Extraterrestrial Contact: Do It Ourselves

I think one reason people hope for alien contact is the possibility that humans could receive technological help, especially scientific ideas that would allow us to solve big challenges, such as climate change and the need for clean, high-power energy sources.  Such information sharing sounds great at first glance, but if you consider the possibilities, it becomes a more complex issue.

Why would we want alien information? If we discover a far-off signal, extraterrestrials could be of advanced technological development, at our level of technology or even lower. No matter what, they would likely have a unique take on the workings of the universe and that alone could prove interesting, if not helpful. If aliens come to our solar system then they would clearly be more technologically advanced. That is the scenario I am considering here.

There is no reason to think that visiting aliens would want to help at all. Giving us their technology could make us a threat. But let’s say the extraterrestrials were willing to share, would we want to take them up on the offer of technological help? I think there are two good reasons to turn down, or at least closely examine, such a proposal. Receiving alien technology could make us dependent on their technology. Unless they take a lot of time to explain their entire system of science from the ground up, we would simply be receiving devices and processes. We would have no foundation, which would provide the tools to fix or change such technology. We would be dependent on the aliens. I don’t think that would be a safe or practical position for humanity. Extraterrestrials could use such methods to keep us constricted in development and confined to our solar system. They could even use it as leverage to control our society.

The other reason to be wary of technological help from aliens I have discussed previously. The human system of science builds on itself. Our current level of scientific knowledge comes from the work of hundreds of thousands of humans throughout history. Observations have been made. Questions have been developed. Hypotheses have led to experiments. Results have been analyzed, communicated and refined. That scientific process, for any specific hypothesis, can involve many researchers and many institutions working for many years. Along the way, we use the data to discover new ideas and follow new paths. Science rarely travels on a direct route to success and it’s not easy or pretty in the making. Receiving spoon-fed knowledge from extraterrestrials could threaten to undermine our system of science and weaken the entire structure. Unless each and every piece of alien knowledge was deciphered and then carefully integrated into our scientific system, alien knowledge could create holes in our disciplines. A flood of alien scientific information could wash away our scientific foundations all together.

Receiving information about alien history, and the history of other civilizations in the universe, could be safer. We could even learn about the make-up of the universe from the extraterrestrial perspective in such a way that we could adapt their ideas into our scientific system. But we would want to be very intentional about that process and carefully evaluate each step. And we would have to judge whether the aliens were telling us the truth. Another possibility for rendering humans less of a threat would be sharing incorrect or confusing information.

This entire train of thought is based on the premise that aliens would be in a physical position to share a great deal of information with us. That type of communication would most likely require close proximity. In reality, if an extraterrestrial civilization is discovered in a far-off galaxy, communication could be difficult, taking many years to send even a single message. However, at this point the entire question of extraterrestrial intelligence is pure conjecture, so I do think it’s helpful to consider many different possibilities. If close-proximity, high-information alien First Contact does occur someday, humans will be quite excited, and we could make decisions before thinking them through. Not that we ever do such things. It would seem prudent to take a deep breath and ask ourselves some important questions before reacting. The welfare of future generations could depend on our caution.

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Extraterrestrial Contact: Trust

“Trust is one of the most pervasive - and perhaps for that reason least noticed - aspects of social life. We need it in order to live at all. As the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann has remarked, 'A complete absence of trust would prevent [one] even getting up in the morning.” – GeoffreyHosking (2002).


“Trust is a big part of human interaction. It is perhaps so big a part of how we deal with each other that it may be taken for granted. Trust is seen to include both emotional and cognitive dimensions and to function as a deep assumption underwriting social order.” Lewis and Weigert (1985)


Trust is important to humans. And that begs the question: what role would human trust play in interactions with extraterrestrials, if we make alien First Contact someday? These authors argue that trust is a social reality. What happens when our human reality collides with an alien reality?


Perhaps the closest we have come to considering the matter of trust in a non-human scenario is a discussion of Artificial Intelligence. Researchers Cristiano Castelfranchi and Yao-Hua Tan (2001) pioneer that concept in “The Role of Trust and Deception in Virtual Societies.” This is from the abstract: “The authors argue that it is important to analyse the role of trust and deception in interactions between agents in virtual societies. In particular, in hybrid situations where artificial agents interact with human agents it is important that those artificial agents can reason about the trustworthiness and deceptive actions of the human counterpart.”


Developing a trust framework for AI to interact with humans can help us better understand trust from an alien perspective. There is the possibility that aliens would value trust. It is an integral part of the development of the human civilization. It would make sense that trust could be an important part of an alien civilization. Humans use trust for essential parts of our society: trade, communal living, and governance. Could aliens have developed a complex society without trust? The answer is yes. Just one Star Trek example: Aliens could have a hive mind, which unlike individuals resorting to trust would involve an implicit understanding of each creature as part of the whole hive. Trust may seem odd to such extraterrestrials. Even if aliens do value trust, the concept of trust may be quite different from ours. Trust expectations change from human culture to culture here on Earth. While both Chinese and Americans value trust, they act on it in different ways.

This goes to the issue of alien thinking. Many researchers argue that our biology helps to define our way of thinking and posit it would likely be the same for aliens. Very different biology could mean a very different way of thinking. That could have a big impact on the concept of trust. And even if the aliens we meet some day are of artificial intelligence they are likely to have been influenced by the biological creatures that created the AI. Humans are currently designing AI to imitate human thinking. It seems plausible that aliens would do the same.

I could sort out these various possibilities for some time, since we have no idea what intelligent aliens might be like or if they exist at all. But there are some key points we can glean from this discussion.

If aliens contact us first, hopefully they would take the opportunity to examine our psychology and sociology before doing so. Those insights regarding trust would be important. They could help aliens design communication to meet human needs.

That then leads to another issue: Humans need to be wary in any First Contact situation. Just because aliens understand how to build trust with us, doesn’t mean they are not deceiving us. We would have no history of extraterrestrial culture to consider and, in fact, no data at all. We would have to learn as we go. That means caution would be necessary at every step. Crafty aliens could find a myriad of ways to deceive us and control us. I prefer to stay optimistic in considering alien First Contact, but cautiously optimistic. That means moving forward slowly and with great deliberation. Hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

Ultimately, anything we do in an alien First Contact situation would require some level of trust on our part and on their part. We will have to do what humans have done for thousands of years: observe, learn, take action, evaluate results, and refine. We can only hope the aliens will be doing the same. Perhaps then we can develop a real trust together.


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Extraterrestrial Contact: Astrosociology

I’ve lamented for some time that there are not enough social scientists involved in the consideration of First Contact and life After First Contact. There is an effort to change that with the Journal of Astrosociology, founded by Dr. Jim Pass in 2015. The late Dr. Albert Harrison, who I have mentioned many times in this blog as a pioneering scientist in this area, was instrumental in the effort to examine public reaction to extraterrestrial life. He wrote an article in the inaugural issue of the journal and explains Astrosociology as:

“…the psychology of worldviews as a conceptual tool to further our understanding of people’s reactions to astrobiological discoveries. Worldviews are the cognitive frameworks and psychological processes that shape perceptions of reality, influence the kinds of evidence that people accept, and makes it possible to cope with unpredictable and potentially dangerous conditions.”

This would likely be an important area of study in the wake of Direct First Contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. Social scientists would need to track public reaction and provide insight. Some members of the public would be optimistically excited about First Contact and others would be scared. There would be a continuum of human response across that spectrum with potentially troubling reactions coming from groups at the fringes. The study of human response would likely involve Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Religion, Political Science, International Relations, and Economics, just to name a few.

Another pioneer in this area was the Canadian scientist, Dr. Allen Tough. Sadly, he too has passed on in recent years. I have read many of his articles. He established the online journal Contact in Context.

He also compiled what is perhaps the most comprehensive publication about social science and First Contact: “When SETI Succeeds: The Impact of High-InformationContact.”
I highlighted the publication in this blog back in 2011.

In one paper, titled “The Role of Social Science in SETI,” several authors suggest a simple scale showing, much in the same vein as hurricane warnings, the impact of First Contact.

Force One: Knowledge that we are not alone, primarily in discovery of some form of extraterrestrial communication.

Force Two: Humans gaining scientific or technical knowledge from communication with an extraterrestrial culture.

Force Three: Direct interaction with an extraterrestrial culture leading to a long-term dialog.

Perhaps the biggest insight that I gained from Dr. Tough is the idea that the human Internet would be an important tool for visiting extraterrestrials. He realized this in 1995, as the Internet was just coming into public perception. Many scientists propose that if extraterrestrial civilizations exist, they are far off, so far away that travel and communication would be quite difficult. Perhaps so, but given enough time and wherewithal, there is no doubt a probe could reach us from a far off civilization. Even with our limited technology we have already sent probes that are currently outside of our solar system. The best way to study human civilization would be through the Internet. Hopefully, aliens would spend some time doing that before they contacted humans. They could learn our languages and achieve a basic understanding of our biology, history and society. But even if visiting aliens did their homework, we humans would not want to rely on those aliens to develop a plan for a relationship with humanity. That would be our responsibility. We would need to consider the impact of such a relationship on our current society and for future generations. That will require the work of academics who are not afraid to explore other disciplines beyond their focus. This will be an important need After First Contact- people who can consider human challenges from a variety of viewpoints, using information from multiple disciplines. It is not how scientists commonly work.

Social scientists help us to better understand who we are as humans and as a society. They will be on the front lines of response if Direct First Contact occurs someday.

 

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Extraterrestrial Contact: A Road Map for Humanity

If we are confronted with alien First Contact in our solar system someday we will have to confront more than just the unknown. We will have to confront our inner nature. Do we spasm in fear as a human civilization and seek to protect ourselves at all costs? Do we allow greed and fear to create international chaos through conflict between nations?

It may be tough to get people to take that internal exploration seriously. We will be excited and focused on learning as much as we can about the alien perspective. Dedicated anthropologists and futurists will need to do the internal work and then help to prepare a roadmap for humanity.

Luckily, there are already science-based groups doing this sort of thinking. The Future of Life Institute (FLI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is one such organization. It is led by M.I.T Physics professor Max Tegmark, Skype founder Jann Tallinn, and UC Santa Cruz Physics professor Anthony Aguirre. They focus on the human challenges in four major areas: Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, Nuclear Weapons and Climate.

The FLI scientific advisory board is an example of the range of expertise such think tanks enjoy. Advisors come from fields of study including business, genetics, brain science and artificial intelligence.

Oxford University professor Nick Bostrom is on the FLI board. His group, Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) at Oxford, focuses on many of the same topics with an emphasis on AI governance. They too consider existential risks such as climate change and nuclear proliferation, pointing out that such anthropogenic threats are immediate and wide-spread for humanity.

Other groups covering the same intellectual territory include the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute (GCRI) and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER).

It is interesting to note that these organizations don’t consider the impact of First Contact with extraterrestrials. While I understand that the man-made challenges of climate change, nuclear war and run-amok artificial intelligence are much bigger threats, it is concerning that very few people are considering First Contact risks.

Groups such as these would be our second responders in a First Contact event. They may not be involved in the initial study, but their expertise in looking forward would be critical After First Contact. It could be disastrous to stumble into the future without an assessment of risk and a plan for positive development. Let’s just hope that world leaders understand this need if First Contact does occur in the future.

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Extraterrestrial Contact: Climate Change and Hard Decisions – We Need Help

If there are members of an extraterrestrial civilization studying planet Earth, we need their help. We have reached a crisis point with our environment and we are not taking the needed actions. Alien assistance doesn’t have to be technological. We need a massive kick in the collective human behind to take climate change seriously and take action. Communication and insight from extraterrestrials could change human priorities.

The UN International Panel on Climate Change (I.P.C.C.) issued a report this week that summarizes the effects of global climate change. We are currently experiencing a one degree Celsius global temperature increase since 1880. The UN report forecasts the potential effects of a 1.5 degree increase. The findings are alarming. At 1.5 degree increase, the report estimates 10 million more people will suffer from permanent flooding. Another several hundred million will experience climate related risk and poverty. That’s what we are facing in the next 22 years. It could be even worse. That temperature rise by 2040 could be higher.

While many nations are taking the threats posed by climate change seriously, few are taking action at the levels needed. It is a low priority in the budget considerations for countries across the globe, including the largest and wealthiest nations. The world appears to be waiting for the United States government to take significant action. That seems unlikely to happen anytime soon.

Humans need to take action on two fronts. The first is preparation. The second is mitigation.

Climate change preparation is most often thought of as flood control for coastal cities. While that would certainly be part of the needed action, it may not be the greatest need. We have the technology for flood control. The Dutch have been trying to prepare us for the inevitable by sharing their expertise (and paving the way for huge Dutch private industry contracts). Hoboken, New Jersey is one of the first American cities to put Netherlands technology into action. Dozens of other cities will need to follow. But let’s face it- the cost involved will be enormous. It is not feasible that all coastal cities and villages across the globe be saved. Some people will need to move and it shouldn’t just be the poor moving out of sea rise inundation zones. People in expensive homes will need to move. We will need to prioritize funding for the greatest impact to the largest number of people. That will take hard decisions. The primary United States disaster agency, FEMA, is currently in a cycle of disaster response and rebuilding. Many are questioning the wisdom of that process. The fact that we are just starting to consider these initial steps of change, and facing stiff opposition even then, is an indication of the enormity of the human dilemma.

Climate Change could force millions of people to move. A 2015 UN report shows that between 2008 and 2015 more than 26 million people were displaced by climate and weather-related disasters. Those numbers are expected to increase dramatically. Where will these people go? How will we take care of them? Those will be hard decisions and they need to be researched and planned for now. Nationalism, a trend in many nations, decreases international cooperation, and thus the ability of humans to combine resources to tackle climate change issues. Mass migration is likely to intensify those strains and lead to conflict. This is the warning for those who favor nationalism: it is in your best interest to tackle climate change now, before the masses are forming at your borders.

My point is that humans currently don’t have the collective will to get this done. It seems likely we will wait until the next crisis and respond singly to that event, and the next one, and the next, and so on, for many years to come. As those crises pile up, the overarching problems will only grow worse. We need to make hard decisions and we need to make them now.

Mitigation is similarly troubling. It involves decreasing the burning of fossil fuels and the human caused emissions of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. The cutting down of trees is also a cause of global warming. Trees absorb carbon dioxide. Without mitigation, we could be facing a 2 degree global temperature rise. That doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but it would have a massive impact to our world, far beyond that of a 1.5 degree level.

So, why do we need aliens? The answer is simple: to encourage humans to take climate change seriously. We apparently don’t want to listen to human scientists and environmentalists. Perhaps an alien voice could help. I am not suggesting we hope for extraterrestrial intervention that will solve our problems. We will have to solve our own issues. We have lived on this planet for thousands of years. We have hundreds of years of scientific research and technological development- specifically designed for the conditions on planet Earth. Aliens would have none of that experience. Humans can’t prevent climate change. We are experiencing it now. However we can prepare for the impact and mitigate the severity of that change. We need a massive shift in perspective to get us moving.

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Extraterrestrial Contact: The Initial Working Groups Defined

In my last post, I proposed that high information extraterrestrial First Contact would require safeguards. I suggested a set of working groups. These would be composed of experts in many different areas who are charged with learning alien science and alien history. They would then figure out ways to incorporate that information into the human sciences and the wider human society. These Initial Working Groups would need to be implemented immediately. They should be made up of people from across the globe and from many different backgrounds. However expertise would be the primary measure of appointment. The appointees should not come from United Nations staff or be employed by any government. They would need to take a leave of absence from whatever business or institution they worked for. They would need to be paid to avoid influence and corruption. The groups should be only temporarily active, perhaps for a term of two years, while the United Nations General Assembly worked on a long-term framework.

Here is a list of the Initial Working Groups that I think might be needed. I break them up into two sections- internal groups and external groups. Internal groups are focused inward at the information coming from aliens, and external groups focus on the bridge with human society.

Internal Groups:

The Appointment Group: This would be the committee on committees, charged with reviewing and appointing members to the other groups. I suggest that this could be done by the UN Security Council, joined by scientists in each of the critical fields. Science would be at the forefront of the discussion and it would be important for scientists to be well-represented.

The Relationship Group: This would be the primary communication group to interact with aliens, involved in all of the top level actions of information exchange. This should be made up primarily of scientists and not just from the physical sciences, but also the social sciences. The members would need to be generalists, able to consider issues over a broad areas of general expertise.

The Science Bridge: A group that decides which information should be reviewed by the different field groups, as discussed below.

The Field Groups: They should be formed to represent each of these physical sciences: Astronomy & Astrophysics, Chemistry, Crystallography, Mathematics & Statistics, Nanotechnology, Physics and Polymer Science; along with some of the social sciences, specifically economics, religion, and history.

The Future for Humanity Group: These appointees will examine any information that the field groups deem safe to communicate with the human public. They will look at the long-term impact to humanity of such disclosures, outside of the impact to the particular field in question. The hope is that they may spot problems that the more focused scientists might miss. This group could be made up of anthropologists and social scientists considering current human opinions and possible reactions in human society.

The Watchdog Group: This group would be charged with keeping an eye on the other groups. That would include rooting out leaks, corruption and influence issues. This Watchdog Group would have much power, which means it needs to report to the UN Security Council, but also maintain a measure of independence.

External Groups:

The Governmental Group: This group would be charged with direct contact with the UN Security Council and the General Assembly.

The Security Group: They would work with the governmental group, paying particular attention to issues that could impact human security.

The Communications Group: This group would consider how best to relay information to the public, when the other groups have determined what information should be shared. Appointees should come from social science fields, such as communications, international relations, economics and also communicators (reporters or media members) well-versed in the physical sciences.

The Listening Group: They would keep their attention focused on the reactions of humans and work closely with the Future for Humanity Group. They would consider individual and group concerns with First Contact, including fringe viewpoints. They would hold listening sessions and, if necessary, public hearings.

The groups must be allowed to act independently once they are filled with appointees. They should be small groups, perhaps no more than 11 people, designed in odd numbers for voting. There should be a chair of each group, decided by the appointees themselves. Once set into place, the United Nations would need to work with the Governmental Group on ideas and issues. There should be no contact allowed with the groups by governments, higher education institutions and businesses. Independence must be protected.

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Extraterrestrial Contact: The Initial Working Groups

High information extraterrestrial First Contact would require safeguards. It would be unwise to simply open the floodgates and let alien information flow freely to all of humanity. Why? Aliens with advanced technology would likely have a very different perspective on the workings of the universe. We would need to be taught to understand their system of knowledge. Once we did have the information, in a form we could understand, we would need to consider the impact that information would have on our sciences; our academic institutions; and our business community. Alien information could be very disruptive to human society. Now granted, aliens may not want to share their information. If they did share, though, we would need a system in place to handle that information transfer. Such a framework would require a bureaucracy.

The term bureaucracy is often used in the pejorative sense because it can make things in our daily lives much tougher than they need to be.  Anyone who has dealt with city zoning or codes can understand the frustration. However, there is a positive form of bureaucracy. Things cannot be done on a mass scale without some form of organization. It would be frustrating to come up with a novel solution for each and every need. We establish bureaucracy to carry out a process with efficiency and fairness. There are rules and guidelines that are followed. That helps to protect us from unwanted outcomes.

Extraterrestrial contact would require some form of bureaucracy. Initially it could be as simple as determining who carries out basic communication with aliens. It would need to grow from there, especially if there is high information transfer planned between aliens and humans. The initial bureaucracy would need to be established quickly. The United Nations is the only human institution designed to represent most of the world nations. As such, it would be integral in any alien First Contact situation. And yet some of the most criticized bureaucracy on Earth is United Nations based. So, how can the UN provide a platform for alien communication without creating a bureaucratic monster? That would be something for humans to consider in the long term. It would be a matter for the General Assembly and representing nations, to determine. In the short term, we would need an effective and efficient system of communication, and safeguards to protect the human civilization. I suggest that a set of working groups should be implemented immediately After First Contact. Those groups would consist of temporary appointments of experts in specific areas. They would be alien first responders, of sorts. The key would be to create these groups and appoint these experts quickly. That would need to be done by a small group of people; perhaps the UN Security Council? It would be important for the expert groups to be diverse. Clearly expertise would need to lead the way, but sex, race, age and background would need to be considered. It would also be easy to appoint people just from the world superpowers, and ignore smaller or less established nations. I have formed a list of experts that could be called upon. However, it is a very narrow group of those most involved in extraterrestrial intelligence, and human technology development issues.

These temporary groups, let’s call them the Initial Working Groups, would consider the information extraterrestrials offer, determine what was safe and ready to be communicated, and then how best distribute that information. I must, once again, stress the temporary nature of such a framework. Having the Initial Working Groups would provide time for a more robust system to be developed, subject to vigorous debate, and eventual approval by the UN General Assembly.

There would be those who argue against alien information control and that viewpoint is understandable. Transparency and openness is often the best route in many human circumstances. However, this particular circumstance would be unlike anything we have previously encountered. It comes with high risk and many potential threats. Going slowly doesn’t mean that the wider population of humanity won’t eventually receive all of the information aliens are willing to share. It simply gives us the framework to consider the impact of such information before it is released. 

Appointees to the Initial Working Groups would be subject to a great deal of pressure. You can imagine the power an individual would have with access to alien information before the rest of the world. It would be important for members to take a leave of absence from any business or academic employment. They would need to be paid to prevent corruption. The appointees would need to sign non-disclosure papers. That may concern some people, but the emphasis on non-disclosure would be to prevent the release of alien information in leaks. Any debate about the make-up or actions of such a working group would need to be open to full public scrutiny. Appointees should have the ability to comment on organizational issues. There would also need to be a separate watchdog group formed, to make sure the rules were being followed.

In my next post I will provide some thoughts as to what Initial Working Groups would be needed.

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