about aliens, but also about the actions of other governments. And group paranoia will likely go well beyond public institutions; big businesses could be paranoid. What if a competitor gets access to alien technology? Luckily, governmental institutions and corporations are quite used to being paranoid, so it is integrated into a framework that manages fear through process (the classic SWOT analysis). I know this as part of my day job as a public relations professional. It’s our job to be paranoid about the potential impact of negative news or public discourse about the organization we represent. We weed through a steady stream of potential problems, picking out the ones that could cause harm to the organization. The best way to manage institutional paranoia is to provide information. When an institution evaluates threat, all relevant information is considered. That information is found to be relevant if the source is trustworthy. Thus there are built in professional protections operating with institutional paranoia. That is not the case, sadly, in personal or extremist paranoia.

So, if institutions are paranoid in order to be effective in evaluating threats, why do individuals and small groups use paranoia? Hess points to self-esteem issues for the individuals. It’s nice to have people pay attention to you. Conspiracies are usually quite salacious and controversial in nature- so they tend to attract interest. That means people listen to you. But for small groups it can go beyond that feel good motive. Often groups use paranoia to advance ideas and ultimately get things done. The underlying motive is power. It could be a pro-life or pro-choice group trying to influence politics. Or perhaps a church attempting to gain followers. One would expect plenty of paranoia and conspiracy theories coming from individuals and small extremist groups after First Contact. And the veracity of their claims will be confusing- since the entire situation itself will be quite unusual.

There’s another version of paranoia and conspiracy theory on the Internet that has come to light in recent years. That is the use of individuals and small extremist groups to further a cause promoted by a large institution. The Russian government is suspected of using individuals and small groups to spread political conspiracy theories on the Internet during the 2016 presidential campaign. The motive was to influence the U.S. election. They are also accused of using the same techniques to impact the UK Brexit vote. And it’s not just Russia, countries all over the planet are accused of using similar tactics. These actions are proving to be quite troublesome in international relations. It seems likely they would be used After First Contact. An institution promoting misinformation through individuals and extremist groups is actively working to undermine a part of human society. That’s a frightening prospect now and would be even more so in a high stress environment created by First Contact.

Transparency is the best defense against paranoia, and misinformation feeding on paranoid concerns. The more information you put out there- the more you empower people on the Internet who will refute paranoid claims. That’s ultimately where the battleground occurs- in your personal Facebook group. You have probably witnessed one of your friends posting a surprising bit of information, only to have other friends debunk it as untrue. That’s the critical time- an immediate debunking before the surprising information can be believed and retransmitted. To do that, you must empower reasonable people with information. Transparency is providing as much correct information as you have. Even with transparency, and millions of people debunking conspiracy theories, some paranoid ideas will grow and require more forceful denunciation by the people in control of First Contact. It might help to have a daily repudiation list of sorts to respond to the concerns trending on social media. However it is done conspiracy management will need to be an organized process After First Contact and one that involves established groups of professionals. The group in charge of the First Contact process had better monitor the Internet closely and have a process to respond quickly. Think of it as SNOPES for the post-alien world.

Extraterrestrial Contact: Why Not China for First Contact?

A recent Atlantic article describes why, technologically, China may be the first nation to discover extraterrestrial intelligence. A huge radio telescope, called FAST, has put China far ahead of other nations in the ability to search for far off signals that might have been created by an extraterrestrial civilization. How open would the Chinese be to sharing such a discovery? Would they try and manage communications with extraterrestrials on their own?

The Chinese are taking space exploration seriously. The construction of FAST, which stands for Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, cost more than $184 million and included relocating more than 2,000 Chinese families near the construction project to create a “sound electromagnetic wave environment.” That’s a fancy way of saying that they are clearing out humans to prevent electronic interference to their listening project.  Just try doing that in the United States. And despite news reports focusing on uses of the radio telescope in the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence, the main function of the technology is to examine pulsars, black holes and gas clouds.

However, Chinese astronomers are working closely with their counterparts in America and Australia in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, as part of the Breakthrough Listen international project. That means that technically they should follow the long-established First Contact protocol endorsed by the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

SETI organizations have advocated for the use of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) telegram system (which one assumes has evolved well beyond telegrams) in any signal discovery. It is used for communication between astronomers at various observatories. This would be critical in a detection, because that detection would need to be confirmed by several different observatories before the signal could be declared not of Earth origin and not a natural phenomenon. That means even a Chinese detection would need to involve scientists from other countries, and thus such a discovery would be tough for any one government to control. And that includes the United States.

But what if First Contact is not discovery based, but rather direct? What if the aliens reach out to contact humans? Such an event has no protocol. One could infer from the wording of the IAA-SETI protocol that such contact should be treated as any other scientific discovery. Perhaps scientists would do so. But if aliens come to our solar system to say hello, they wouldn’t necessarily contact human scientists. They could spend some time learning our languages; have a probe connect to our internet; and then simply email politicians or the news media a greeting. Granted, that type of contact would be complicated given how skeptically most humans would react. But there would be no reason to approach scientists first, unless you wanted to have them involved.

At the very beginning of this blog (ten years ago), I provided a Direct First Contact scenario that relies on the use of the American broadcast news media to reach all of humanity at once with messaging from extraterrestrials, avoiding control by any one nation. However, America is a complicated country right now, politically. Alien visitors may determine that China has a more stable form of government. Research studies have shown the Chinese to be generally positive about First Contact issues.

So, would it make more sense for aliens to send their greeting to Chinese researchers or perhaps the Chinese government directly? Clearly that depends on what the aliens are trying to accomplish. If they want to deal directly with the largest and most stable government on planet Earth, China would make a good choice. However, there would be a severe consequence- Russian and American leaders would be immediately suspicious. It would be hard to overcome that suspicion. The same would be true if an extraterrestrial civilization contacted the Russian or American governments first. Any First Contact between an extraterrestrial civilization and one nation is going to be viewed suspiciously by other nations. That reaction could be dangerous, setting up a potential global conflict. And it would be hard to overcome the suspicion, no matter how transparent the nation was in revealing First Contact. Conspiracy is a tough thing to disprove when a situation starts with secrecy.

An alien craft could land in China, in much the same scenario as the American one I describe on this blog. The Chinese news media have the technology needed to cover such an event and could quickly share it with the rest of the world via satellite. But would they? The Chinese media is closely controlled by the government. Even if a media outlet was to begin covering an extraterrestrial contact event, there is no guarantee that they would be allowed to continue broadcasting. The same could be said of Russia, where the media is also carefully managed. The United States government could try to stop coverage of the landing of an alien spacecraft, but it wouldn’t be easy. In the United States the distributed nature of the news media means that no one national outlet controls coverage. For example, the ABC TV network has many affiliates, but very few are directly controlled by the network itself. Most are independently owned by many different companies. There is no place on the planet that has the number of broadcast outlets with full service news operations as the United States. Cracking down on all of those regional broadcast news operations would be tough. And even then, the American Internet would be carrying the event via citizen journalists on social media. Such Internet coverage could be curtailed quickly in China. It could not be easily shut down in the United States. And if one social media platform was carrying First Contact, American competition would soon have every social media platform, and every traditional media outlet, fighting to cover First Contact.

China has become a leading force in science on planet Earth. The investment of billions of dollars in scientific research will make them a growing influence for many generations to come. It’s critical to consider China in any First Contact scenario. But the closely guarded nature of Chinese electronic discourse means the country is a poor candidate for Direct First Contact. If the goal of extraterrestrial representatives is to reach all of humanity at once, they would be advised to take a close look at human communications technology and find a way to bypass governments and scientists altogether.

Extraterrestrial Contact: Considering What Aliens Might Look Like



Image Credit: Helen S. Cooper

We’re familiar with the standard pop culture aliens from the movies and TV. The similarity of those alien depictions to humans has been under criticism for years by astrobiologists. Just this week, a group of Biologists at the University of Oxford said that there may be some key aspects of the development of Earth species that we may be able to apply to alien lifeforms. Futurism.com had a write-up recently.

The paper, titled “Darwin's Aliens,” is published this week in the International Journal of Astrobiology.  You can read the whole article here. Authors Samuel Levin, Thomas Scott, Helen Cooper and Stuart West pick through elements of human evolution to find actions that might apply on other worlds. The most obvious is natural selection, and thus the nod to Darwin in the title. The authors hypothesize that mechanistic features of lifeforms (multiple functional parts- the biological things that allow a creature to live and reproduce) would likely develop on alien planets in the same way they develop on Earth- through variation, differential success and heredity. If reproduction is an intrinsic part of life everywhere, then natural selection would be as well. The authors use the term directional force, meaning that organisms find better ways to reproduce in order to survive. It all comes down to survival, a foundational part of life here on Earth, and perhaps so on other planets.

Image Credit: Helen S. Cooper

So what might these alien creatures look like? The authors don’t rule out some similarity to humans. After all, we are the product of thousands of years of natural selection. But the geology and atmosphere of a planet will also dictate how lifeforms develop. The paper includes a couple of drawings of hypothetical alien life designs by co-author Cooper. You can see in those pictures a rendering of multiple functional parts, which in advanced life forms provides the ability to manipulate surroundings. The paper makes a distinction between simple alien life and complex alien life:

“We have established that aliens will undergo natural selection. It also seems reasonable that, given the sliding scale from replicating molecules to large creatures with many body parts and beyond, some alien discoveries would be more interesting than others. In particular, the more complex the aliens we find, the more interesting and exciting they will be, irrespective of whether they appear anything like the life forms on the Earth.”


The authors conclude with a caution to avoid what they call “circularity” in thinking about the development of alien life. If natural selection is a widespread action in the universe, then alien life will also have a “nested hierarchy of entities” as we have on Earth. In short, organisms would move through a ladder of development that not only creates complexity, but demands it as a means of survival and success.


Does this mean that we won’t be shaking hands with E.T. or one of those popular alien “grays” as the UFO folks like to call them? Not necessarily, but given the potential differences in the chemical composition of other planets, we had best broaden our imaginations and use the teachings of Charles Darwin to guide us in our speculation.