Aliens - How Would Humans React?

NASA and the scientific community are actively searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life, but what if we were confronted with undeniable proof that ETs exist and have been visiting Earth? A nationwide survey by the Roper Organization has uncovered the following, one out of four Americans think most people would “totally freak out and panic” if such evidence were confirmed…eighty percent of influential Americans think the US government would classify or suppress evidence of extraterrestrial life.

The Roper survey was conducted on behalf of the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), a privately funded scientific research organization based in Las Vegas, NV. The pollsters asked a nationwide sample of 1,971 men and women a variety of questions concerning a sudden confirmation of extraterrestrial life. (The poll has error margins of 2.5 percent.)

When asked what they thought UFOs were:

25%     thought they were alien spaceships

19%     said UFOs are normal events that are misinterpreted by witnesses

12%     thought they were secret government programs

9%       said hallucinations

7%      said travelers from other dimensions

When asked whom they would choose to make first contact with ETs on Earth:

20%    the military

29%    scientists

14%     the government

12%     religious leaders

20%    a private organization that had planned for such a contingency.

“There have been no systematic studies about the potential impact of confirmed contact”, says Dr. Colm Kelleher, deputy administrator of NIDS. A 1960 report by the Brookings Institute and an internal RAND document from 1968 predicted profound social consequences if contact were confirmed, but there have been no follow-up studies. For more information about the Roper survey and about NIDS, keep reading, or visit the NIDS website at: http://www.nidsci.org/

When asked how they would react psychologically to confirmation of advanced extraterrestrial life:

32%   “fully prepared to handle it”

17%   “rethink their place in the universe”

Yet when asked how they think OTHERS would react to the same news:

25%     most people would totally freak out and panic

10%     act irrationally and become dangerous to others

14%     begin to act very strangely

36%     most people would be very concerned

13%     most people would handle the information in a calm and rational way

Since 1995, NIDS has been conducting scientific research into unconventional and novel areas including aerial phenomena research.

NIDS’s president and founder is Robert Bigelow. The Las Vegas based organization employs a staff of Ph.D. level, multi-disciplinary scientists and is advised by a world class science advisory board.
Kelleher pointed to ongoing serious scientific studies on the remote possibility of an asteroid striking the planet. “On the other hand we have no government programs, no contingency plans that are in the public domain for coping with the possibility of E.T. contact. Yet these numbers from Roper say that 80% of the trend-setters in America do not trust the government to inform the public and one in four of the general public think there would be total panic if confirmation of advanced extraterrestrials occurred”, said Kelleher.

Religious Implications

Aliens - How Would Humans React

The physicist Enrico Fermi once suggested that “If aliens exist they would be here!” Given that alien life is more than likely we have to ask why aren’t they here?

One reason may be religion. Many sci-fi writers suggest one answer to the so called Fermi paradox, in which the advanced alien community has cordoned off the earth in a galactic nursery, until the time that we have reached an adequate stage, ready for contact.

Religion could be one of the factors holding us back and when we nave outgrown this childish world view, the ban on visiting earth will be lifted. If so then the effect on religion would be zero, there would be no religions when aliens land. Of course this doesn’t really get to the heart of your question, what you really want to know I guess, is what the implications of alien life would be for, the world’s religions. There are a number of issues here and I will deal with only a few.

1. Some religions think that god was an alien, so perhaps an alien visit would be seen as fulfillment of prophecy.

1. On a more general level the very fact that alien life exists would mean that we are riot the center of the universe. While most religions now recognize that the earth is just a lump of rock, they still believe that WE human beings are the most important thing in creation, that we occupy a special place in God’s plan. The existence of aliens would seem to make this implausible especially if they are more advanced than we are (on all levels, intellectually, spiritually) This would mean that God has acted in the development of the aliens in a way he did not act in ours, which in turn would mean that we do not occupy the paramount role in God’s creation, which as I said is a fundamental idea in religions.

1. For Christianity, Judaism and !slam the existence of aliens is especially problematic. All these religions are based on the idea of a covenant between us and God. Now consider two possibilities; (i) the aliens do not believe in God and do not share the idea of a fall from grace by man (or I guess created beings) and a promise between God and man of a way to return to grace and the forgiveness of sin. Perhaps they have a different religious belief of their own.
2. (ii) the aliens do believe in these things and even have a Moses, Jesus, or Mohammed of their own.

Aliens - How Would Humans React

Possibility (i) would mean that these aliens would be in need of conversion and salvation, and of course it would be up to the faithful to lead the way. I can’t help but think this would lead to a new level of arrogance and self righteousness than they have had in the past. It may not lead to a holy war, but I doubt that the religious will adopt a policy of non interference concerning the aliens beliefs.

Possibility (ii) is more interesting. For Christians the covenant was fulfilled in the sacrifice of JC. Now if aliens had there own incarnation this would undermine the covenant we share with God and our personal savior, ‘God made man’, Christ. It would have all kinds of problems for the doctrine of resurrection (do aliens and humans share the same kind of spirit, will humans get resurrected in alien bodies?), the Eucharist (would the body and blood be alien Jesus’ body and blood, if not do the aliens partake of a different sacrament?) These of course are doctrinal issues and though they are not trivial, especially for the Christian, the existence of aliens would have the more fundamental effect on these monotheistic faiths of calling into question mans very relationship with, God and the rest of creation. (It is interesting to note that the Vatican has a research program devoted to evaluating the implications of alien life for the Christian faith, I’m not sure if they have published any conclusions yet, but I bet it would be interesting!)

1. Perhaps other non-monotheistic religions would fair better, these would not be concerned with salvation or redemption, but with a universal spirit, or some such corresponding idea the existence of aliens may be seen as just another manifestation of this universal life force. if aliens landed tomorrow I am sure that religions of all kinds would have to change, but I bet that they would fight against it, they would after all be fighting for their survival. For the long run I can’t help but feel pessimistic.