
Life could theoretically exist on Mars, or on Europa, a moon of Jupiter, which appears to have an underground ocean. It's even possible (though highly unlikely) that these nearby life forms could be sentient. "It is consistent with current human exploration of the solar system that intelligent beings could have evolved in the deep oceans of Europa," said Jacob Haqq-Misra, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University.
Considering these scenarios, what would we do if we encountered an alien race? As it turns out, the question has garnered considerable academic thought since the first reported flying saucer sighting in 1947, not just as an inquiry in human psychology, but also as a way of contemplating what aliens might do if they ever found us. From astronomers to ufologists to anthropologists, scholars who have contemplated the various "contact scenarios" believe our course of action would strongly depend on the relative intelligence level of the newfound beings. Here, we outline what would happen if we encountered primitive, humanlike, and godlike aliens.
Voyage of discovery
Furthermore, in light of the immense difficulty of space exploration, it is thought that explorers will typically be far more advanced than the creatures they discover. This makes it easy to set the protocol for a first encounter: If we landed on Mars or Europa and discovered the alien equivalents of trilobites, "you would do what Darwin did — collect samples and take them back home," Shostak told Life's Little Mysteries.
Seven steps
According to Robert Freitas, author of several books outlining possible alien contact scenarios, in 1950 the U.S. military developed a procedure called "Seven Steps to Contact," laying out the logical steps we would take upon discovering creatures with roughly human-level sentience. According to the steps, we would begin with remote surveillance and data gathering, and would eventually move on to covert visitations with the goal of gauging the performance characteristics of the aliens' vehicles and weaponry.
If we judged our technological capabilities to be superior to those of the other race, we would attempt near approaches to the planet to determine whether the alien beings were hostile, and if so, by what means. If all went well, we would then make brief touchdowns in isolated areas, securing specimens of plants, animals, and of the intelligent beings themselves. In other words, this phase would involve non-harmful abductions similar to those reported by some Americans. (Interestingly, the "Seven Steps to Contact" plan predated the first reported alien abduction incident in 1957, suggesting the theory could have influenced such reports.) [Alien Abductions May Be Vivid Dreams, Study Finds]
Next, we would make our presence known, making low-level approaches where our craft and its operators could be seen, but not reached. We would try to be witnessed by the greatest possible number of inhabitants, and would demonstrate our existence and our nonhostile nature. Lastly, if all went well and there was no reason to think that contact would be disastrous for the two races involved, we would land and attempt to communicate face-to-alien-face.
Half a century since that military report was penned, we'd still follow much the same procedure. "Let's say that a near-future mission to Europa reveals indisputable evidence of intelligent beings/civilization, Haqq-Misra said. "Continued remote exploration would probably be the most likely progression, with attempts at remote communication with the subterranean intelligent beings included as part of the missions. Eventually humans would want to land and make contact (wearing astro-scuba suits?), but a 'precautionary principle' might delay human exploration until robotic exploration has confirmed that Europa's inhabitants are safe."
Alien overlords
Shostak tends to think differently. Aggression, he says, evolved as a trait among Earthlings because it helps us obtain and protect resources. Though aliens would probably have evolved under totally different conditions, pressure to secure finite resources would probably have molded their behavior, too. "I suspect resources would be finite anywhere in the universe."
If Sagan is right, then the wise race we encountered would treat us with immense consideration and respect, while having the technology to ensure that we treat them similarly. If Shostak is right, and the incredibly advanced aliens we stumbled upon were also as aggressive as we are, we'd probably be toast.
Well, not toast exactly. In Haqq-Misra's opinion, "A society capable of interstellar travel should have solved their development issues such that they do not need humans for food."
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