The impact of an outdoor contact culture is the corpus of changes in terrestrial, technological, religious, political, and ecosystem science resulting from contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. This is closely related to the search for space intelligence (SETI), which seeks to find intelligent life as opposed to analyzing the implications of contact with life.
The potential changes of extraterrestrial contacts can vary greatly in magnitude and type, based on the extraterrestrial extraterrestrial technological advance, the level of virtue or malice, and the degree of mutual understanding between themselves and humans. Media in which humans are contacted, whether electromagnetic radiation, direct physical interaction, extraterrestrial artifacts, or otherwise, can also affect contact results. Combining these factors, various systems have been created to assess the implications of space contacts.
The implications of extraterrestrial contacts, especially with technologically superior civilizations, are often equated with the encounter of two very different human cultures on Earth, a historical precedent being the Columbia Exchange. Such meetings generally lead to the destruction of the civilization that receives contact (as opposed to the "contactor", which initiates contact), and therefore the destruction of human civilization is a possible outcome. Extraterrestrial contacts are also analogous to meetings between native and non-human invasive species that occupy the same ecological niche. However, the absence of verified public contacts to date means tragic consequences are still highly speculative.
Video Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact
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Find space intelligence
To detect extraterrestrial civilizations with a radio telescope, one must identify artificial and coherent signals against the background of various natural phenomena that also generate radio waves. The capable telescopes include this Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California and Aperture Spherical Telescope Five new meters in China. Various programs to detect space intelligence have had government funding in the past. The Cyclops project was commissioned by NASA in 1970 to investigate the most effective way to look for signals from intelligent space sources, but the report's recommendations are set aside to support a much simpler approach than Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (METI) the message that intelligent extraterrestrials might be cutting. NASA then drastically reduced funds for the SETI program, which has since turned to private donations to continue their search.
With the discovery of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries of many extrasolar planets, some of which may be habitable, the government has once again become interested in funding new programs. In 2006, the European Space Agency unveiled COROT, the first spacecraft dedicated to searching for exoplanets, and in 2009 NASA launched the Kepler space observatory for the same purpose. In February 2013 Kepler has detected 105 of 3,786 confirmed exoplanets, and one of them, Kepler-22b, is potentially habitable. Once found, the SETI Institute continues the search for an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization, focusing on the planetary candidate Kepler ', with funding from the United States Air Force.
Newly discovered, especially potentially habitable planets, have enabled SETI and METI programs to refocus projects for communication with extraterrestrial intelligence. In 2009 Messages From Earth (AMFE) were delivered to the Gliese 581 planetary system, containing two potentially livable planets, confirmed Gliese 581d and Gliese 581g which are more inhabitable but unconfirmed. In the SETILive project, which began in 2012, human volunteers analyzed data from the Allen Telescope Array to look for possible alien signals that may be missed by a computer due to terrestrial radio interference. Data for this study were obtained by observing the Kepler target star with a radio telescope.
In addition to radio-based methods, several projects, such as SEVENDIP (Search for Visible Embrace Visible from Intelligent Population Developed Around) at the University of California, Berkeley, use other areas of the electromagnetic spectrum to look for space signals. Other projects do not look for coherent signals, but want to use electromagnetic radiation to find other evidence of space intelligence, such as astroengineering megascale projects.
Some signals, like Wow! signal, has been detected in the search history of space intelligence, but nothing has been confirmed as a smart origin.
Impact assessment
The implications of extraterrestrial contact depend on the method of discovery, the nature of the extraterrestrial, and its location relative to the Earth. Taking into account these factors, the Rio Scale has been designed to provide a more quantitative picture of the outbound contact results. More specifically, a scale meter of whether communication is done via radio, information content from any message, and whether the discovery arises from a deliberately disguised message (and if so, whether detection is the result of a special SETI effort or through a general astronomical observation) or by detecting events such as radiation leaks from an astroengineering installation. The question of whether or not a recognized space signal has been confirmed as authentic, and with what degree of confidence, will also affect the impact of the contact. The Rio scale was modified in 2011 to include consideration of whether contacts were achieved through interstellar messages or through physical extraterrestrial artifacts, with the suggestion that the definition of artifacts be extended to include "technosignatures", including all indications of intelligent space life apart from messages the interstellar radio searched by traditional SETI programs.
A study by astronomer Steven J. Dick at the United States Navy Observatory considers the impact of extraterrestrial contact culture by analyzing events that have similar significance in the history of science. The study argues that the impact will be greatly influenced by the information content of the received message, if any. It distinguishes short-term and long-term effects. Looking at radio-based contacts as more plausible scenarios than visits from spaceships, this study rejects the usual European colonization of America's analogy as an accurate model for information contacts, favoring deep-seated scientific events such as the Copernican and Darwin Revolutions, because it is more predictable about how humans could be exposed to extraterrestrial contacts.
The physical distance between the two civilizations has also been used to assess the impact of the outbound contact culture. Historical examples show that the greater the distance, the fewer civilizations contacted who perceive threats to themselves and their culture. Therefore, the contacts that occur in the Solar System, and especially around Earth, are likely to be the most disturbing and negative for humankind. On a smaller scale, people close to the contact epicenter will experience greater effects than those who live far away, and contacts that have multiple epicentrums will cause larger shocks than those with a single epicenter. Space scientists Martin Dominik and John Zarnecki state that in the absence of data about the nature of space intelligence, one must predict the impact of extraterrestrial contact culture on the basis of generalizations that include all life and analogy with history.
Public confidence in the influence of space contact has also been studied. A poll from the United States and a Chinese university student in 2000 provided a response factor analysis on the question of inter alia , the participants' belief that extraterrestrial life exists in the universe, that such a life may be intelligent, and that man will eventually come into contact with him. This study shows a significant weighted correlation between participants' belief that extraterrestrial contacts may conflict with or enrich their personal religious beliefs and how conservative the religious beliefs are. The more conservative the respondent, the more dangerous they perceive the extraterrestrial contacts occur. Another significant correlation pattern indicates that participants take the view that the search for space intelligence may be futile or even dangerous.
Psychologists Douglas Vakoch and Yuh-shiow Lee conducted a survey to assess people's reaction to receive messages from extraterrestrials, including their assessment of the possibility that extraterrestrials would be evil. "People who view the world as hostile are more likely to think extraterrestrials will be hostile," Vakoch told USA Today .
Post-detection protocol
Various protocols have been made by detailing action actions for scientists and governments after space contact. The post-detection protocol must address three issues: what to do in the first week after receiving a message from an extraterrestrial source; whether to send a reply or not; and analyze the long-term consequences of received messages. There is no binding post-detection protocol under national or international law, and Dominik and Zarnecki assume protocols may be ignored if contact occurs.
One of the first post-detection protocols, "Declaration of Activity Principles After the Detection of Extreme Intelligence Intelligence", was made by the SETI Permanent Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). It was later approved by the IAA's Supervisory Board and by the International Space Law Institute, and still later by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the Space Research Committee, the International Union of Radio Science, and others. It was later supported by most of the researchers involved in the search for space intelligence, including the SETI Institute.
The Declaration of Principles contains the following broad terms:
- Any person or organization that detects signals should try to verify that it is likely to come from a smart source before announcing it.
- Inventors of signals shall, for purposes of independent verification, communicate with other signatories of the Declaration before making public announcements, and shall also notify their national authorities.
- After certain astronomical observations have been established into reliable credible space signals, the astronomical community should be notified through the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegram from the IAU. The Secretary-General of the United Nations and other global scientific unions should also be informed.
- Upon confirmation of the observation's external origin, the discovery news shall be published. The inventor has the right to make the first public announcement.
- All data confirming the invention should be published to the international scientific community and stored in the form as accessible as possible.
- If evidence for space intelligence takes the form of an electromagnetic signal, the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) should be contacted, and may request within the next ITU Weekly Circular to minimize terrestrial use of the electromagnetic frequency band in which signals are detected.
- Both the inventor and others must respond to the observed space intelligence; this requires an international agreement under different procedures.
- The Permanent Committee of SETI IAA and Commission 51 of the IAU shall continue to review procedures concerning the detection of space intelligence and the management of the data associated with the invention. A committee comprised of members from various international scientific unions, and other bodies appointed by the committee, shall administer sustained SETI research.
"Proposed Agreement on the Delivery of Communications into Intelligence Intelligence" is then made. It proposes an international commission, a membership which will be open to all interested countries, to be based on the detection of space intelligence. The Commission will decide whether to send a message to the space intelligence, and if so, will determine the content of the message based on principles such as justice, respect for cultural diversity, honesty, and respect for property and territory. The draft proposes to prohibit the sending of any message by a nation or organization without the consent of the commission, and indicates that, if the detected intelligence poses a danger to human civilization, the Security Council of the United Nations must endorse any message to the space intelligence. However, this proposal, like all others, has not been incorporated into national or international law.
Paul Davies, a member of the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, has stated that the post-detection protocol, calling for international consultations before taking major steps on detection, is unlikely to be followed by astronomers, who will put their career advancement on the word protocol that is not part of national or international law.
Maps Potential cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact
Contact scenarios and considerations
Scientific literature and science fiction have put forward various models of ways in which civilizations of extraterrestrials and humans can interact. Their predictions are vast, from sophisticated civilizations that can advance human civilization in many regions to an imperial power that may harness the power necessary to subdue humanity. Some theories suggest that extraterrestrial civilizations can be advanced enough to dispose of biology, not life in sophisticated computers.
The implications of the invention depend heavily on the degree of aggressiveness of civilizations that interact with humanity, ethics, and how much the biological similarity of humans and extraterrestrials. These factors will govern the quantity and type of dialogue that can occur. The question of whether physical contact or through electromagnetic signals will also govern the magnitude of long-term contact implications. In the case of communication using electromagnetic signals, a long silence between receiving one message and another will mean that the content of any message will specifically affect the consequences of contact, as well as mutual understanding.
Civilized civilization
Many authors speculate on the way in which a friendly civilization can interact with mankind. Albert Harrison, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Davis, thinks that a highly developed civilization might teach mankind things like physical theory about everything, how to use zero point energy, or how to travel faster than light. They suggested that collaboration with such a civilization could initially be in art and humanities before moving on to the harsh sciences, and even that artist could spearhead collaboration. Seth D. Baum, of the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute, and others consider that the greater longevity of cooperative civilization compared to uncooperative and aggressive might make extraterrestrial civilizations generally more likely to aid humanity. In contrast to these views, however, Paolo Musso, a member of the SETI Permanent Study Group of the International Astronautics Academy (IAA) and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, takes the view that extraterrestrial civilizations have, like humans, a morality that is driven not entirely by altruism but for the benefit of the individual as well, thus leaving open the possibility that at least a few few extrateregional civilizations are hostile.
Futurist Allen Tough argues that a highly advanced extraterrestrial civilization, remembering its own war and looting and knowing that it has a super weapon that can destroy it, will tend to try to help humans rather than destroy it. He identifies three possible approaches that friendly civilizations would need to help mankind:
- Interventions are just for disaster prevention: this will involve occasional limited interventions to stop events that can destroy an entire human civilization, such as nuclear war or asteroid impact.
- Suggestions and actions with consent: under this approach, extraterrestrials will be more closely involved in terrestrial affairs, advising world leaders and acting with their consent to protect against harm.
- Forced corrective action: extraterrestrials can ask humans to reduce the risk of their will, in order to help humans advance to the next stage of civilization.
It is difficult to consider giving advice and acting only with consent to be a more likely choice than a strong option. Although coercive help is possible, and extraterrestrials will recognize their own practice as superior to humans, it is unlikely that this method will be used in cultural cooperation. Lemarchand points out that the instruction of civilization in its "technological youth," such as humanity, may be focused on morality and ethics rather than on science and technology, to ensure that civilization does not destroy itself with technologies that are not ready for use..
According to Tough, it is unlikely that future hazard avoidance and future disaster prevention will be done via radio, as these tasks will require constant monitoring and quick action. However, cultural cooperation may occur through radio or space probes in the Solar System, because radio waves can be used to communicate information about technology and advanced culture to humanity.
Even if ancient and advanced extraterrestrial civilizations want to help mankind, humans can suffer loss of identity and conviction because of the power of technology and culture of extraterrestrial civilizations. However, a cordial civilization can calibrate its contact with human beings in such a way as to minimize undesirable consequences. Michael A. G. Michaud points out that a friendly and advanced civilization may even avoid all contact with intelligent species emerging like humanity, to ensure that less advanced civilizations can develop naturally at their own pace; this is known as the zoo's hypothesis.
Unstable civilization
Sci-fi films often portray humans successfully repelling alien invasions, but scientists more often take the view that extraterrestrial civilizations with sufficient power to reach Earth will be able to destroy human civilization with little effort. Very large operations on the human scale, such as destroying all the major population centers on the planet, bombarding planets with lethal neutron radiation, or even traveling to other planetary systems to dispose of waste into it, may be an important means of hostility. and totalitarian civilization.
Deardorff speculates that a small part of the intelligent life form in the galaxy may be aggressive, but the true aggressiveness or virtue of civilization will cover a wide spectrum, with some other "police" civilizations. According to Harrison and Dick, unfriendly outer space life may indeed be rare in the Universe, just like the belligerent and autocratic states on Earth that have lasted for the shortest period of time, and mankind sees a shift away from these characteristics in its own sociopolitical system. In addition, the causes of war can be greatly reduced for civilizations with access to the galaxy, as there is a large amount of natural resources in space accessible without resorting to violence.
SETI researcher Carl Sagan believes that a civilization with the technological prowess necessary to reach the star and come to Earth must have surpassed the war in order to avoid self-destruction. Representatives of such civilizations will treat humans with dignity and respect, and humanity, with relatively backward technology, will have no choice but to retaliate. Seth Shostak, an astronomer at the SETI Institute, disagrees, stating that the limited amount of resources in the galaxy will cultivate aggression in every intelligent species, and that the civilization of explorers who want to relate to humanity will be aggressive. Similarly, Ragbir Bhathal claims that since the laws of evolution will be the same on other inhabitable planets like those on Earth, the highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations may have the motivation to colonize mankind, just as the British colonies did to the Australian Aboriginal population.
Arguing this analysis, David Brin states that while space civilizations may have the necessity to act without benefit for themselves, it would be naive to show that such properties would be prevalent throughout the galaxy. Brin points to the fact that in many moral systems on Earth, such as the Aztec or Carthage, non-military killing has been accepted and even "exalted" by society, and further mentions that such acts are not confined to humans but can be found throughout the animal kingdom.
Baum et al. speculate that highly advanced civilizations are unlikely to come to Earth to enslave humans, as achieving their level of progress will require them to solve labor and resource problems in other ways, such as creating a sustainable environment and using mechanical labor. In addition, humans may be a source of food unsuitable for aliens because of marked differences in biochemistry. For example, the diversity of molecules used by terrestrial biota can be different from that used by extraterrestrials. Douglas Vakoch argues that deliberate signal transmission does not increase the risk of alien invasion, contrary to the concerns raised by British cosmologist Stephen Hawking, because "every civilization that has the ability to travel among stars has been able to take unintentional radio and TV leaks.. "
The politicians also comment on possible human reactions to contact with hostile species. In his 1987 speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Ronald Reagan said, "I sometimes think how quickly the differences around the world will disappear if we face foreign threats from outside the world."
Civilization forward and more advanced
Robert Freitas speculated in 1978 that technological advances and the use of the energy of civilization, measured either relative to other civilizations or in absolute terms by his judgment on the Kardashev scale, could play an important role in the outer contacts of the earth. Given the impossibility of interstellar space flight to civilization at a level of technology similar to humanity, interactions between such civilizations must be done by radio. Due to the long transit time of interstellar radio waves, such interactions will not lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations, or any significant future interactions at all, between two civilizations.
According to Freitas, direct contact with civilization is significantly more advanced than humans must occur in the Solar System, as only more advanced societies will have the resources and technology to cross the interstellar space. Consequently, such contacts can only be with civilizations assessed as Type II or higher on the Kardashev scale, since Type I civilizations will not be able to travel between ordinary stars. Freitas hopes that such interactions will be carefully planned by more advanced civilizations to avoid mass social shock for mankind.
Yet much of the planning of extraterrestrial civilizations can be done before contacting humans, humans may experience major shock and terror upon their arrival, especially as they have no understanding of contact civilization. Ben Finney compared the situation to the tribe of New Guinea, an island built fifty thousand years ago during the last glacial period but little contact with the outside world until the arrival of European colonial rule in the late 19th and early 19th century. century. The great difference between the indigenous peoples and the European technical civilizations led to unpredictable behavior among indigenous peoples known as the cultivation cults: to persuade the gods to bring them European-owned technology, the natives created "radio stations" of wood and "airstrips "as a form of sympathetic magic. Finney argues that humans may misunderstand the true meaning of the transmission of extraterrestrials to Earth, just as people in New Guinea can not understand the source of modern goods and technology. He concludes that extraterrestrial contact results will be known over the long term with rigorous studies, not as fast and sharp events that briefly make headlines in newspapers.
Billingham has suggested that a much more technologically advanced civilization than humans also tends to advance culturally and ethically, and therefore it is impossible to undertake astroengineering projects that would harm human civilization. Such projects could include Dyson balls, which actually attach stars and capture all the energy coming from them. Even if in advanced civilizational capabilities and provide a large amount of energy, such a project would not be done. For the same reason, such a civilization would not be ready to give mankind the knowledge needed to build such a device. However, the existence of such capabilities will at least show that civilization has survived "technological adolescence". Regardless of the caution that such advanced civilizations will work in dealing with mature human civilizations, Sagan imagines that advanced civilizations might send them on Earth an EncyclopÃÆ'Â|dia Galactica that describes the science and culture of many extraterrestrials of society.
Whether advanced extraterrestrial civilization will send a message that humanity can solve is a matter of debate itself. Sagan argues that highly developed extraterrestrial civilizations will remember that they communicate with the relatively primitive and therefore will try to ensure that the receiving civilization will be able to understand the message. Arguing against this view, astronomer Guillermo Lemarchand stated that advanced civilization may encrypt messages with high information content, such as EncyclopÃÆ'Â|dia Galactica , to ensure that only other advanced ethical civilizations will be able to understand it. Douglas Vakoch considers it may take time to decode any message, telling ABC News that "I do not think we'll soon understand what they have to say." "There will be many conjectures in trying to interpret other civilizations," he told Science Friday, adding that "in some ways, every message we get from extraterrestrials will be like Rorschach's ink blast cosmic ink."
Group of interstellar civilizations
Given the age of the galaxy, Harrison suspects that there are several "galactic clubs", grouping civilizations from across the galaxy. Such clubs can begin as confederations or loose alliances, eventually evolving into powerful unions of many civilizations. If humankind could enter into dialogue with an extraterrestrial civilization, it might be possible to join such a galaxy club. When more extraterrestrial civilizations, or their associates, are found, this can also be assimilated into such clubs. Sebastian von Hoerner has suggested that entry into galactic clubs may be a way for mankind to deal with culture shocks that arise from contact with advanced extraterrestrial civilizations.
Whether the broad spectrum of civilizations from many places in the galaxy will even be able to work together is disputed by Michaud, who argues that civilizations with huge differences in technology and resources at their command "may not consider themselves to be equals". It is unlikely that mankind will meet the basic requirements for membership at the current low technological advancement level. A possible galaxy club, William Hamilton speculates, sets a very high entry requirement that the less advanced civilization imposes impossible.
When two Canadian astronomers argued that they could potentially find 234 extraterrestrial civilizations through an analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database, Douglas Vakoch doubted their explanation for their findings, noting that it is not uncommon for all these stars to beat at the same frequency unless they are part of a network coordinated: "If you take a step back," he said, "that means you have 234 independent stars who all decided to submit the exact same way."
Michaud suggested that the clustering of interstellar civilizations might take the form of the empire, which need not be a force for evil, but may provide peace and security throughout its jurisdiction. Because of the distance between the stars, such an empire would not always retain control solely by military force, but perhaps more tolerate local cultures and institutions to the extent that this would not pose a threat to the central imperial authority. Such tolerations may, as historically occurred on Earth, extend to allow self-control over certain areas by existing institutions, while maintaining the territory as puppets or client states in order to achieve the objectives of imperial power. However, in particular advanced forces may use methods, including travel faster than light, to make central administration more effective.
In contrast to the belief that a space civilization wants to establish an empire, "irkovi" proposes that extraterrestrial civilization will maintain a balance rather than extend outward.In such equilibrium, civilization will only colonize a small number of stars, aiming to maximize efficiency rather than expanding the imperial structure big and not lasting, in contrast to the classic Kardashev Type III civilization, which has access to the energy output of the entire galaxy and is not subject to constraints on future expansion.According to this view, advanced civilizations may not resemble classical examples in science fiction , but may more closely reflect the small and independent Greek city states, with an emphasis on non-territorial cultural growth.
Extraterrestrial artifact
An extraterrestrial civilization may choose to communicate with humanity by using artifacts or probes rather than through radio, for various reasons. While the probe may take a long time to reach the Solar System, once there they will be able to hold a continuous dialogue that is impossible to use radio from hundreds or thousands of light years away. Radio will be completely unsuitable for further surveillance and monitoring of civilization, and if extraterrestrial civilizations want to do this activity on humanity, artifacts may be the only option other than sending large spacecraft castrated to the Solar System.
Although travel faster than light has been taken seriously by physicists such as Miguel Alcubierre, Tough speculates that the large amount of energy required to reach such speeds under the proposed mechanism at the moment means that robotic probes traveling at conventional speeds will still have the advantage of various applications. The 2013 study at NASA's Johnson Space Center, however, shows that the faster travel of light with Alcubierre drives requires much lesser energy than previously thought, requiring only about 1 metric ton of exotic energy-mass to move the spacecraft at 10 times the speed light, in contrast to previous estimates which state that only the mass objects of Jupiter would contain enough energy to light a spacecraft faster than light.
According to Tough, extraterrestrial civilizations may wish to transmit various types of information to mankind using artifacts, such as EncyclopÃÆ'Â|dia Galactica , containing innumerable extraterrestrial cultural wisdom, or perhaps an invitation to engage in diplomacy with they. A civilization that sees itself on the brink of decline may use the ability it still has to send probes across the galaxy, with culture, values, religion, science, technology, and law, so that it can not die together with civilization itself..
Freitas finds many reasons why intercellar probes can be the preferred method of communication among extraterrestrial civilizations who want to make contact with Earth. A civilization that aims to learn more about the distribution of life in a galaxy may, he speculates, sends probes to a large number of star systems, rather than using radio, since one can not ascertain a radio response but can (assure) that the probe will return to its sender with data on the star system they surveyed. Furthermore, probes will allow surveys of non-savvy populations, or those who have not been able to navigate in space (like humans before the 20th century), as well as intelligent populations who may not want to provide information about themselves and their planet to extraterrestrial civilizations.. In addition, greater energy is required to send living beings rather than robotic probes, according to Michaud, is only used for purposes such as one-way migration.
Freitas shows that the probe, unlike interstellar radio waves generally targeted by SETI search, can store information for long periods of time, perhaps geologically, and can emit strong, unrecognizable intelligent radio signals as intelligent origin, rather than being fired as UFOs or natural phenomena. Probes can also modify the signals they send to fit the system they are using, which is impossible for radio transmissions originating outside of the target star system. In addition, the use of small robotic probes with widespread flare in individual systems, rather than a small number of strong centralized beacons, will provide security benefits for civilizations who use them. Instead of revealing the location of a radio beacon strong enough to signal the entire galaxy and risking such powerful devices as compromised, the decentralized flare mounted on the robotic probes does not need to reveal any information that extraterrestrial civilizations prefer others do not have.
Given the age of the Milky Way galaxy, ancient extraterrestrial civilizations may have existed and sent probes to millions of the Solar System or even billions of years before the evolution of Homo sapiens. Thus, the investigations sent may not work for millions of years before humans know of their existence. Such "dead" investigations will not pose a threat to humanity, but will prove that interstellar flight is possible. However, if active probes are discovered, humans will react much stronger than they would be to the discovery of probe that has long ceased to function.
Further implications of contact
Theological
Confirmation of space intelligence can have a profound impact on religious doctrines, potentially causing theologians to reinterpret the scriptures to accommodate new discoveries. However, a survey of people with many different religious beliefs suggests that their faith will not be affected by the discovery of space intelligence, and other studies, conducted by Ted Peters of the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, suggest that most people will not consider religion they. confidence replaced by him. Survey of religious leaders shows that only a few are concerned that the existence of space intelligence may be fundamentally at odds with the views of their adherents. Gabriel Funes, the principal astronomer of the Vatican Observatory and the pope's advocate of science, has stated that the Catholic Church is likely to greet the spacewalkers warmly.
Contact with space intelligence will not be entirely unimportant to religion. Peters' study shows that most non-religious people, and the vast majority of religious people, believe that the world can face a religious crisis, even if their own beliefs are not affected. Contact with space intelligence is likely to pose a problem for western religions, especially traditionalist Christianity, due to the geocentric nature of western religions. The invention of extraterrestrial life will not contradict God's basic conception, and seeing that science has challenged established dogmas in the past, for example with the theory of evolution, it is possible that the existing religion will adapt to the new state. Douglas Vakoch argues that it is unlikely that the invention of extraterrestrial life will have an impact on religious beliefs. In Musso's view, the global religious crisis would not be possible even for Abrahamic religions, such as the study of himself and others about Christianity, the most "anthropocentric" religion, not seeing the conflict between religion and the existence of space intelligence. In addition, the cultural and religious values ​​of extraterrestrial species are likely to be distributed over the centuries if contact will occur by radio, meaning that rather than causing major shocks to humanity, such information will be viewed as many archaeologists and historians seeing ancient artifacts and texts.
Funes speculates that a resolvable message from space intelligence can initiate the exchange of interstellar knowledge in a variety of disciplines, including whatever religion may be embodied by extraterrestrial civilizations. Billingham further points out that a highly developed and friendly civilization might end the current religious conflict and lead to greater religious tolerance around the world. On the other hand, Jill Tarter puts forward the view that contact with the space intelligentsia can obliterate the religion as we know it and introduce mankind to the all-encompassing faith. Vakoch doubts that humans will be inclined to adopt the religion of outer space, saying ABC News I think religion meets human needs, and unless the extraterrestrials can provide a substitute for it, I do not think religion will go away, "and adding, "if there is a highly developed civilization with a belief in God, I do not think Richard Dawkins will start believing."
Politics
Folger's team speculated that radio news contacts with extraterrestrial civilizations would prove impossible to suppress and would travel quickly, even though the Cold War scientific literature on this point goes against this. Media coverage of the discovery may soon subside, as scientists begin to understand the message and study its true impact. Different branches of government (eg, legislative, executive, and judiciary) can pursue their own policies, potentially giving rise to power struggles. Even in the case of a single contact without follow-up, radio contact can lead to fierce opposition about which bodies have the authority to represent humanity as a whole. Michaud hypothesized that the fear arising from direct contact could lead to nation-states to override their conflicts and cooperate for the common defense of humanity.
Regardless of the question of who will represent the Earth as a whole, contact can create other international problems, such as the level of foreign government involvement for people who radio astronomers receive signals. The United Nations discussed a variety of foreign relations issues immediately before the launch of the Voyager probe, which in 2012 left the Solar System carrying a record of gold in case they were found by space intelligence. Among the issues discussed were what messages represented the most humanity, what format they should take, how to convey the Earth's cultural history, and what international groups should be formed to study space intelligence in greater detail.
According to Luca Codignola of the University of Genoa, contact with a powerful overseas civilization is proportional to the occasion in which one powerful civilization destroys another, such as the arrival of Christopher Columbus and HernÃÆ'¡n CortÃÆ' Â © s to America and the subsequent destruction of the native civilization and way of life they. However, the adoption of such models for dealing with extraterrestrial civilizations, and the specific interpretation of the arrival of European colonists into America, has been disputed. Even so, the big difference between the power of extraterrestrial civilization and ourselves can be demoralized and has the potential to cause or accelerate the collapse of human society. Discovered by the extraordinary "outer space" civilization, and its ongoing contacts, may have psychological effects that could destroy civilization, as claimed to have happened in the past on Earth.
Even in the absence of close contact between humanity and extraterrestrials, the high information messages of extraterrestrial civilization to humans have the potential to cause great cultural shocks. Sociologist Donald Tarter has suspected that knowledge of extraterrestrial cultures and theology has the potential to compromise human loyalty to existing organizational structures and institutions. Cultural shocks to encounter extraterrestrial civilizations can be dispersed for decades or even centuries if space messages to mankind are hard to understand.
Legal
Contact with extraterrestrial civilization will raise legal questions, such as the rights of extraterrestrials. The arrival of extraterrestrials on Earth may have only the protection of laws on animal cruelty. Just as various classes of people, such as women, children, and indigenous peoples, were initially denied human rights, so perhaps extraterrestrials, which can therefore be legally possessed and killed. If such species are not treated as legal animals, there will be challenges to defining the boundaries between law and animal law, taking into account many factors that constitute intelligence.
Freitas assumes that even if extraterrestrials will be given legal personality, nationality and immigration issues will emerge. Extraterrestrials will not have legally recognized worldly citizenship, and drastic legal measures may be needed to explain illegally technical immigration from outer space individuals.
If contact occurs through an electromagnetic signal, this problem will not appear. Conversely, issues related to patents and copyright laws over who, if any, have the right to information from extraterrestrial civilizations would be a major legal issue.
Scientific and technological
The scientific and technological impact of extraterrestrial contact through electromagnetic waves may be very small, especially in the beginning. However, if the message contains large amounts of information, interpreting it can give people access to the legacy of galaxies that may precede the formation of the Solar System, which may greatly advance our technology and science. Possible negative effects are demoralizing research scientists because they know that what they are researching may already be known to other civilizations.
On the other hand, extraterrestrial civilizations with malicious intent can send information that could allow human civilization to destroy itself, such as powerful computer viruses or information on how to create powerful weapons that humanity can not yet use responsibly. While the motive for such an action is unknown, it will require the use of minimal energy on the part of extraterrestrials. According to Musso, however, computer viruses in particular are virtually impossible unless extraterrestrials have detailed knowledge of human computer architecture, which will only occur if the human messages sent to the stars are protected with little thought for security. Even virtual machines where extraterrestrials can run computer programs can be designed specifically for that purpose, which has little to do with commonly used computer systems on Earth. In addition, humans can send messages to extraterrestrials detailing that they do not want access to EncyclopÃÆ'Â|dia Galactica until they reach appropriate levels of technological progress, thereby reducing the harmful effects of space technology.
Space technology can have a major impact on the nature of human culture and civilization. Just as television provides new channels for different political, religious, and social groups, and because the printing press makes the Bible available to the general European community, it allows them to interpret it themselves, so that space technology can change. humanity in a way not immediately visible. Harrison speculates that knowledge of space technology can increase the gap between scientific and cultural progress, leading to social shock and an inability to offset the negative effects of technology. He gave examples of improvements in agricultural technology during the Industrial Revolution, which replaced thousands of peasants until people could train them for work in accordance with the new social order. Contact with extraterrestrial civilizations far more advanced than humans can cause far greater shocks than the Industrial Revolution, or anything previously experienced by mankind.
Michaud points out that humanity can be influenced by the inclusion of space science and technology in the same way as medieval European scholars who were influenced by the knowledge of Arab scholars. Humanity may initially respect knowledge as having the potential to advance the human species, and may even feel inferior to extraterrestrial species, but will gradually grow in arrogance as it gains more and more deep knowledge about science, technology, and other cultures. further extraterrestrial civilization developments.
The discovery of space intelligence will have various impacts on biology and astrobiology. The discovery of extraterrestrial life in any form, intelligent or unintelligent, will give humans a wider insight into the nature of life on Earth and will enhance the conception of how the tree of life is governed. Human biologists can learn about extraterrestrial biochemistry and observe how it differs from that found on Earth. This knowledge can help human civilization to learn aspects of life that are common throughout the universe and that are specific to Earth.
Ecological and biological-war impact
Extraterrestrial civilizations may carry Earth pathogens or invasive life forms that do not endanger their own biosphere. Foreign pathogens can destroy human populations, which have no immunity to them, or they may use land animals or plants as hosts, causing indirect harm to humans. The invasive organisms carried by extraterrestrial civilizations can cause great ecological damage due to the lack of terrestrial biosphere defenses against them.
On the other hand, invasive pathogens and invasive species may be quite different from terrestrial organisms in their biology to have no side effects. Furthermore, the pathogens and parasites on Earth are generally suitable only for small and exclusive environments, where extraterrestrial pathogens will not have the opportunity to adapt.
If extraterrestrial civilizations that bring hatred to humanity gain sufficient knowledge of terrestrial biology and weakness in the immune system of the terrestrial biota, it may be able to create powerful biological weapons. Even civilizations without evil intentions can inadvertently cause damage to humanity by not taking into account all the risks of their actions.
According to Baum, even if extraterrestrial civilizations communicate using only electromagnetic signals, it can transmit humanitarian information by which humans themselves can create deadly biological weapons.
References
Note
Further reading
- Steven J. Dick: The impact of discovering extraterrestrial life. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2015, ISBN 978-1-107-10998-8.
- Michael Ashkenazi: What We Know About Intraterrestrial Intelligence. Springer, Cham 2016, ISBN 978-3-319-44455-0.
- Vakoch, Douglas: Astrobiology, History, and Society - Earth Life and the Impact of the Invention. Springer, Heidelberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-43540-9.
External links
- SETI Institute
- Cultural Aspects SETI
- Introduction to Extra Terrestrial Intelligence
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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