The United Nations was set today to appoint an obscure Malaysian astrophysicist to act as Earth's first contact for any aliens that may come visiting.The U.N. is a "toothless talking forum" that couldn't run a one-car funeral, much less something truly tricky such as the arrival of Kang and Kodos. If and when Michael Rennie appears asking "take me to your leader," Ban Ki-moon isn't the answer.
Mazlan Othman, the head of the UN's little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa), is to describe her potential new role next week at a scientific conference at the Royal Society’s Kavli conference centre in Buckinghamshire.
She is scheduled to tell delegates that the recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars has made the detection of extraterrestrial life more likely than ever before -- and that means the UN must be ready to coordinate humanity’s response to any "first contact".
During a talk Othman gave recently to fellow scientists, she said: "The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that some day humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials.
"When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination."
(via The Corner)
4 comments:
Can she commune with dead aliens? You know, in case we get a Dead Space, Ghosts of Mars, FF: The Spirits Within type scenario?
1) If they ain't here, already, they probably don't want us to know they're around.
2) If they are here, and they don't want us to know they are around, there are two options of relevance
a) Hostile -- The UN ain't the body to deal with this issue.
b) Benevolent -- Who needs the UN?
3) Suppose the actual first contact is via some STL signal, such as radio, rather than a visit. Is there a reason -- any rational reason -- why the response must be pre-prepared, etc.? The nature of the initial response, in this case, is going to greatly affect the scenarios that result from it, and hence any reply -- again, there are a couple obvious scenarios --
a) "We hate you, prepare to die!" -- in short, Islam In Space
b) "Cool! Want to trade?" -- in short, Jews In Space.
c) "Have you considered the whichness of the why?" -- in short, Taoists In Space.
d) "Have you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior?" -- Baptists In Space.
In any case, you could certainly take a year or more composing your response to match the reality of the scenario.
Maybe they've just been too many calls from crazies, and wanted to shunt it all of on one department.
Sad that the idealistic intent of the UN has been sabotaged by corrupt, anti-Jewish jerks. Maybe someday those who hold the power will understand that it is in their self-interest to share the power equitably. For now, the United Nations is a failure.
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