A feature article in Monday's New York Times reports that an effort at a radio astronomy observatory in California to search for extraterrestrial intelligent life has recently resumed operations after a gap caused by a funding shortfall. The article cites the conclusions of some scientists involved in the search that, based on the discoveries of planets orbiting stars other than our sun, there are likely to be many civilizations, maybe thousands, in our galaxy. The idea of finding and contacting intelligent beings outside our world has always had fascination on several dimensions, from the astronomical and biochemical to the philosophical and poetical. As a political scientist, I think about questions involving the interaction of polities. What political issues may arise if the international system that we have always regarded as embracing everything and everybody is suddenly only a subset, confronting entities outside that system?
For example, who in such a situation should speak for the Earth? The scientists doing the searching probably would have the first opportunity to speak, but why should they be allowed to take the lead in any subsequent dialogue? That would be sort of like letting technicians who manage a diplomatic cable system determine the substance of what the United States says to foreign states. Should the political authority in whatever state hosts the contact effort (right now that would be the United States) have the right to determine what is said to the beings in another world? If not, who would have that right? If we receive a message equivalent to “take me to your leader,” what should be the response? Should the extraterrestrials be patched in to a meeting of the United Nations Security Council? Or how about a G-20 summit?
Perhaps we can draw lessons from instances in our own world's history of systems that were formerly thought of as the whole shebang but then, with more interaction with those outside the system, collectively became an entity participating in a larger shebang. Most Europeans long thought of power politics as chiefly involving interaction with other Europeans, but now the European Union is an entity playing in a larger system. Possibly even more instructive would be historical episodes in which interaction began with an outsider so unknown and foreign to previous experience that he may as well have come from outer space. The improbable conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes depended on divisions among the tribes in that land and a belief among Aztecs that he represented a long-anticipated deity. We on earth are divided today and vulnerable because of that. What could keep us from suffering the same fate as Native Americans in Mexico?
Of course, any dialogue with an extraterrestrial civilization currently seems so remote that the whole subject perhaps can be safely left to the astronomers for now. Those astronomers are still just looking for some indication of a narrow-band signal, as the first step in searching for a signal with artificially made and intelligible content. But it may be a useful thought experiment to consider how we would respond to some of these questions. Thinking about how we would represent the interests of the Earth and its inhabitants as a whole might help in finding reasonable solutions to some of our earthbound problems, even if an extraterrestrial is not listening in.
Image: Kathleen Franklin
Comments
Having read this, all I can say is, "bizarre."
This is an interesting question. I find it difficult to believe that, other than as a possible method of explaining open contact, one that might be less strenuous on earth societies than a landing in Central Park or the Washington DC mall -- the presence of advanced entities, and their supposed transport aircraft, has already been, however, very quietly, acknolwedged by reliable sources in several states, to include, but not limited to, Brazil, France, the UK, to name a few. The notion of extrateresstrial visitors continues to invite public ridicule and tongue-in-cheek commentary and scorn by most alleged pundits and authorities. Say what you will, but even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broached the subject, discussing how international harmony might result from such an encounter. Essentially, it is reasoned that states would not fight each other if they were required to unite in addressing an extraterrestrial threat: the Westphalia system would collapse, forcing states to stow their anarchic differences, and, thus, everyone on the planet becomes "shiney, happy people, holding hands." Highly credible witnesses to an advanced presence and or contact in one form or other are all over the world. Is there a "threat"? Thousands of people have seen strange craft flying about, and, likely, an equal number have never discussed their experiences so as to avoid what is often a hostile skepticism. Some people offer that they have been, essentially, kidnapped by other-worldly beings. I gather, in the end, states will need to learn how to work with each other, as well as with their respective populations, if and when this activity is openly addressed. Sources familiar with U.S. and other states' secretive governmental relations with extraterrestrial contact, cite "panic" as their main reason for not discussing this apparent reality. Some thinkers suggest, however, there is in operation a plan to subtly introduce to nation-state populations an "official" accounting of what or who may be out there. "The Day the Earth Stood Still," is said to be practically some kind of damned documentary on the question of other-world visitors. In that movie, the visitor seeks to address the United Nations, or some such body. Who will speak as this earth "official." In the 1951 original version of the film, the Cold War was offerred as the reason why the visitor could not speak to the entire earth populace through the UN. The overall issue has been publicly delegitimized for so long that it is difficult to grasp who might represent the earth population. The Cold War is over. Now what? Are regular folks ready to push aside their sovereign loyalty to the nation-state, to operate as a "planetary" power? Surely, any such "official" announcement to earth publics would likely require coordination, in some way, with the visitors. Nobody, yet, is going to stand at the podium in the General Assembly, much less bring anything before the Security Council, and announce their recognition of new UN powers, without some sort of "proof." And who will represent the visitors? Should it all be left to the "astronomers"? Or is this another tongue-in-cheek response to what has been a very real question for so many for so long? Something is going on. Around the world. Is this article, in this reputable publication, part of a broad, long-term contact recognition plan? Questions abound. Bizzare? I'll say.