Will this year be the Year of Alien Contact? Work | Contact | Aliens
According to the American Fun Science website on July 21, 2023 is only halfway through, but it feels like it's already the year of extraterrestrial contact.
In February, US President Biden ordered the shooting down of three unidentified flying objects - a term used by NASA for UFOs. Subsequently, a naval pilot was accused of leaking footage of unidentified flying objects, followed by reports of whistleblowers exposing the possibility of the US government covering up research on unidentified flying objects. An independent analysis report published in June suggests that UFOs may have been intercepted by a secret agency of the US government.
If there is factual evidence of extraterrestrial life, humanity will face a historic shift in its way of thinking.
The Allen Telescope Array in the Cascade Mountains of northern California
As a member of the Indigenous Research Working Group, we were invited to provide our disciplinary expertise to a seminar under the Center for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the University of Berkeley in the United States. Our group's final statement indicates that there is a need for different perspectives on ethical issues related to listening to extraterrestrial life, as well as broadening the definitions of "wisdom" and "life".
Although exploring the phenomenon of unidentified flying objects is usually within the jurisdiction of the military, and NASA also takes the lead in sending information from Earth, most activities related to extraterrestrial communication and evidence search belong to a program called "Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations.".
The Center for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the University of Berkeley invited our Indigenous Research Working Group to write a paper in 2018 for reference by SETI scientists.
SETI scholars often assure critics that the intentions of those who listen to technical signals are well intentioned, because "what harm can listening alone bring?"? Honorary Chairman of SETI Research Center, Gil Tate, defended the listening program because any extraterrestrial civilization would consider our listening technology to be immature or in its early stages.
But our working group is using the history of colonial contact to argue that the idea of dividing civilization into high and low levels is dangerous. For example, when Columbus and other European explorers came to America, their relationship with the locals was determined by preconceptions that Native Americans had no written language and were therefore very backward. This resulted in Native Americans being enslaved for a long time.
Our working group's statement also pointed out that the act of listening itself is already in the "contact stage". Just like colonialism itself, "contact" should be seen as a series of events that began with planning, not as bizarre events. So, isn't unauthorized listening just another form of surveillance? In our working group's view, indiscriminate deliberate listening seems to be a form of eavesdropping.
At the beginning of establishing relations with aliens, unauthorized eavesdropping was carried out while actively working to prevent other countries from eavesdropping on certain communications of the United States, which seems contradictory. If humans are considered rude or careless from the beginning, then contact with aliens is more likely to lead to their colonization of us humans.
Throughout the history of Western colonization, even in a few cases where contact was intentionally protected, it led to cruel acts of violence, pandemics, slavery, and genocide.
The expedition of explorer James Cook on the HMS Endeavour in 1768 was initiated by the Royal Society of England. This British academic institution instructed him to measure the transit activity of Venus from Tahiti Island in order to calculate the distance between Earth and the Sun. The society strictly prohibits him from participating in any colonial activities.
Although Cook achieved his scientific goals, he also received orders from the British royal family to draw a map on his return voyage and demand as much territory as possible. Cook's actions promoted widespread colonization and plundering of indigenous peoples in Oceania, including violent conquest of Australia and New Zealand.
Making information about aliens or discovered alien bodies or spacecraft public is like pushing a domino, which could trigger a series of events, including military operations, resource exploitation by businesses, and even geopolitical restructuring. The history of imperialism and colonialism on Earth shows that not everyone can benefit from colonization. No one can be certain about the outcome of contact with aliens, but it's best to think about warning stories in Earth's history as early as possible.
