Alien Contact

On April 8, it will be exactly four decades since radio astronomer Frank Drake swung an antenna skyward hoping to find something other than the faint hiss of gas and galaxies. Drake was searching for a narrow-band whistle, a signal from a distant civilization.

His pioneering experiment used a small radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia. Since then, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has progressed to vastly improved equipment. Nonetheless, the dismaying fact is that none of the small coterie of scientists pursuing SETI have yet managed to find a single, confirmed chirp from the dark depths of the cosmos. The aliens, who I feel confident are out there, remain frustratingly out of sight.

But not out of mind. Today’s SETI experiments are some 100 trillion times better than Drake’s original search. In the next decade, new technologies and new telescopes will improve the capabilities for finding celestial societies by another factor of a thousand. While no one can be sure of success, many astronomers involved in these efforts, including me, suspect that we could soon have our first detection of an alien signal.

Preparing for Contact

If so, what happens next? Is humankind prepared to learn that the fictional aliens of Hollywood have living, unpredictable counterparts in the local galactic neighborhood? Would the news galvanize people with the excitement of a major discovery – or, alternatively, sound the alarms of fear?

It all depends. Our reaction hinges on the nature of the detection, the message (if any), and how the news is spread. Some of this is predictable, but much is not. So perhaps we shouldn’t worry about it. After all, did fifteenth century Spaniards wring their hands over the possibility that Columbus might discover a new world, precipitating panic in the streets of Segovia? Hardly. More to the point: would the wringing of hands have helped?

In the case of SETI, some researchers believe it would. The reaction to a SETI detection has been considered. After all, SETI differs in a fundamental way from Columbus’s voyage. The search is a deliberate investigation into the unknown. Discovery of a new world – an alien civilization – would not be an unforeseen by-product of SETI, but its primary intention. Consequently, sociologists, psychologists and others have produced a considerable body of literature describing what might happen and prescribing what should be done in case of success.

The SETI Declaration

PhotosToGo Cultures have collided before - ruins from the Mayan civilization.

In addition, the SETI researchers themselves have adopted an informal protocol that outlines actions to be taken by the discoverers. This protocol, A Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, assumes that our first tip-off of alien presence will be a radio (or optical) fingerprint: a signal from space.