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rfmcdonald80 Beats recently linked to a special issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society dedicated to the question of extraterrestrial intelligences. One author, Albert Harrison, says that we're quite ready.
I'd also add that early 21st century people, unlike perhaps their 1960s counterparts, have developed and are continuing to develop strong interests in relatively intelligent non-humans here on Earth and on extending basic protections--rights, even--to animals generally. Increasingly, it's unacceptable to mistreat beings possessing a certain degree of sentience, and considered a positive good to behave appropriately (protecting their natural environment, say, trying to prevent their extinction). Would it be too much to hope that visiting extraterrestrial intelligences would share in our history of slowly extending the sphere of empathy beyond their immediate species?
Albert Harrison, psychologist at the University of California, Davis, may live to regret saying nice things about humanity. But it’s nice to see somebody giving us a vote of confidence:The Brookings Report warned in 1961 that the discovery of life beyond Earth could lead to social upheaval. But [Harrison] says “times have changed dramatically” since then. Even the discovery of intelligent aliens “may be far less startling for generations that have been brought up with word processors, electronic calculators, avatars and cell phones as compared with earlier generations used to typewriters, slide rules, pay phones and rag dolls,” Harrison writes in one of the papers. [MSNBC]
SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) hasn’t been successful in its half-century hunt for alien civilizations, but it has ingrained into people the idea of looking for life beyond Earth. The continually increasing exoplanet count (one discovery was announced just today) is showing people just a small glimpse of the variety of worlds out there. Thus, Harrison says the people of Earth would respond to the discovery of alien life with “delight or indifference,” according to the Press Association.
I'd also add that early 21st century people, unlike perhaps their 1960s counterparts, have developed and are continuing to develop strong interests in relatively intelligent non-humans here on Earth and on extending basic protections--rights, even--to animals generally. Increasingly, it's unacceptable to mistreat beings possessing a certain degree of sentience, and considered a positive good to behave appropriately (protecting their natural environment, say, trying to prevent their extinction). Would it be too much to hope that visiting extraterrestrial intelligences would share in our history of slowly extending the sphere of empathy beyond their immediate species?
