Countless fictional scenarios of people who allegedly came into contact with alien civilizations, involuntarily suggest that they really exist, and we are able to detect them. Such a discovery could be a watershed in human history.
So if you have just discovered an alien civilization, think about how you will bring this news to the whole world? This is a fairly fundamental issue, which is why a whole list of guidelines has been developed for scientists involved in the search for extraterrestrial life.
Some argue that with the millions of dollars currently being invested in initiatives like the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), it is only a matter of time.
And if ever such searches are crowned with success, then it is unlikely that a message from an alien civilization or the arrival of an alien landing on Earth will serve as proof of this. Most likely, it will be something more prosaic, for example, signs of artificial pollution in the atmosphere of an exoplanet or huge space structures to collect energy and provide a habitat.
Although if they really were, we would have noticed them with the Kepler space telescope, which was able to capture such strange objects as the star TABBY (KIC 8426582), which has signs of artificial structures. Most astronomers are still skeptical, explaining such findings by unusual changes in the brightness of a star by a cluster of comets.
The flurry of internet activity surrounding the TABBY star - blogging, Twitter, news and Kickstarter fundraising campaigns to encourage the public to support further sightings - has shown how different the world has become since SETI began operations some 60 years ago.
So, if someday we become the happy owners of evidence for the existence of extraterrestrial life, what should be done first?
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In 1989, the SETI committee even developed a set of protocols to be used in the event of such a discovery. These protocols include verifying the discovery, notifying the “appropriate national authorities” and then only alerting the scientific community and the public through a press release. It is worth noting that this set of guidelines was written before the advent of the Internet, at a time when we received news from newspapers and television screens. At that time, the 24-hour news format was just at the beginning of its development.
Today, information is poured in a wide stream, and therefore it often changes quickly and even distorts. And if you caught your luck by the tail and discovered something related to an alien civilization, but so far unconfirmed, you should be one hundred percent sure that you have nothing to hide. Keep in mind that information leaks are inevitable and spreads at lightning speed.
Nobody wants a false "alien discovery" story. The best way to report a find is to publish reliable data immediately. If it becomes clear that the discovery has not yet been confirmed, and the possibility of the influence of natural or artificial factors is not ruled out, there will be no place for the theorists of the "worldwide conspiracy" who are voting about the collusion of scientists with people in black. It will also enable other scientists to review your work and see if there are signs of detection.
If the discovery turns out to be false, the team is required to immediately make a public statement, making it clear that no aliens have been detected, and what is the reason for the error.
Those who discover intelligent life should be prepared for the fact that they will have to devote the rest of their lives to their discovery, since they simply will not have time for everything else. Their new work will help humanity come to terms with its new identity, not the only one among the many intelligent civilizations in the universe.