Prepare your tinfoil hats, ladies and gentlemen: first contact is upon us.
OK, OK, so we haven't actually found any aliens. And, as far as we know, none have found us. But people are searching, a lot harder than you might think.
And some, according to British newspaper The Guardian, aren't just searching. In Moscow, the Russian Academy of Sciences is sending out coded signals in an active effort to attract the attention of advanced alien civilizations.
They're not just looking. They're dangling our planet in the metaphorical waters of the universe and flailing wildly, hoping for attention.
And I'm willing to bet that, at some point, they're going to get the attention they want. The universe is a big place, and the Earth can't be that unique — cosmological principle, anyone? So why wouldn't there be life somewhere in the incomprehensible vastness of space? I bet if we reach far enough, we'll get our hands on something.
But is that a good thing?
One of the arguments against it is that we may be attracting foes. Maybe aliens are thinking the same thing. Maybe they aren't sending any signals our way because they think we might be aggressors. Which is pretty smart thinking on their part; history shows that we humans aren't too fond of new cultures. Pretty much everybody on this planet has been at war with everyone else at some point. Why would an alien race be any different?
Not only that, but superior technology breeds superiority complexes. We may draw the attention of arrogant, space-faring jerks that will see us as an island full of adorable natives. Our art will be cave-paintings, our missiles will be stone clubs, and our efforts to resist will be petulant whining at best. And given that when you check the global headlines it usually mentions terrorism and war, they might even think they're doing us a favor by conquering us. If they found us, they would definitely be technologically superior. They might think themselves to be morally and culturally superior as well.
That's assuming aliens are out there, of course. If they aren't, we're just wasting our time. Altogether, this endeavor is either a dangerous or wasteful one. If scientists want to scan the skies for hints of interstellar ambassadors, they can be my guest; I fully support preparation for whatever contact is made. I would rather know it was coming than have uninvited guests show up one day.
But we really don't need to go inviting trouble, and the odds of trouble are high. If they're warlike, if they're generally benevolent and if they see the crappy job we're doing of running our planet, or if the ones that find us are just jerks, then we could be kind of screwed.
I'm not trying to be cowardly, but rather trying to weigh the pros and cons. We could meet benevolent xenophiles who want to help us in any way they can. They may decide to let us in on a few of their technological secrets and give us a boost. They may enrich our culture. They might even be hot.
And in the event that they are benevolent and they are hot, then we don't want to meet them while bristling with long-range tactical teeth. But there's a biological imperative to rise to the top of whatever food chain a creature finds itself in. It seems to me that if a different species shows up in a new planetary ecosystem, it will try to become the alpha race.
I like not living under the thrall of an alien species. I'm sure our descendants will share my sentiments.
Robert is an English literature junior. He can be reached at robert.t.wright@asu.edu.
