Scientists warn: “Prepare for extraterrestrial contact now before it’s too late”
Mankind must be properly prepared for this possible “event”
” First Contact ” is a term most people know from science fiction movies. It is that moment when humanity will meet for the first time with an extraterrestrial entity, a theme that the sci-fi genre has touched on in various ways, either with more imaginative (see Star Trek ) or with more realistic approaches (see Arrival ) either with a positive or even with a negative sign for humanity.
However, the University of St. Andrews warns humanity that it must now prepare for the possibility of an encounter with an alien race before it is too late . The team of St. Andrews joined forces with the British branch of the SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) research network to establish protocols and procedures in case extraterrestrials are found.
The team warns that while there are measures in place to deal with the threats posed by asteroid collisions, there is no agreed response if a radio signal from another intelligent life form were received. The SETI Post Detection hub will bring together experts from around the world to decide how to decipher the methods, enforce space legislation and predict societal impacts.
Dr John Elliott, Research Fellow at St Andrews School of Computing and Coordinator of the SETI Post-Detection hub, said:
“Will we ever get a message from ET? We don’t know. We also don’t know when that will happen. But we do know that we can’t afford to be ill-prepared—scientifically, socially, and politically ungovernable—for an event that could come true even tomorrow and which we cannot afford to mismanage.We need to tune our expertise not only to assess the evidence but also to consider human social response as our understanding evolves and what we know and what we don’t know is communicated. And the time to do that is now.”
Continuing his position Elliott also refers to defining and understanding whatever language or form of communication is used. As it typically states:
“By spotting any patterns within the signal and figuring out how those patterns interact, we’ll then be able to know if it passes this initial surface structure test for showing signs of being language-like. If so, then we’ll be able to move on in identifying the internal structures exhibited by all known intelligent species. Once this is done, we can then proceed to deeper levels of ‘syntax’ to eventually reach the point where it ‘meets’ semantics”.
There is one more factor to consider in the possibility of first contact.
William Borucki, a former NASA space scientist, added: “When I look at how Hollywood portrays contact, one of the things that I find unreal is that people who can easily communicate and have similar aspirations, similar reactions. But when I think intelligent life and its diversity on Earth, we have dogs, monkeys, octopuses that have their intelligence in their hands, not in their heads. We can’t talk to most creatures on Earth in an intelligent way. How will we talk to intelligent civilizations? I’m not sure we’ll ever know.”
