Alright, so as of recently, people have been talking about physics and other things of the sort in gameday testing. Being an Astronomy and Astrophysics major, I know a little bit about the subject. I think I mentioned in once in the tests that I wrote a paper on the ethical treatment of aliens. If you have seen District 9, and enjoyed it, this might be enjoyable for you. If you like to read about aliens, this will be enjoyable. If you don't like to read, see the short version I have at the bottom.
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For those who didn't read (which I assume is all of you): Aliens who reach us are either curious, in trouble, or want to kill us. We have to treat each case on its own case by case basis. If they are going to intentially hurt us, then we fight back, if its accidently, then we act like a parent and "punish" them. If they are here for peace, then, we act peaceful, but cautious.
(C) Me. as of 2010.
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E.T and You. What are the Ethical Obligations of Humans towards Extraterrestrials? By Joe Radak (c) 2010
For millennia, humans believed they were the only intelligent beings in the universe. Due to recent astronomical studies, however, this belief has become less and less credible. There is now evidence that there are other planets that could sustain life; even intelligent life. If intelligent life from one of these planets made contact with Earth, and humans did not treat them correctly, we could lose the chance to learn vast proportions of knowledge about the universe and other scientific fields. If we are to preserve the chance of great knowledge, then as humans, we must ethically and physically treat other intelligent life, as we would other humans, no matter what reason they have for visiting earth.
With current science, astronomers are looking towards the heavens, searching for the signs of possible creation of life. In essence, the search comes in two forms, listening for Extraterrestrials (ET) and looking for ETs. The “search for extraterrestrial intelligence” (SETI) is the name of a government project that uses microwave telescopes to listen for the sounds of ET. The project has been around for a few decades and has heard some interesting things, but nothing from another planet. One of the first big discoveries was in 1967 at Cambridge University’s Mullard Radio Observatory in England. Although the signal was just emissions from a pulsar (something that cannot sustain life) it gave rise to the LGM, or “little green men” hypothesis, which is that the signals came from a civilization outside of the solar system (Eberhardt 296).
Now there are already hundreds of planets that we know about that might have the minimal essentials needed for life. These planets are more-or-less commonplace in the intelligent life hunting community and are not super interesting, but they are not boring either. But, some astronomers decided to think outside the box and search for life in different, places in the universe amongst an astronomical phenomenon called binary star systems. A binary star system is when the gravitational force of two stars causes themselves to rotate around their center of mass. Of the known stars that have planets, (maybe not ones that can sustain life, but planets none-the-less) only 25 percent are members of a binary system (Haghighipour par. 13).
As humans, we are curious; we look all around us, even into space. It is our curiosity that enables us to learn and develop. This is a trait that carries through all species of animals on earth, so why not beyond earth into space. Curiosity will be assumed a similar characteristic amongst all intelligent life in the universe. We may be listening for aliens, but what if they have already heard us?
Thought it seems unlikely, the space around earth is very noisy (messy too). Whether we realize it or not, humans have reached farther than just Mars. Since the TV was invented in 1932, Earth has been pumping out broadcast signals into space. Since radio waves travel at the speed of light, this means that if there are aliens within a 78 light year (the distance traveled by light in one year) radius, and they have the technology to intercept , interpret and then project these signals, they would have an idea of what humans and earth were like (Ahuja par. 15). Now, what they interpret from this is completely up in the air, but if they are not scared away by Steamboat Willy, then they may become curious and decide to pop over to earth and look around.
How should we receive them? If the aliens come with curiosity in mind, one can assume they would act like a young, curious child. Everyone has seen little kids grabbing any item within reach, touching everything (clean or dirty), just to get a feel for their world. With extraterrestrials though, the grabbing and touching might cause some destruction and harm people. This by human standards might seem unethical, but to the aliens it could be a positive, complementary action; they are simply trying to learn. If, as mentioned before, they act like young children, we should treat them as such. Christopher G. Hudson, author of Complex systems and human behaviors, talks about how a child in the early stage of growing development, such as the “touchy-grabby” stage, states that these actions “modulate reactivity, such as attention, approach or withdrawal, and the ability to self-soothe”(170).
When a young child grabs something they shouldn’t, the parent of the child naturally will take the item away from the child, resulting in the child being a little upset. When a young child causes something to fall and break, they get scolded, even though they had no idea that it would cause such destruction. Parents must nurture their child(ren) so that they can distinguish between right and wrong actions. As humans, we would have the same obligations towards curious aliens. Their inquisitive actions might upset, and even harm us, our first reaction might be to attack them or protect ourselves. We might consider their actions violent. However, as with a child throwing a glass to the floor, we should instead help them learn.
This opens up the issue of conflicting native customs and ethics. If it is the custom for the aliens to burn a tree every hour on the hour, then we would need to attempt to tell the aliens that this is not customary for humans, for we need trees to survive. Some people might believe that what is ethical for humans automatically is ethical for every other form of intelligent life (Kupperman 312). If this is true, then humans need to understand that when there are conflicting ethical rules, we must find a way to make sure both the humans and aliens are satisfied.
Intergalactic Space travel can be a pain in the asteroid. If aliens can make their way to our planet, then perhaps they are more mobile than we think. What if our first encounter with aliens is an unplanned one on the part of ET? What if they don’t intend to land here, but end up having to stay? The movie District 9 may not be a movie outlining what exactly needs to be done if aliens happen to just get stuck on earth, but it does sum up what humans shouldn’t do.
District 9 tells the story of a South African government agent who is put in charge of relocating aliens which have found themselves stranded on Earth. What the South African government does, due to pressure from other governments, is take care of the malnourished aliens, feed them and try to integrate them into society (District 9). This, in the end, did not work. The citizens did not like having the ‘prawn’ (the name the aliens were given), around. The South African Government then gathered all the aliens and put them into their own little town called District 9. This is the perfect example of unethical treatment of aliens. While the initial reaction of helping the aliens was ethically correct, treating other intelligent life forms poorly, simply because they make us uncomfortable, would not be acceptable.
Let’s say you see a disabled vehicle on the side of the road, you might just drive right by it because it isn’t bothering you. However, if you see a large disabled vehicle (or two) blocking the road, then you might stop to help and push the cars out of the way. We, as humans, tend to react only when it affects us. We are like electricity; we take the path of least resistance. But, the difference between humans and electricity is that humans will sometime create a path of least resistance if they feel it is their only path. If aliens crash land on earth then we would have to do something about it. If they turn out to be in our way, we would have two choices; help them, or do what we can to avoid them. It is my contention that our responsibility would be to help them in any way possible.
To quote an ancient Chinese proverb, “Only the true evil ones will let a baby fall into a well.” It is human nature to help those in need. It is also human nature to avoid those things that scare us or cost us our things; most importantly, our lives. This thought brings up the argument of “what if they need something very near and dear to humans, like other humans?” This is a gruesome thought, but should be noted. If for some odd reason or another, aliens needed humans for fuel (like in the 2005 movie “War of the Worlds”, or more recently Torchwoods “Children of Earth” Mini-event) then as humans we would need to create a plan for what to do. Just giving out humans would itself be unethical, so another plan would be needed. There are limits to hospitality. Should an alien race demand something from us that causes loss of life, then a self-preservation response would be acceptable. But even here, the lines can be blurred. Perhaps rather than destroying a race who needed us for fuel, we might be able to help create a synthetic fuel. Or perhaps we might be able to offer an animal substitute. This, of course, would demand a study of the ethical treatment of animals, but survival of the human race at the cost of an animal species might be a valid argument for that kind of action.
In previously mentioned scenarios, aliens could cause “accidental” destruction, either through curiosity or through needing something we have. What if they came with more sinister purposes, though, like the aliens in the movie, Mars Attack, or the Borg from the Star Trek Series? A mentioned, I believe humans are ethically obligated to protect the aliens and nurture them, because they can be considered “innocent.” However, in this situation, this is not the case. If out of nowhere, like in War of the Worlds, the aliens just one day show up and start attacking, there would not be enough time, or the ability, to formulate a way to respond and communicate with the invaders. In the case of impending destruction, our moral obligation is to ourselves first. In this case, we might try to contact them, try to reason with them, try to show our intelligence and the opportunities working together might bring both races, but in the face of destruction it would be a natural reaction, and a completely ethical and moral reaction, to defend ourselves.
A final question to be raised is, why should we be helping aliens in the first place, if they might not actually be able to help us? Even though they may just happen to land on earth via an asteroid, they will still be of help just by being themselves. With a new species, especially from a different planet, even the smallest of things could be an important chunk of knowledge. Perhaps their hair or saliva may hold the cure to currently incurable diseases. This, in and of itself, is an important argument for not reacting violently to ET and an argument for learning all we can from them.
According to Dr. Michael N. Mautner, of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia, we as humans have the moral obligation to spread life throughout the universe (Mautner par.1). Now, he does say we have the moral obligation to spread human life, but take that one step further; by helping the aliens learn of human customs, or helping them to survive, we would be helping to spread the human race throughout the universe. We would not only be getting knowledge and information, but also a valuable ally, something that sees what humans are, and that humans respect what type of creation they are. A majority of this planet has mutual respect for other races and we all look different, so it would not be much harder to accept and respect a peaceful alien race. Even Pope Benedict XVI has finally acknowledged the possibility of extraterrestrials (Pisa par. 1-2). This is a major step in the proof that the human race is ready to accept a new extraterrestrial race. In the long run, it is much more important to us to be seen as a positive, helpful, caring race, rather than a scared, destructive race.
Although the thought of aliens coming to earth and interacting with us seems like an impossible event, the possibility gets closer and more likely each day. With research being done today the universe, ever so slightly, becomes smaller and smaller each day as we explore it a bit more. Are there situations where we should defend ourselves first and ask questions second, yes. But in the long run, if we do not respond properly to the aliens, then extreme knowledge of the unknown could be lost. We could lose our reputation among the races of the universe. We could cost ourselves far more than we would gain by reacting negatively. It is our obligation, morally and ethically, to treat any extraterrestrial guests well. When the time comes that aliens make contact, whether good, bad or ugly, we as humans must treat the creatures as we would treat other humans.
For those who didn't read (which I assume is all of you): Aliens who reach us are either curious, in trouble, or want to kill us. We have to treat each case on its own case by case basis. If they are going to intentially hurt us, then we fight back, if its accidently, then we act like a parent and "punish" them. If they are here for peace, then, we act peaceful, but cautious.
(C) Me. as of 2010.
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