Aliens- First Contact

When we think of alien civilizations, the first thing that comes to mind are weird looking  people who are bent upon annihilating us. Some of the fare dished out by Hollywood has left  an imprint on our minds that does not favor aliens. But we also have to consider other possibilities. The alien civilization may be benign or even friendly. After all if we consider our attitude (read terrestrial humans) we will be more inclined to greet new arrivals with curiosity rather than animosity. We may fight among ourselves and show our violent nature from time to time. However any visitors from outer space will not be subjected to the same treatment. Man on earth will first try to establish contact with any new beings that he comes across. After all it will be the most important moment for human kind. Our cultural fabric which includes history, religion, language, science etc. will forever be altered. After the  confirmed first contact, mankind will never be the same again. This applies only to intelligent life, not microbes or single cell organisms! Even these lowly beings could be game changers for us.

There are many scenarios which have been painted. Writers, scientists have tried to imagine how the first contact with aliens would be made. Considering the immense distances involved radio contact seems to be the most probable. This is why every time a garbled radio signal is received from outer space, it gets a lot of publicity. Supercomputers then run it past various AI algorithms to see if there is any message in it.

Take for egg. the nearest Star system to our Solar System, the Alpha Centauri. This Star system is about 4.37 light years away from us. In perspective it is 270000 times the distance from the earth to the sun. It is not possible for man to reach the system using current technology. It would be quicker and cheaper to send radio messages to the star system to see if anybody sends a  reply.

Huge distances between galaxies means that any alien civilization getting in touch with us or vice versa would do so by using radio waves. The first difficulty would be to identify the message from the background clutter in the universe. Then would come the task of deciphering/understanding what is being communicated. In fact if the two civilizations are hundreds of light years away from each other, we would be communicating with each other by radio for a long time before any one of the civilization develops the technology to undertake the journey physically.  This is assuming the other civilization is on a comparable level as regards their scientific progress.  If the development gap is too large (egg. If they have not invented radio yet) then the possibility of contacting them becomes very small.

Communication technology on earth is now sufficiently advanced to have a very close and comprehensive engagement with any aliens. Take for instance smart phone communication. Astronauts are now tweeting and surfing the internet from the ISS (International Space Station). The same communications can be extended to outer space with some time lag thrown in.  Exchange of videos, images, written and spoken word could start once the language/communication barrier is overcome.  We could learn a whole lot about the aliens before we meet up.

But it is not just intelligent beings we should be concerned with. We could come across a small living organism on some other planet or asteroid. It would still be a first contact albeit a less exciting one for the general public. Scientists would still be hugely excited.

In case of intelligent, civilizations earthlings are hoping that we make the first contact because our history has shown that if two civilizations meet then the one which has taken the initiative to venturing out first is usually the one which is superior. The other one gets subjugated or destroyed.

One could fill a lot many pages writing about the various possibilities. However it goes without saying that the first contact whenever and however it is made, would be a game changer for our civilization and perhaps for the other side as well.