...So says renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.
Almost everyone has probably heard of SETI, which is a project to listen for any possible transmission of an Alien nature. Let's say one day they detected a message seeking contact. What should we do? About three years ago, there was an interesting article detailing plans by scientists to start directing messages to star systems, broadcasting the equivalent of "Hello" from the Human race. There's some debate on a) what should be broadcast, b) whether any nation with the requisite technical ability to do it has the right to speak for all 6 billion people on Earth, and c) whether it would be a good idea if in the small chance somebody should be listening that might be able to "jump" over to say hello back.
As part of a new series on the Discovery Channel, Hawking proposes that the idea of the existence of alien life is "perfectly rational", with most of it probably being microbes or small animals. However, intelligent life might not be something we want to meet.
I thought this might make for an interesting little late night diary for those that have something better to do than sleep. This possible problem is probably on the same threat level as Zombie Apocalypse or Machine uprising, but the story reminded me of something from a Constitutional Law class I took some years ago.
During the class, we reviewed Johnson v. M'Intosh, 21 U.S. 543 (1823), that pretty much created the "Discovery Doctrine". The unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice John Marshall held that Native American tribes never really held sovereign title to the lands they resided on, the British government through "discovery" held title to the lands, and those rights were transferred to the United States government post-revolution. As a joke, one of my classmates raised his hand & asked the professor whether this means that if aliens show up one day, they could claim Earth through "discovery" at whatever interstellar version of the Supreme Court that might exist? According to Stephen Hawking, that might be possible.
From BBC News:
Aliens almost certainly exist but humans should avoid making contact, Professor Stephen Hawking has warned... aliens might simply raid Earth for resources, then move on. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said. Prof Hawking thinks that, rather than actively trying to communicate with extra-terrestrials, humans should do everything possible to avoid contact.
He explained: "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."
If I remember correctly, Carl Sagan had the exact opposite perspective. His argument was that any species capable of interstellar travel would probably be benevolent. Sagan reasoned that a Nazi-like fascist or authoritarian alien civilization bent on interstellar domination would destroy itself before it could reach that level of technical ability.
Before getting into all of the shitty things that have been thought up by science-fiction for what a hostile species might conceivably do, there is an argument that if tomorrow Aliens landed in Central Park & peacefully said "Hello," or played the 5 tones from 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind", the effect to the planet could be disastrous.
Worst case scenario... throughout human history, whenever a technologically/scientifically superior culture has interacted with an inferior one, the inferior culture has almost always been changed by the interaction. World markets could crash from the instability caused by such a situation. What would the technological & scientific knowledge gained from contact do to current industries? If the computer I'm typing on is about to be replaced by a superior technology, what does that do to HP, Apple, Microsoft and Dell's stock price? The religious & societal implication could cause all types of disturbances. Mass hysteria could result from people overreacting to the incident. Mass suicides could occur.
However, what if they aren't benign aliens? What if they're conquering/totalitarian kind of aliens? Among the invasion scenarios thought up by science fiction:
- Destruction of humanity and/or changing Earth's biosphere in order to pave the way for the colonization of Earth (e.g. the Martians in "War of the Worlds" unleashing their tripods to eradicate humanity, and spread the "red weed" across Earth)
- Enslavement of humanity for manual labor, or taking over human bodies as hosts (e.g. 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
- An attack on Earth & humanity based on a mistake or misunderstanding (e.g. the Minbari's Holy War against humanity in "Babylon 5")
- Destruction of humanity in order to take Earth's "resources".
Given the interstellar distances, cosmic timescales, and a hell of a lot of other technobabble, the odds of a message or some other screw-up causing a fleet of battlecruisers to appear in orbit one day is small. However, what I find fascinating about the entire issue is what Humanity thinks about itself, not only in the type of warning Hawking is stating about the dangers of contact (i.e. because we can be dicks, aliens might be dicks too), but also in the types of message that may be sent seeking contact. The significance of what we choose to include, or leave out can be thought-provoking. For example, if you were an alien & one day happened to come across the Voyager Golden Records, even though there's info on human biology & sexuality, there is no evidence Gay people exist on Earth. There is also no evidence of war, poverty, or disease existing on Earth.
While it is true our radio & television signals have already been radiating out into the Universe for almost a hundred years, aliens picking up an episode of "The Brady Bunch" or "Gilligan's Island" is not as simple as having some rabbit ears... well, maybe extremely big rabbit ears.
Our television signals are diffuse and not targeted at any star system. It would take a truly huge antenna—larger than anything we've built or plan to build--to notice them.
Alien telescopes could perhaps detect Earth's strange oxygen atmosphere, created by life, and a rising CO2 level, suggesting a young industrial civilization. But what would draw their attention to our solar system among the multitudes? Deliberate blasts of narrow-band radiation aimed at nearby stars would—for a certain kind of watcher—cause our planet to suddenly light up, creating an obvious beacon announcing for better or worse, "Here we are!"
There's also an argument of trust. If by some chance a species that's worked out the intricacies of Warp Drive should happen across one of our messages, and those messages present Earth & Humanity as a bundle of roses, won't they feel like we lied to them once they show up here? On the other hand, if we're "too" honest we risk coming off as a bunch of assholes.
If they receive a message from mankind full of positive messages, perhaps they won’t trust us. Worse still, as they get to know us, they think we were hiding our human flaws, misleading them in some way. Therefore, we need to be honest up-front. We need to send the views and opinions of as many people as possible, for good or bad, so extraterrestrial civilizations know what they are dealing with; a talented, yet flawed race.
Unfortunately, that goes against human nature. What’s the first thing you do when moving into a new neighbourhood? You might throw a house-warming party, as a way to introduce yourself to the new neighbours. You probably wouldn’t tell your neighbours about your family/money/alcohol/drug/criminal problems at the party. If you did, you might find the room emptying very quickly. It’s not that you are being dishonest, you’re trying to gain their first-impression trust and interest. This principal holds true for companies trying to sell a product (I have yet to have a doorstep sales person telling me his encyclopaedia collection is actually useless when the world has Wikipedia) and to countries forming new diplomatic ties. We know there’s more to the story than just first impressions, but first impressions are the bonds that help develop the relationship in the future.
With a message, there's the question of what to say? Our "Messages In A Bottle" offer some guidance. Attached to four spacecraft currently drifting through space are time capsules with information about Human civilization. Even if "The End" should come one day from nuclear war, climate collapse, rogue black hole, gamma-ray burst, Hyperspace Bypass, or Cthulhu rising out of the sea, a little bit of our legacy will still be floating out in the Cosmos.
Aboard both Pioneer 10 & Pioneer 11 (launched in 1972 & 1973), there are 6-inch by 9-inch gold anodized aluminum plaques attached to antenna support struts, which would reveal to anyone who found 'em the location of Earth and the existence of Humanity.
The plaque was devised by Carl Sagan & Frank Drake. It's meant to convey as much information as possible with limited space. However, the plaque was not without controversy. Cultural conservatives complained about the nude depiction of Humanity, and railed at NASA for using tax dollars to launch "porn" into space. Some Feminists argued it was sexist, since the female figure seems submissive to the action of the male, and the woman is depicted anatomically incorrect.
Sagan answered some of these critiques.
The original drawings of this couple were made by my wife and were based upon the classical models of Greek sculpture and the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. We do not think this man and woman are ignoring each other. They are not shown holding hands lest the extraterrestrial recipients believe that the couple is one organism joined at the fingertips. (In the absence of indigenous horses, both the Aztecs and the Incas interpreted the mounted conquistador as one animal - a kind of two-headed centaur.) The man and woman are not shown in precisely the same position or carriage so that the suppleness of the limbs could be communicated - although we well understand that the conventions of perspective and line drawing popular on Earth may not be readily apparent to civilizations with other artistic conventions.
The man's right hand is raised in what I once read in an anthropology book is a "universal" sign of good will - although any literal universality is of course unlikely. At least the greeting displays our opposable thumbs. Only one of the two people is shown with hand raised in greeting, lest the recipients deduce erroneously that one of our arms is bent permanently at the elbow.
Several women correspondents complain that the woman appears too passive. One writes that she also wishes to greet the universe, with both arms outstretched in womanly salutation. The principal feminine criticism is that the woman is drawn incomplete - that is, without any hint of external genitalia. The decision to omit a very short line in this diagram was made partly because conventional representation in Greek Statuary omits it. But there was another reason: Our desire to see the message successfully launched on Pioneer 10. In retrospect, we may have judged NASA's scientific-political hierarchy as more puritanical than it is. In the many discussions that I held with such officials, up to the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the President's Science Adviser, not one Victorian demurrer was ever voiced; and a great deal of helpful encouragement was given.
The hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen in the upper left of the plaque is meant to be used as a unit of measurement for deciphering & understanding the other symbols.
A more intricate message is to be found on Voyager I and II (both launched in 1977) in the form of phonographic Golden Records, made of gold-plated copper with uranium-238 electroplated on the record's cover. The records contain sounds, music, and images of Earth & Human culture. The records also come with a cartridge, needle, and complete instructions telling Aliens how to build a record player.
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"This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours."
-President Jimmy Carter
Message contained on Voyager Golden Record
"As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organization of the 147 member states who represent almost all of the human inhabitants of the planet Earth, I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of the immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step."
-United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim
Message contained on Voyager Golden Record
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The records contain 115 images, natural sounds, music (
ranging from Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto" to Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode"), as well as spoken greetings in 55 languages. Among the images contained on the records:
The satellite image of Earth gives the composition of gases within Earth's atmosphere.
The top image is meant to demonstrate Human "licking, eating, and drinking." The bottom describes the chemical composition & structure of Human DNA. It also gives a rudimentary explanation of Human reproduction.
In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will be within 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the Ophiuchus constellation. So get ready for that response.....