Final Post: If Aliens Really Were Discovered

Of course, as the class wound down last night and we each added our own closing remarks, the discussion inevitably turned once again to what the best way to approach the discovery of aliens would be. All of the novels we read throughout the semester provided us with a number of examples and possibilities, but, as a few of us said in class, this does not truly provide us with any predictive information--aliens, if and when they are discovered, are likely to be something beyond any human imagining. As Professor Jackson said in class, we would like to think that they would appear in a recognizable form, but that is not very (if at all) likely to happen. There is really nothing we can know about an alien lifeform, other than the fact that if they come here first they are probably more technologically advance than us. Because the possible physical and social characteristics of an alien race are so beyond us, there is no knowing how first contact would play out. I think if I learned anything from this class (granted I did learn a lot more than this) it's that any encounter with aliens will turn out however chance decides. In the end that's the deciding factor; we could have really good intentions but, in the end, communication between us and an alien species could go either way.

All we can really do is attempt to go about any discovery with as much caution and goodwill as we possibly can. But, as someone pointed out in class, we should also be aware of the risks and keep in mind the outlook of Graff in Ender's Game. If aliens show up with guns blazing, obviously the best approach is not one of goodwill. This is where caution comes in; yes we want to make a strong attempt to communicate peacefully with the aliens, but we should be well aware of the chance that such an interaction will not be possible. I think that Andrew puts this together really well in his blog post, saying, "We must be humble as we tread into the universe, and recognize that which makes us human makes us capable of great conflict, but also makes up capable of great peace." It's not a very satisfying conclusion to come to, but this class has made me believe that maybe all we can do is hope for the best and do what we can.

The question that Professor Jackson posed at the end of class was: Which of the encounters we examined throughout the semester seemed like the best way to go? For me, it seemed that the film Contact showed an approach that was pretty level-headed and, in my mind, right. Mostly it was Ellie's approach that was the right one. She was so committed to finding alien life that she treated the discovery with the kind of earnestness and humility that it should be approached with (humility is just what Professor Jackson emphasized as the most important piece of an approach to other sentient life). And although the end of the film is a bit uncertain in how it turns out, the first contact between humans and aliens manages to be peaceful and without confrontation. I believe both Ellie and Professor Jackson have the right idea. As the professor told us, it's important to maintain a healthy dose of internal skepticism and critique in order to ensure that we are not forcing ourselves into one position and one approach.