SOME scientists and experts believe that it is merely an inevitability that humans will discover they are not alone in the universe.
This prompts the poignant question of what we will do to prepare ourselves for the day that alien life confronts us on Earth.
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Researchers at the University of St. Andrews have just the plan in place to try and communicate effectively with extraterrestrials.
They have reportedly created a new international hub just for humanity’s preparation of what they feel is sure to happen.
It’s officially called the SETI Post-Detection Hub, which stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.
Per a news release from the University of St. Andrews, it will be a collaborative effort from experts all over the globe.
“[The SETI Post-Detection Hub] will act as a coordinating center for an international effort bringing together diverse expertise across both the sciences and the humanities for setting out impact assessments, protocols, procedures, and treaties designed to enable a responsible response,” the news release stated.
Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Computer Science of the University of St. Andrews and coordinator of the SETI Hub, Dr. John Elliot, said that this matter is urgent.
“But we need to go beyond thinking about the impact on humanity. We need to coordinate our expert knowledge not only for assessing the evidence but also for considering the human social response, as our understanding progresses and what we know and what we don’t know is communicated. And the time to do this is now,” Elliot noted.
According to Elliot, the team at the SETI Post-Detection Hub will attempt to create any possible methods of language through the information they gather in hopes to be prepared for the arrival of alien life.
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“Scanning signals of assumed extra-terrestrial origin for structures of language and attaching meaning is an elaborate and time-consuming process during which our knowledge will be advanced in many steps as we learn ‘Extra-Terrestrial’,” he explained.
Ultimately, for Elliot and his team, it really is about proper preparation more than anything, as there is no certainty that alien contact will happen in this lifetime — and yet it could happen as soon as tomorrow.
“Will we ever get a message from E.T.? We don’t know. We also don’t know when this is going to happen. But we do know that we cannot afford to be ill-prepared – scientifically, socially, and politically rudderless – for an event that could turn into reality as early as tomorrow and which we cannot afford to mismanage,” he explained.
Additionally, communication is only one priority of the mission set out by the SETI Post-Detection Hub.
The team will also create an academic pool of knowledge on data analytics, societal impact strategies, the development of regulatory protocols, and even space law.
It is an effort to have a holistic approach to the life-changing event.
However, there were some guidelines already put in place before the efforts of the University of St. Andrews currently.
In 1989, the SETI community at large drafted the first agreed ‘contact’ protocols, per the news release.
They were allegedly revised in 2010, but still had “non-enforceable aspirations” and general methods of conduct for the event.
With what the SETI community is working on now, there should be a definitive plan in place for first contact.
For related content, The US Sun has coverage of how the world might react currently if aliens were to arrive at our doorstep tomorrow.
The US Sun also has the story on the bizarre reason scientists feel UFOs aren’t currently visiting Earth.
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