RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALIEN CONTACT

U.S. Congressional Staffers Sharon Kim, Alex Brandt, Alex Dinos, and Corinne Bass

Presentation Outline Alien Encounter on Earth

“History” of U.S. Alien Contact Friend or Foe First Contact Proposed Plan Military Response

Alien Discovery in Space Spectrum of Scenarios Initial Assessment

Friendly Hostile

Proposed Plan Effects of an Alien Encounter

Mass Panic Economic Religious Political

Alien Encounter on Earth

Alien Contact in U.S. Roswell Incident, July 1947

Strange metal debris discovered in the New Mexico desert, humanoid alien “bodies” recovered from a second site

After investigation, the Army said the debris was from a downed balloon

1970s: New witness testimony suggested government cover-up

1994 & 1997: Air Force releases 2 reports explaining the incident

Government cover-up is “superficially plausible” (Davies) But what do we do if aliens really come to Earth?

http://www.cufos.org/airforce.htm

Friend or Foe? “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as

when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans…Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach.”

-Stephen Hawking Aliens might:

Look and behave like us Have evolved in a Darwinian fashion, competing for resources Be artificially intelligent or synthetic

Is there reason to be optimistic? Aliens might have advanced past the point of violence Opportunities for exchange of knowledge/technology

Friendly Encounters in Pop Culture

Hostile Encounters in Pop Culture

We’ll know of an E.T. presence before it even enters Earth’s atmosphere

SETI Institute uses radio telescopes to sweep space for any alien signals

Post-Detection Taskgroup Stipulate the procedure

immediately following first contact

Notify authorities (U.S. government, UN, etc.)

First Contact

Depending on the scale, we’d like to estimate the aliens’ landing site(s) A single landing site for

one small craft might be easily contained or investigated

Projected landings at every major city on Earth would automatically be deemed a threat

Do not immediately attack, but presume they’re dangerous

First Contact

Proposed plan—COPUOS

1. Conduct consultations open to all interested States on what to say

2. UN General Assembly should ultimately decide3. Messages should be on behalf of all Humankind4. Should have a long-term institutional framework for

communications 5. No communication to ETI should be sent by any State until

appropriate international consultations have taken place. 6. States should draw on the expertise of scientists, scholars,

and others with relevant knowledge

http://www.setileague.org/iaaseti/reply.htm

Proposed Plan Does the alien life form pose an

immediate threat to humanity? Have our peoples’ initial actions posed a

threat to alien life that could trigger conflict?

Self-preserving measures should be taken first if either of these questions ring true: Evacuate civilians near the alien threat If attack is in the US, prepare emergency

military response team If attack is outside the US, retreat military

occupancy to major cities and prepare to aide allies if need be

Important to note that a global military plan of action will most likely be necessary to overcome a large scale invasion

Military Response U.S. Air Force is the

most equipped to handle an alien threat

Most powerful gun in the world might be our best land option: http://natgeotv.com/uk/al

ien-invasion/videos/most-powerful-gun-in-the

Nuclear weapons should only be used as an absolutely last resort due to collateral damage

Spectrum of Possible Scenarios for Encountering Alien Life in Space

Evidence of past life found on another planet

Full-blown Earth-like

civilization on another planet

Radio signal

Satellite or probe

Fleet of ships

Hostile Alien Encounters in Space:While our search for life on other planets continues, we must address the possibilities of what we might encounter.

As Ridley Scott's Alien franchise considers, an unprepared encounter with hostile alien life could be fatal.

Proposed Plan of Interaction:Step 1: Attempt ContactEven if the first interaction is hostile, an attempt at contact should be made. If communication is possible, then there is a chance of peaceful negotiation.

The nation's top computer programmers, linguists, translators, and psychologists should be employed in the attempt at communication. Keep in mind that an alien species may have different sensory organs than humans, so communication might not be auditory/visual.

Step 2: Positive Negotiation

If communication is possible, the aliens' reason for attack/desired outcome should be discussed.

- If information is desired, we should proceed with caution and agree to trade scientific knowledge.

- If resources are desired, we should proceed with caution and discuss the possibilities of trade. If an advantageous trade can be made, we could improve the safety of our planet/quality of life

What Do They Want?

- If colonization is desired, we should decline and proceed to step 3.

- If slavery is desired, we should decline and proceed to step 3.

Step 2a: Negative Negotiation

Step 3: Counter-Attack

If communication is possible but peaceful negotiation is not, we should inform the opposing force that we intend to defend our planet and its occupants by whatever means necessary. If a surrender is not offered, we should attack.

- If the offending party is a fleet far from its home planet, we should eliminate the immediate threat and research the possibility of a future second fleet.

- If the offending party is near its home planet, we should attempt to research the planet/species as a whole.

Step 4: If Communication is Not PossibleIf the alien species is unable/unwilling

to communicate and continues to attack, we should launch a counter-attack

Counter-Attack: A committee should be formed - not just military leaders but also biologists, behaviorists, psychologists, astrophysicists - anyone that could help us understand.

Considerations:Even if direct communication is not possible, we may be able to gather information that could gain us an advantage. We should aim to detect:

- Where they came from

- How they communicate

- Physical weaknesses

- Social

organization/leadership- Weaponry-

Transportation/energy sources used

Initial Assessment of Friendly Aliens

Initial assessment must be that they are hostile—we proceed with caution.

Deliver some sort of generic, pre-recorded message/sound waves/morse code and wait for a response

Regardless of the response, we must decide if it’s worth it to take a chance and see how the first man-alien interaction pans out.

Initial Assessment of Friendly Aliens

Space explorers should be required to sign some type of document stating whether or not they would agree to approach intelligent life forms if the chance came up during a mission.

There will definitely be many enthusiastic volunteers for first contact after sighting.

Assuming aliens are friendly after initial contact, we proceed to negotiate with their kind.

If they are interested in working with us, we follow through with one of the following plans...

Proposed Plan Plan 1: Integration

Take a few aliens back to our planet and integrate them into Earth life without the public knowing.

Negotiate an agreement with the aliens to further integrate if mission is successful

Otherwise, return them to homeworld

If we come to an agreement with the aliens, we then take several careful measures to inform the public.

Proposed Plan Plan 2: Prior Public

Knowledge Return after the alien

sighting without any of the new life forms

Inform the public that there exists intelligent life in other parts of the universe

We would take further action depending on the decision/agreement we created with national security and the government.

Plan 3: Post Public Knowledge Same as plan 2 except our

government takes action long before the public is informed

Proposed Plan

Plan 4: Test and Return Friendly life forms are

benevolent and agree to some tests and interviews (if possible)

Perform on Earth or in space depending on technology

Important to maintain peaceful relationship despite findings

We analyze the results and findings and determine if there are any other measures we may need to take or what we can do in the future regarding this newly found alien life.

Things to Note We can never be absolutely

positive of whether any alien encounters will be friendly

Do benefits (potentially beneficial relationship with the aliens) outweigh the costs (deceit that may potentially result in harmful interaction)?

Difficult to prove aliens are friendly to public because of portrayal in the media Better off keeping the public

uninformed for some time In this case only the U.S. would

know of Extra Terrestrial life, should other countries’ government agencies be informed?

Friendly interaction can prove to be very productive for the country and even the world.

If aliens are able to mold themselves into our society, they can be a part of the work force and be beneficial to the economy.

They can also help us advance in space exploration and many other aspects of society.

Not to mention they can give us hints about what else is out there in the universe.

Effects of an Alien Encounter

Mass Panic

Initial shock will likely be replaced by a united front

Examples: Pearl Harbor 9/11

Humanity possesses survival instinct

Mass Panic In situations like a nuclear emergency, the

FBI is put in charge of public health, safety, and information; how they will manage an alien threat is anybody’s guess

An official response should be made as soon as possible to prepare citizens and avoid mass panic/media frenzy Give the public enough information to ensure

their safety, but not cause rioting and hysteria What you don’t want the public to see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czy4RjcrpFM

Economic Effects Paul Krugman, an

economics professor at Princeton, thinks another world war or alien invasion might actually be good for the economy: Initially, huge negative shock GDP will then grow by an

unprecedented quantity as the entire world gears for war

World War II and the Great Depression on a worldwide scale

Unemployment falls and inflation take a backseat to economic growth

What about religion? Christianity most challenged by the concept of ET beings But a survey of 1,135 people of several faiths showed that

alien life wouldn’t disrupt their core beliefs “…Contact with extraterrestrial intelligence will expand

the existing religious vision…”-Ted Peters, Lutheran theologian

Pope’s astronomer: "Any entity—no matter how many tentacles it has—has a soul." Would he baptize an alien? "Only if they asked.“

Davies (2010) believes any theology with an insistence on human uniqueness is doomed, but religion is adaptable

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jan/10/earth-close-encounter-aliens-extraterrestrials

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/17/pope-astronomer-baptise-aliens

Political Decisions for the World Problem: Delayed information release would result in distrust

between nations and independent action. Solution: Policies before contact requiring public sharing of

information about detection and establishing one point of contact for the aliens.

Problem: Managing extreme political and religious reactions against alien cultural influences.

Solution: Policies and law enforcement to limit the effects of extreme behavior

Problem: Who speaks for the Earth, and what should we say? Solution: Use a preferred channel to help establish greater

mutual confidence and prevent sending mixed signals. The U.N., as the most universal intergovernmental organization, would determine what to say

http://www.setileague.org/iaaseti/decision.pdf

Other Unconsidered Possibilities

Aliens already present or were once present on our planet Underground monolith Alien ship buried under

ice Aliens threaten to

destroy Earth without even landing Need for missile

defenses in space?

Questions?