What If Aliens Came to Earth?
There are many popular books and movies about alien visits that don’t go well for one reason or another. Most frequently, humanity is caught flat-footed and needs to quickly mount a defense against the invaders. Less commonly told is the story of first contact going well, and in my research I was unable to find any studies on how humanity should best approach such a situation.
My personal thoughts on the existence of alien life in the universe is that it’s highly unlikely that Earth is the only planet with intelligent life, especially given the age of Earth compared to other planets. And while it’s possible life can occur on a planet much different than our own, we are finding more and more planets like Earth that can sustain life as we know it. To me this means that it’s not a matter of if we will encounter alien intelligent life, but a matter of when and how.
To that end, I thought it would be fun to spend a little time outlining some thoughts on how we might best prepare and respond to an alien visit.
Check for signs of aliens coming towards us
One of the first steps in preparing for an extraterrestrial visit is to know when they are coming. We need to be constantly searching for signs of unusual objects coming toward our galaxy, which organizations like the SETI Institute and NASA are already doing together in the United States. What would be better though is collaboration with similar institutes and agencies across the globe narrowly focused on this search. The instant something is found, they would all be alerted to verify any claims and prepare for what’s next.
Have a global group in charge of preparing
In the event that aliens were to visit Earth, it’s important to have a united front. We don’t want Russia trying to attack while China and the US argue over who takes lead in establishing communication. That’s why we need a global group of leaders and researchers in charge of preparing for this scenario. Let’s call it the “Global Alliance for Alien Visitation,” or GAAV for short.
GAAV would operate much like the World Health Organization (WHO) or World Bank Group (WBG), which function within the intergovernmental organization United Nations. I envision GAAV as an agency tasked with overseeing every aspect of an extraterrestrial visit, including research and preparation before a visit, and communication and relations after one.
Update: I’ve learned the United Nations actually does have an organization called the Office for Outer Space Affairs, or UNOOSA. While it’s not exactly GAAV, it would be a good place to start.
Properly communicate to the world
So let’s say we have GAAV working with with groups across the world like SETI, searching nearby galaxies, and we spot what is clearly an extraterrestrial spacecraft coming directly towards Earth. Now we need to inform the world.
That communication would first come from GAAV, who would provide a factual summary of the situation. But shortly after it would be ideal to have leaders from each country speak directly to their citizens to help contextualize and calm. This means that first GAAV will have needed to prepare these world leaders on what and how to communicate this kind of information.
GAAV would probably aim to share as much information as possible to limit the potential of people filling gaps of knowledge with misinformation or disinformation. How information is distributed is important too, as we wouldn’t want to inadvertently induce a mass panic. Finding the right balance here is key, and is perhaps more art than science.
The arrival
Let’s skip ahead a bit and assume the aliens are almost here. We need to be ready for their arrival. To start, we should use multiple forms of communication (lights at different wavelengths, electronic/mathematical messages, etc) in an attempt to direct them to a specific landing zone. We’ll want to designate some neutral zone on the planet that is away from civilians in case things go badly, but we also want to have the proper staffing with the right equipment near this location.
The aliens may decide to land elsewhere, perhaps having already identified the most technically advanced location on Earth. In case of this scenario, we’ll need to have multiple groups across the globe prepared to mobilize to the their location, managing the situation until the primary team can relocate. They may also come with multiple ships and land in multiple locations, in which case having prepared multiple groups would also prove beneficial.
These groups, whether they are one or many across the planet, would primarily consist of academics in various areas including linguistics, physics, biology, and math, and be focused on establishing forms of communication complex enough to have a conversation.
We come in peace
It’s very likely that any species traveling long distances in the universe is more intelligent and technologically advanced than we are, assuming we ourselves are not already doing the same at that point history. With that intelligence and technology, we should assume they could wipe out all life on the planet if they wanted to, though its also possible they are pacifist who only come to share knowledge. Regardless, our number one goal should be to make it clear that we are not a threat. One false move could mean the end of humanity.
Even if the intent is not there, there is also potential that one of us may mistakenly pass along some virus to the other, inadvertently killing one or many of that species. One of the most important thing we can do then is to properly isolate the aliens and those that will be interacting with them, following the strictest of health and safety protocols.
We’ll want to do what we can to communicate from afar before getting up close. It may take weeks, months, or years to hold a full conversation, so we’ll need to prioritize tasks like expressing intentions as early as we can.
We may not encounter intelligent alien life in our lifetimes. In fact, given the size of the universe we may never cross paths with anyone else. Even so, we should still consider dedicating some resources to thinking about and planning for a potential encounter.
If we do spot a spaceship coming towards us, we’ll have to tackle the situation with a well-organized and united global front, which could prove difficult to accomplish in a short time span. The earlier we prepare for this seemingly science-fiction future then, the better.
