If ET Calls, Who Speaks For Humanity?

EagleHasLanded writes "Who speaks for humankind if ET calls on us? Paul Davies, chairman of the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, is a likely ambassador. But Allen Tough founded the Invitation to ETI Web site, which encourages ET to make contact via email (and also strongly discourages humans from impersonating ET). But an individual in the UK got over some of the hurdles designed to weed out hoaxers, before finally throwing in the towel."

Comments

Re:Whoever answers the phone?

[khrath]

I hear that France has already preemptively surrendered to ET because of this article.

Re:Davies, ORLY?

[aristotle-dude]

Paul Davies, chairman of the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, is a likely ambassador.

Why would we want a religious philosopher to speak to aliens on our behalf?

So, you assume that atheists are correct and that aliens, assuming they even exist would be atheists? Are you trying to make an ass out of u and me? If aliens exist, you have no way of knowing how they view the universe. It is possible that our scientists could be mostly wrong about everything.

Who would you suggest? An obnoxious pompous prick like Dawkins? He could potentially ignite an interstellar war if the aliens were offended by either what he said or his attitude. That guy is way too full of himself.

What you need in an ambassador is humility. Davies seems to be keen on learning how the universe works, ie. real science, rather than trying to prove the non-existence of god.