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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."
Just in case you, or someone you know turns out to be the first, everyone should read this
It's not exactly rigorous, but it gets the main points across.
"Why should I be content to simply live in this world, when I, as a human being, can CREATE it?" - Oertel
Our TV broadcasts have already spoken for us, and it wasn't a good message.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Just remember, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say, "YES!"
Aliens are already here and do not recognize SETI or any human government or group organization. They deal with and judge each human being on their individual merits and faults. For more information, see http://www.alliesofhumanity.org/
Obviously, there's no good answer to this question. No matter who was picked, by whatever process, some group on the planet would resent it.
Personally I think Sagan had it right - we pick someone who doesn't have a religious or political agenda, is broadly educated especially in sciences, and
would be willing to perform the task.*
(Hmm... Richard Dawkins? *g*)
* No, really:
1) No religious agenda - doesn't matter whether or not the aliens have religion. If they don't, they'll likely think us backward. If they do, it's possible they will be offended by our version(s) - and it's certain that picking anyone who professes one major religion would piss off the other major religions.
2) No political agenda. I doubt I need to explain this one; the person will be speaking for ALL HUMANITY.
3) Broadly educated - in trying to understand a totally alien viewpoint, experience in many different fields would be essential.
4) ... especially in the sciences - because it's likely anyone who *could* contact us would be extremely far along in the sciences. Unless they're doing it with telepathy...
5) Volunteer, of course.
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
Not a slashdot poll but probably some sort of an online forum where people from around the world can vote on the questions to be asked would be a good start. Why does it have to be one person or a small group of people who speak for humanity when there is a way to let a large part of the humanity participate.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Nah, I think it should be a muppet, keep'em guessing is my advice. The drummer Animal might do well, or Kermit if we'd like to appear reasonable.
Oh no no no. OBVIOUSLY, if aliens show up tomorrow, after having flown countless light years and having built a highly advanced macro-society the size of a galaxy, it is OBVIOUSLY humans who will be calling the shots. They may have bombs million times more powerful than a supernova and they may be able to derive their energy from teleporting, but surely we will be able to outsmart them, with all that we learned from Arnold movies and sitcoms.
Please hope the Brits don't make first contact with ET, their track record isn't so hot when it comes to handling these things...
// TODO: Insert Cool Sig
But in other cases, baring your teeth is a sign that you're planning to bite down on their neck.
Humans smile to relax each other. Some animals use it are a threat. We wouldn't know what showing teeth means in an alien's culture.
So, you assume that atheists are correct and that aliens, assuming they even exist would be atheists?
Personally, I suspect that's true, but I don't know. However, I see three possibilities:
Now, of those, do you really think #2 is likely? (If you do, you probably should investigate how religion arose on this planet.)
No, the likelier possibilities are option #1, in which case, any religious individual would make us seem backwards and primitive; or #3, in which case, any religion we choose to represent would likely be weird and possibly offensive to them.
Who would you suggest? An obnoxious pompous prick like Dawkins?
Funny... when I believed, I thought the same way you did. About Randi, also.
Eventually, I realized that what I saw as "arrogance" was merely the courage to stand up to popular dogmas. They were attacking things I held dear, and that made me defensive, so of course I saw them as arrogant and disruptive.
real science, rather than trying to prove the non-existence of god.
Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, and you might notice he's also written several books about that. If you investigate what he actually does with his time, you'll probably find he spends far more time doing exactly that -- real science.
You seem to be confused into thinking that all atheists are necessarily "militant atheists", and that this would be the first thing on their minds when they encounter an alien being. That's not the concern at all. The concern is that the last thing we want is to be trying to tell an alien the "good news".
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
I do. Next question, please.
Geez Louise! Dozens of answers already and not a single one of you has suggested Kent Brockman. What is wrong with you people?!?
Well, I for one do not welcome such a cataclysmic failure in geek cred. Our insect overlords can't get here soon enough, if you ask me.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Clearly, Sarah Palin should do the talking for us. This way, the ET's won't bother us, thinking there's no intelligent life on Earth.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I'm sorry, I thought they were visiting Earth.
You are welcome on my lawn.
It is possible that our scientists could be mostly wrong about everything.
And pretty much every scientist out there agrees with you. It's the religious people who can't admit they're wrong, and that's the reason they shouldn't speak for us. Humility would indeed be the best practice.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
I would hope that an alien species capable of something as ordinary as intergalactic travel would also have spent some time thinking this through and determined that our customs and social cues may not necessarily directly correlate to their own.
not much, just being forced to manually insert line breaks into my comment
Whoever picks up the phone. Hopefully it will not be one of our "leaders".
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Clearly, Sarah Palin should do the talking for us.
After all, she can see outer space from her back porch.