Protocols of First Alien Contact
What are they? Where are they?
With movies like Arrival getting a lot of attention in the mainstream press, many would like to know, myself included, what the official protocols are for first alien contact. After much searching I’ve come to the conclusion that we don’t have anything in place.
Yes, seriously! (Well, officially!)
No government agency has a formal step by step system in place. The main reason for this is that no government agency actually expects it to happen for at least another twenty years. (Best to leave it for the next generation?)
I find this very strange, as we have detailed step-by-step plans for all government officials, members of royalty and civilians for just about any eventually. Why we don’t have official protocols for first alien contact is beyond me.
After all, if the government of your country wants to make sure that you as a citizen are safe, no matter what the eventuality, pamphlets, leaflets, websites, social media, video sharing sites and more should have some easily found list of protocols for the eventuality of running into an alien at some point.
If I was Prime Minister of my country, I certainly wouldn’t want a teenage kid stumbling onto a UFO in a field somewhere, hooking up with the aliens, then going for a joyride, teaching them how cool it is to troll people, or encouraging them to blast a bully at their school. I’d prefer there to be strict rules in place, much like the safety demonstrations on air flights.
“Good morning citizens. Welcome to protocol 47. Our friendly team will demonstrate the correct way to approach a space alien, if one happens to land in your back yard…”
Private Protocols for Alien Contact
Of course, there are plenty of citizen plans out there. SETI has one, other organizations, too. But major governments? Nope. Rumor has it that the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs is planning to draft a protocol soon. Nothing on their website yet. (UNOOSA)
And so, of course, if aliens are out there waiting for us to make contact, they need to make a few more cups of tea before we get our act together.
First Things First
But, assuming aliens are waiting for us to give them an official invitation, the first thing we need to do is get organized about sending a message. When famous scientists like Stephen Hawking have said it’s dangerous, and we shouldn’t contact aliens, you’ll understand why we haven’t done even that yet.
And I don’t mean a gold disk on the side of a piece of equipment thrown into space. Or a signal sent into space in ’74 by Carl Sagan, purported to have been replied to via crop circle a few years ago, and dismissed. I mean a real, comprehensive, contact message signed by leaders of all the nations of the world.
When that happens THAT will really be the first step. Any alien race will be far more advanced than us and would probably be simply getting on with their lives, waiting for us to grow up and actually want to contact them. So, we need to send that official message on behalf of the entire human race. All countries need to get on board and agree to it.
What’s step two?
Okay, now we can get to step two, the most popular area of making first contact with aliens, but one which leaves me cold.
The International Academy of Astronautics has created the “Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence.” This was with the support of the International Institute of Space Law, according to Wikipedia. This declaration includes what to do in the event of the detection of an alien race, what level of acceptance society is at, and other factors relating to whether the message can be understood, or even revealed.
The problem with this is that it assumes that there would be a natural order or progression for this situation, and that governments would be the ones to announce it. It also assumes a detection event like a signal or even a single ship, invisible to almost everyone in orbit. Neither of these are likely. It’s far more likely we’ll get a very noticeable appearance with no regard to red tape or official procedure.
Reality?
My personal feeling is that we’ll get the ‘official’ announcement quickly through Facebook and YouTube, followed by news reports as cameras arrive on the scene.
It may take weeks before world governments get their act together and make an official announcement. And by then, the aliens would have already been having a coffee with us.
Certainly, there would be a huge number of people, myself included, who would travel to the site to make contact, without going through officials, without considering it to be a momentous occasion, without once thinking that the first person to meet the aliens would somehow be recorded in history. (Why would it matter? Aliens!)
If we followed strict procedures…
Of course, if you want to follow strict procedure, if you’re in a country that is part of the Commonwealth, the only logical person to be flown over to meet the aliens first would be the Queen (or King) of England! That would not be considered safe, nor would it be acceptable. Like Arrival, it would be far more likely that only the military would be involved. This would certainly cause problems if the aliens decide a shopping mall in the middle of a CBD would be the ideal place to land.
If we were to assume the aliens wouldn’t want to disrupt government procedures (really?) then they would simply appear above all the major government buildings, and ask to speak to the leaders.
A very advanced alien race, with more spaceships than Earth has cars, would simply position them all above the local councils as well, creating an atmosphere of ships. There would be no need for any leaders to come out and say anything.
“Thank you for your call. If you are calling about the spaceships in the sky…Yes, they are alien. No, we don’t know anything yet. No, there’s nothing you can do. Just continue with your lives until you hear an announcement from the Queen/President/Prime Minister in your area.”
SETI have their own alien contact guide which can be found here. It really does work from a perspective of detecting a signal, though.
But, many SF fans aren’t interested in boring signals. We want real solid, chunky space craft, and shaking hands (or some other protuberance) with aliens in a first contact situation.
No Protocols for Mass Landings
So, while the SETI plan for signal detection would be useful for a slow dissemination of information, it doesn’t really deal with the mass landing scenario.
Of course, science fiction writers have come up with many types of protocols over the decades, and you’ll find them in all sorts of stories. But an actual official protocol set that covers a mass landing? Nope. Nowhere.
Perhaps it is hidden in the CIA or FBI files, or maybe Mulder and Scully have it. In any case, the governments of the world are saying that humanity is not yet ready for alien contact.
Oh, aliens landing? Hang on. We haven’t done the paperwork on that. Can you ask them to come back later? Can we get an extension of time? Yeah, I know you first asked in 1947, but, just a bit longer. Hello? Hello?