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From: KFL@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU ("Keith F. Lynch")
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: First Contact
Message-ID: <[MC.LCS.MIT.EDU].846042.860310.KFL>
Date: Mon, 10-Mar-86 21:44:14 EST
Article-I.D.: <[MC.LCS.MIT.EDU].846042.860310.KFL>
Posted: Mon Mar 10 21:44:14 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Mar-86 04:46:11 EST
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    From: ihnp4!ihwpt!knudsen@ucbvax.berkeley.edu  (mike knudsen)

    Yes, running into a more advanced race could be quite a shock.

  It could, but actually I think that the notion of advanced aliens
has pretty much soaked into the popular culture.  It would be
headlines for a while, but wouldn't shake many people's faith to the
core.  It might even cause less emotions than the shuttle disaster or
the Kennedy assassination.
  Certainly such interaction would change us, but are you sure it
wouldn't be for the better?  Ignoring the possibility of warlike
aliens, all interactions would be voluntary.  No goods would be traded
unless we perceived what we were getting to be worth more than what we
were giving.  No information we obtain would have to be used, unless
we decided that using the information is better for us than ignoring
it.  It's the plain old free market principle.  No reason it couldn't
work between alien races, assuming we are similar enough to WANT to
trade anything.
  It is not likely that we will catch any diseases from aliens.  Earth
bacteria and viruses can infect us only because they have had
millions of years of experience infecting mankind (or our close
evolutionary  relatives) and countering our defenses.  I don't think
that alien germs present any threat to humans.
  The notion that cultures are deserving of preservation is commonly
held today, and it is certainly a better attitude than the older
attitude that unfamiliar cultures should be wiped out.  But is it
reasonable in all cases?  Why is it said to be bad for Indians to
leave the reservations or for Blacks to talk like Whites?  My opinion
is that the choice of culture should be entirely up to the inhabitants
of that culture.  Anyone who wants to leave the reservation to join
mainstream society should be welcome to do so.  Anyone in Quebec who
wants to use English should be free to do so (this is actually illegal
for some things!).  Any American who wants to adopt oriental culture
should be free to do so (a friend of mine has often been criticized
for speaking in Korean with Koreans and for eating foods such as dog
and live squid).  And after after the alien contact, anyone who wants
to adopt the habits of the aliens in lieu of their own culture should
be free to do so.  If that ultimately means the end of our own
culture, so be it.  I see nothing wrong with that so long as it is
purely a matter of voluntary choice.  In other words cultures and
ethnic groups have no rights, only individuals (and VOLUNTARY groups)
do.
  As for the possibility of warlike aliens, all we can do is make sure
our defenses are strong and our diplomatic skills good.  This is
precisely what is being done worldwide, for reasons having little to
do with space.  Of course it is quite probable that the alien military
technology is far beyond ours.  In that case, perhaps what we do have
is sufficient to cause them unacceptable losses, as happened to us in
VietNam, and as happened to England during the revolutionary war.
And of course it is possible that the SDI critcs are right and that
even technologies that can travel routinely between the stars would
not be able to defend against our nuclear weapons.

    Incidentally, if we do encounter a friendly race that makes us
    look pretty inferior, our mental health may be preserved by
    some myths ...

  I don't think myths are needed.  We are way beyond the stage of
worshiping what we don't understand.  If aliens with an advanced
technology do show up, people will simply assume that their history is
longer than ours, that we would have had very similar technology after
not too many more decades or centuries ourselves rather than assuming
that they are smarter or otherwise better than us.  Even if they DO
prove to be smarter than us, it is generally believed that human
intelligence enhancement should be possible within a few decades, by
computer implants or whatever.  And of course we can enhance
intelligence even today, simply by improving the schools.
								...Keith