KNOWN Alien Life & Its AH Effect(s) On Humanity?

[MAC161]

Just a random, VERY broad speculation, which hopefully will NOT slip into (disgusted shudder) "Ancient Aliens" territory; inspired by A World of Difference and a wiki description of the scifi convention scene from In the Court of the Crimson Kings:

What if alien life (microbial, primitive or hyper-advanced) were common knowledge among humanity? How would this alter/affect human history, and by extension its society and tech?

One key point to consider is when it becomes common knowledge, and how. If it's during the Middle Ages and alien spacecraft are landing, they'd probably be seen as punishment from God(s), a threat, or both (like in Poul Anderson's The High Crusade), and a good amount of wrangling among mankind's faiths over where said life fits in theology, with a number no doubt settling on "Godless!"/"Against God!" If it's anywhere from Victorian era to about the early stages of the Space Race, and said life is microbial to "primitive" (i.e. behind humans in specific tech, or generally), there might be fascination mixed with drives to explore/learn and colonize/"civilize," and the same kind of religious debate/justification. If it's within this same period, but the alien life is more advanced, maybe the same level of the first, less of the second (a lot more so if said life doesn't want humanity expanding for whatever reasons) and the same of the third. And the longer the alien life is known, the more it will come to be accepted as a fact, if not a good one.

Put as simply as possible, I think it'd be like the opening lines from this great clip .

If anybody's got thoughts, share away!

 

[SinghSong]

Just a random, VERY broad speculation, which hopefully will NOT slip into (disgusted shudder) "Ancient Aliens" territory; inspired by A World of Difference and a wiki description of the scifi convention scene from In the Court of the Crimson Kings:

What if alien life (microbial, primitive or hyper-advanced) were common knowledge among humanity? How would this alter/affect human history, and by extension its society and tech?

One key point to consider is when it becomes common knowledge, and how. If it's during the Middle Ages and alien spacecraft are landing, they'd probably be seen as punishment from God(s), a threat, or both (like in Poul Anderson's The High Crusade), and a good amount of wrangling among mankind's faiths over where said life fits in theology, with a number no doubt settling on "Godless!"/"Against God!" If it's anywhere from Victorian era to about the early stages of the Space Race, and said life is microbial to "primitive" (i.e. behind humans in specific tech, or generally), there might be fascination mixed with drives to explore/learn and colonize/"civilize," and the same kind of religious debate/justification. If it's within this same period, but the alien life is more advanced, maybe the same level of the first, less of the second (a lot more so if said life doesn't want humanity expanding for whatever reasons) and the same of the third. And the longer the alien life is known, the more it will come to be accepted as a fact, if not a good one.

Put as simply as possible, I think it'd be like the opening lines from this great clip .

If anybody's got thoughts, share away!

As it stands, this question- "What if alien life (microbial, primitive or hyper-advanced) were common knowledge among humanity?"- is too broad to really discuss it with the level of depth it deserves, since it covers far too wide an array of potential 'first-contact' scenarios. Each of these deserves a mention in its own, and everything'd hinge on the follow-up questions of "when and where does alien life become common knowledge among humanity"?

 

[JesterBL]

I recently read both of these books and so I am convinced you are my literary doppelganger.

More seriously I think you have to narrow the realm of inquiry. Aliens in our solar system? How would a medieval European society know first contact unless they are actively landing on Cologne? Is first contact an invasion?

 

[Thande]

An interesting question is a scenario where a SETI-like organisation detects alien transmissions - maybe even as early as the 19th century - but it has no direct impact on anything, because they're thousands of light-years away, the people who sent them were long dead, they can't be interpreted, etc. etc. Would knowledge of the existence of aliens change society significantly or not? It's worth remembering that in the 19th century, a lot of people thought there was a decent possibility of life on Mars (even designing pre-radio ways to contact it) but it didn't exactly impact on the everyday person's attitude to life.

 

[Arthur_Phuxache]

It wouldn't really become a known thing on Earth until the late 1950s to 60s, when Tellurians would have the technological capability of picking up radio-signals from nearby civilisations (Centaurus galaxy, or elsewhere in the solar system) or putting probes onto inhabited Mars or Venus, which are examined by the natives.

Anything further out than that would remain a theory rather than a fact, long into the 21st century.

 

[MAC161]

As it stands, this question- "What if alien life (microbial, primitive or hyper-advanced) were common knowledge among humanity?"- is too broad to really discuss it with the level of depth it deserves, since it covers far too wide an array of potential 'first-contact' scenarios. Each of these deserves a mention in its own, and everything'd hinge on the follow-up questions of "when and where does alien life become common knowledge among humanity"?

I recently read both of these books and so I am convinced you are my literary doppelganger.

More seriously I think you have to narrow the realm of inquiry. Aliens in our solar system? How would a medieval European society know first contact unless they are actively landing on Cologne? Is first contact an invasion?

An interesting question is a scenario where a SETI-like organisation detects alien transmissions - maybe even as early as the 19th century - but it has no direct impact on anything, because they're thousands of light-years away, the people who sent them were long dead, they can't be interpreted, etc. etc. Would knowledge of the existence of aliens change society significantly or not? It's worth remembering that in the 19th century, a lot of people thought there was a decent possibility of life on Mars (even designing pre-radio ways to contact it) but it didn't exactly impact on the everyday person's attitude to life.

All great points, esp. yours, SinghSong; I was looking to cast a wide net, and likely ended up trying to take in too much.

@JesterBL I actually haven't read Crimson Kings (I gradually lost interest in/soured a bit on Stirling, most of all after he dragged the Emberverse series out way too long); glad to meet another Difference fan, though! You're right about the contact issue, up to maybe about the late 19th century as @Thande mentions; until that point, I imagine the only way alien life would be commonly known in any sure way is if it lands or parks in orbit for telescopes to spot.

Given the need to narrow or at least approach the scope of this thread one scenario at a time, why don't we start with the "first contact in ancient or medieval times," with alien tech at, say, the Worldwar series level (the Race was expecting to encounter Crusaders, the other medieval Christian, Muslim and Indian states, the Jin-Song-Xixia kingdoms and the native tribes/kingdoms of the New World), with or without the invasion factor?

 

[SinghSong]

All great points, esp. yours, SinghSong; I was looking to cast a wide net, and likely ended up trying to take in too much.

@JesterBL I actually haven't read Crimson Kings (I gradually lost interest in/soured a bit on Stirling, most of all after he dragged the Emberverse series out way too long); glad to meet another Difference fan, though! You're right about the contact issue, up to maybe about the late 19th century as @Thande mentions; until that point, I imagine the only way alien life would be commonly known in any sure way is if it lands or parks in orbit for telescopes to spot.

Given the need to narrow or at least approach the scope of this thread one scenario at a time, why don't we start with the "first contact in ancient or medieval times," with alien tech at, say, the Worldwar series level (the Race was expecting to encounter Crusaders, the other medieval Christian, Muslim and Indian states, the Jin-Song-Xixia kingdoms and the native tribes/kingdoms of the New World), with or without the invasion factor?

In that instance, we'd mostly likely welcome our new Alien Overlords, with a bunch of cultures going to the extent of deifying them or demonizing them, depending on exactly what said aliens are like, especially in the instance of the invasion factor. Are they at least vaguely anthromorphic (i.e, is there any chance of intercommunication and mutual empathy, between them and mankind)? Or are they utterly and incomprehensively 'alien'? And are they just seeking affirmation that they aren't alone in the universe, paralleling the human search for extraterrestrial life? Or do they have other motives? In the instance of The Race from the Worldwar series, they were essentially pseudo-Oriental Imperialists, who sought to colonize our world for its resources and render humanity subjects of their intrinsically superior race, perpetrating cultural and/or racial genocide in order to subjugate humanity if necessary. Are these aliens the same in this regard?

 

[MAC161]

In that instance, we'd mostly likely welcome our new Alien Overlords, with a bunch of cultures going to the extent of deifying them or demonizing them, depending on exactly what said aliens are like, especially in the instance of the invasion factor. Are they at least vaguely anthromorphic (i.e, is there any chance of intercommunication and mutual empathy, between them and mankind)? Or are they utterly and incomprehensively 'alien'? And are they just seeking affirmation that they aren't alone in the universe, paralleling the human search for extraterrestrial life? Or do they have other motives? In the instance of The Race from the Worldwar series, they were essentially pseudo-Oriental Imperialists, who sought to colonize our world for its resources and render humanity subjects of their intrinsically superior race, perpetrating cultural and/or racial genocide in order to subjugate humanity if necessary. Are these aliens the same in this regard?

If anthropomorphic or close to it (say, at least bipedal), I'd say deifying or demonizing is likely; more so the former if both can communicate and confirm the other's peaceful intent, and the latter if they can but it's all about invasion/subjugation on the aliens' part. If the aliens are totally "alien" (insectoid, War of the Worlds-type, squid-like, etc.), the demonization would probably be stronger, esp. with an invasion factor (although if the aliens are around/in control long enough, this might change to deifying with enough indoctrination or acclimatization).

I think what's coming to the fore in this, for me, is: Would humanity (and cultures within it) have any sense of/debate around its own "rarity" or "specialness" if alien life were common knowledge? As pointed out above, there are countless angles this can be examined from, so there may not be anything close to an answer. I have the feeling that the more "primitive" the alien life ("lower animals" and such, since bacteria wouldn't be understood the way it is today), the more the ancient and medieval cultures will cling to this dogma, merely chalking them up to another aspect of "God's creation" and intended for man's use. There's a short scifi I came across once (can't remember the title) with an indirect example of this possibility using dinosaurs: a hunting party in the Wild West stumbles across and kills a "green buffalo", not realizing it's a dinosaur. Were alien life in a similar form well-known to humans from the ancient/medieval period (leaving out how it ends up on Earth for the moment) they probably wouldn't treat it any differently than horses, bears, wolves or other creatures they've hunted or domesticated. If the alien life is developed to a level of intelligence like that of humans (or beyond), then we're back to the deifying/demonization, with probably efforts on the part of some societies to render them slaves or second-class citizens if they're not technologically strong enough to prevent this for whatever reasons.

Moving on to a later stage of history: how would alien life be perceived if it appeared anywhere between the Enlightenment and late Victorian era as mentioned above? What might its impact be with regards to social/philosophical theory (Social Darwinism most of all) and other aspects of the time (imperialism/"Manifest Destiny"/"White Man's Burden", capitalism, socialism, invasion/early scifi literature, etc.)?

One humorous example/image coming to mind: simple (trees, other plant life) and then intelligent Martian life is found to exist through telescope observation. When first contact is made, however, humans are baffled/afraid because this life looks absolutely nothing like the Barsoom-esque idea(s) that have far, far more fans than in OTL, and the Martians in turn are confused, angry or amused to the point of teary-eyed guffawing at the errors and ridiculousness of these works, and theories such as Percival Lowell's.

 

[Charles EP M.]

I think the biggest impact will be if there's intelligent aliens we can actually reach (on the moon or Mars or on just-like-old-sci-fi Venus) but they can't reach us. By the time we can reach them, we're going to be a society where the old empires have (mostly) ended but we're still probably still in a Cold War setup. There'll be a massive global debate on whether going to these other planets means we're going to be restarting the imperial age, if it's possible to go there and not do it; there'll be arguments about whether our very presence will disrupt their civilisations, about how we can interact without doing exploitation, about who gets to go there and under what laws. It'd be a huge thing and it would come back around to Earth because if all this applies to Martians, why isn't it applying to poorer small countries on our own world? We'd be forced to confront ourselves more.