out there? The likelihood of extraterrestrial intelligence

has been the subject of an equation and the current lack

of any communication with aliens the subject

of a paradox. But here's a different question. If we were to hear

from intelligent life beyond earth, what would really

happen next? Well, no government

has ever officially adopted a post-detection policy.

And when asked how they would deal with a confirmed message from

extraterrestrial intelligence,

the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

simply said that their job does not include any issues regarding

the question you pose.

So are we unprepared? Would chaos ensue?

These things are unlikely but the way

we prepare for, and anticipate our species encountering one from beyond

earth, is important and illuminating even though

improbable. Historically, we have

acted as though alien life exists. Back

contamination is a concern that a man-made object returning from space

could carry with it undiscovered alien life forms, especially

viruses and bacteria that could wipeout

life on earth. This was a serious concern

dealt by serious people when we first sent

humans to the Moon. When Neil Armstrong,

Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin returned from the lunar surface,

they didn't immediately hugged their families and join a public parade.

Instead, they were sealed up in biological isolation garments and flown

to a quarantine facility to be locked away for three weeks,

in Houston, Texas.

By Apollo 15 the practice was discontinued but forward contamination

has also

been a real concern. When NASA sent the Galileo spacecraft to serve a Jupiter

and its moons, it got amazing data

but there was a problem. It had never been

sterilized. Because life, even liquid water, could exist

on these moons, NASA made the decision to avoid contaminating an

alien biosphere and the mission was over, steered Galileo

into Jupiter, where it burned up and was destroyed,

along with any Earth life possibly.

on board. So protocols and decisions have been officially made in

the past

under the assumption that aliens might exist.

When it comes to actually hearing from aliens,

receiving a message from technologically advanced life forms,

capable of sending us

say, a radio signal, groups like SETI,

the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, are other ones actively

listening.

They have an ear to the sky. And they

are prepared. The SETI committee of the International Academy of Astronautics

created a declaration of principles concerning activities following

the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence.

No government has officially adopted any of its recommendations,

but if something were to happen, it would likely be the first place

authorities went. It's one of the only handbooks

they'd have. Seth Shostack explained the philosophy in atmosphere at SETI,

predicting that because verifying a signal is slow,

and the media are fast, you will be media blasted about a possible detection

days before the people who find it are certain it's for real.

In the midst of rampant media speculation,

elation and panic on the part of the public,

the most likely string of official events,

after the discovery of a message from extraterrestrial life,

would follow SETI recommendations. First of all,

the individual or team who discovered the message

would continue to assess the credibility of the message

and alert all parties to SETI's declaration. Next,

once they were certain the message was real, the Central

Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams would be alerted,

so as to inform observers all over the world.

They would also inform the secretary-general

of the United Nations, because article 11

of the treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration

and use of outer space, including the Moon and other bodies

says they should. The first official news

we got, the public, would likely be in terms

of the Rio Scale. First presented to the International

Astronautical Congress, the Rio Scale measures

the significance of consequences of evidence of extraterrestrial life,

making it a likely tool to be used, because it neatly manages public

reaction. There's a great online calculator you can play with to see how

the Rio scale

works. It takes into account the credibility of the message

on a scale from believed extraterrestrial origin to

hoax, how repeatable the observation is,

what type of message it is, for instance, is it uninterpretable

or clearly for us and how far away it is.

Is it extra galactic or near enough that we could respond and hear back

within the length of a human lifetime. Seth Shostak and Ivan Almar

applied the Rio scale to fictional and historical

events. It's a great way to get a feel for how the Rio scale will affect

vocabulary

authorities use when reporting on an extraterrestrial

message. They considered the Moon monolith,

discovered in 2001: A Space Odyssey, a

6 on the Rio scale - noteworthy.

In the movie Independence Day, the initial unidentified signal would be

about

4 to 8, moderate too far-reaching.

Once the message is confirmed to be no further than the Moon and moving,

it would be an automatic 10, extraordinary.

In real life, the Martian Face, discovered in 1976,

was a 2 - low. Until high resolution images from 2001 revealed it was

nothing, just a thing that looked funny under the right conditions

and was immediately downgraded to zero, no

significance. So if we were to receive a message from

extraterrestrial intelligence, those things in those words

would likely be used. But who would be in charge?

Although she denies ever being selected or prepared for such a role,

Mazlan Othman, the director at the United Nations Office for Outer Space

Affairs

is a pretty good candidate. As is Paul

Davies, the chairman of SETI's post detection task force.

Were it to be necessary, both of those people are in positions to become

ambassadors for earth-alien

relations. So what do we say back?

Well, if we want to show that we are intelligent, perhaps we should send back

a string of information representing Pi

or the Fibonacci sequence. Or

maybe we shouldn't say anything at all.

Stephen Hawking warned, quote,

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much

as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well

for the Native Americans." And professor Simon Conway Morris,

a Cambridge University palaeontologist has said that

if the cosmic phone rings,

we shouldn't pick it up.

Observations like that

are at the core of the importance of this video's question. We can learn a lot

by looking, not just at how we prepare for a space message,

but how we imagine actual contact with aliens

going. Anthropologist Katherine Denny

frequently points out that the ways we imagine a contact with aliens

happening often says more about ourselves

than it does any hypothetical aliens. We do this

all the time. When we project our own modern-day ambitions and fears onto

prehistoric people,

Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá call that

"flintstoning." So let's piggyback off of that phrase

and label any projection of modern human behaviors, desires, anxieties

onto futuristic, technologically advanced beings capable of visiting us

"jetsonsing." Some examples of jetsonsing involve

thinking that any aliens out there trying to contact us

might want to hurt us. Maybe that's simply because whenever we have met new

people,

we often enslave them or

pity them or take advantage of them. It's also possible to think that aliens

will be friendly.

They'll want to help us. The ways we imagine them helping us

say a lot about the kind of help we think we need.

There's a poetic idea that from space Earth

looks peaceful. All of the boundaries we have put

up don't exist, you can't see them. But that's not

entirely true. The old boundary between East and West Germany

is still visible from space, each side using different

lightbulbs. And this is the boundary between Pakistan

and India. You can see from space India

flooding the border with lights to deter smugglers from bringing across

weapons

and ammunition. We don't all get along together here

on earth, we are afraid of each other, we don't trust each other

and the wrinkles and scars that causes

are visible from space. Imagining how

aliens would interpret that, communicate with us and how we would

or should respond teaches us

a lot about ourselves. It makes our struggles

strange again. Less ignorable. And that is the entire point

of fantasy. G. K. Chesterton said that the function of the imagination is not

to make strange things settle, so much as to make

settled things strange.

And as always,

thanks for watching.