Musing on Possible Extraterrestrial Sentient Alien Encounter

Musing on Possible Extraterrestrial Sentient Alien Encounter

By E. Stanley Ukeni

One of the greatest conundrums that humanity has been faced with is the question of our uniqueness as ‘self-conscious’ sentient Beings. As we become more conscious of our place in this vast universe that we exist in—and more aware of the potentials of our sentience, the one intrinsic question that continue to engage our imagination is; do aliens exist? This question is born of both fear and intrigue.  

Of course I have an opinion regarding this question, as I am sure you probably do as well. My intent here is not to sway you to consider a skewed narrative that favors the existence of alien life or a lack of it. I will however, for the purposes of advancing this discuss briefly share my thoughts on the divergent points of view regarding the existence of sentient extraterrestrial beings. Thereafter, I will delve into the real intent of this piece.

Since there is not yet a definitive, and clearly verifiable, empirical proof of the existence of sentient aliens, there are varying opinions on this subject. The dominant narratives on this topic are espoused by two distinct schools of thought—one religious and the other scientific.

If one were to ask Orthodox or fundamental Christian scholars of their view on the subject, their answer would, most assuredly, advance the prevailing dogmatic Judeo-Christian worldview that ascribes to the notion that human-beings are unique creation in the entire universe. My sense is that those who ascribe to this worldview would not likely yield to an argument to its contrary—however compelling, unless, of course, a couple of life-alien are submitted for their thorough inspection. And even then, there would still be those who would continue to doubt.

Then again, if a scientist were to be asked about the possibility of intelligent sentient extraterrestrial beings existing elsewhere in the universe, he or she would probably respond pragmatically. Although there has never been any properly verified proof that self-conscious beings, or entities for that matter, exists beyond the earth biosphere, still in recent years, a growing number of scientists are convinced of the existence of alien civilizations somewhere in the universe.

The scientific argument for the probability that alien life exists somewhere in the universe is enshrined in the Drake Equation. However, this equation is merely a supposition and not a definitive assertion. This fact has not stopped it from being the gold-standard for employing statistical probability as a bases for the rational that aliens plausibly exists. Although exobiology does, in theory, ascribe to the plausibility of the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, most scientific scholars would be quick to distance themselves from the suggestion that some advanced extraterrestrial Beings have ever visited earth—obviously for fear of being ridiculed by their peers.

The Drake Equation does in fact lend scientific credibility to the popular argument that most intellectuals offer-up to support their opinion that we are not alone in the universe. I must add here that I am of the opinion that this hypothesis is purely speculative, at best. This argument theorizes that, with billions of Star Systems—with planets orbiting them, there exists a high statistical probability that, perhaps, a number of those planets would have hosted the same chemical reactions that occurred on earth which enabled life, and subsequently intelligent-life, to evolve and thrive.

Up until now, the question of the existence of extraterrestrial sentient life has been mostly one of consideration through either religious or scientific prism. But that should no longer be the case. I, along with millions of people, now share the opinion that the recent discovery of Trappist 1 Star System, with seven planets orbiting it—three of which maintains an orbit within a ‘habitable zone’ where the atmospheric environment would be neither too hot nor too cold for life to evolve and thrive. 

Seven Earth-sized planets have been observed by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope around a tiny, nearby, ultra-cool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. Three of these planets are firmly in the habitable zone.

Credits: NASA

Now, let us suppose, for the sake of advancing the current narrative, that there does exits sentient alien civilizations elsewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, or perhaps throughout the entire universe. I must add that this notion is no-longer an implausible hypothesis, in the face of recent tantalizing astronomical discoveries in regards to other planets and moons within our own solar system and galaxy.

With this real possibility that there exists exoplanets that potentially maintains a habitable environment, we now need to be asking a completely different question. The musing that I feel should now occupy our consciousness is; how do we, as human species, engage other intelligent sentient alien species when we encounter them?   

Now here is where it gets interesting. I think that there are three categories of sentient alien beings that we are likely to encounter as we further advance in space exploration. How I envisage that the way we approach our engagement or dealings with each category of intelligent extraterrestrial life-forms is the real intent of this article.   

I think it’s important that I paint you a picture of how I think sentient alien beings would have evolved in other planets, before I proceed any further. This is so that you can have a frame of reference going forward.

Exobiology assumes that evolution functions in predictable patterns, and as such produces predictable outcomes. These suppositions arguably support the notion that extraterrestrial alien life-forms, if they exist, should have fairly similar physical features, and perhaps intellectual capabilities, as do terrestrial life-forms. In essence, sentient alien life-forms could possibly resemble humans in some form. Their physical structure may differ from those of humans in a very noticeable way, but their genetic composition may not be too dissimilar.     

The first category of alien beings is one that I would describe as highly advanced alien beings. I envisage them to be significantly more advanced than humans. These Beings would be so far advanced in their understanding of the primal workings of nature that they would have mastered the science of manipulating matter at its sub-atomic levels towards a desired end. They would probably have the ability to exist in either sub-dense or ethereal form.

This category of aliens would have little or no need for whatever our planet or its inhabitants would have to offer—unless of course there exists a naturally occurring energy structure that they are unable to synthesis or replicate. I highly doubt this possibility though.

They would have solved pretty much at of the fundamental problems of material existence, with the exception of boredom. I do not think that earthlings would have much of anything of intrinsic value to trade with these advanced entities—except perhaps our experiences. I can see them placing premium on human experiences and whatever fable the human imagination can conjure up. 

Since this class of aliens would have little to fear from humans, they are most likely to be altruistic and friendly in their dealings with humans. However, humans should take great care so as not to be in any way dependent on them. It is well to remember that every being, even the highly evolved beings, may still retain the primal tendency to dominate a lesser evolved group if the opportunity presents itself.

However, in principle, there would be more to gain from an encounter with this category of aliens. For instance, humanity can leap-frog in technological advancement through the possibility of some form of technology transfer.  A comprehensive rule of engaging with this group of aliens must be established early, and be strictly adhered to. I think that their needs to be a dedicated United Nations agency to effectively coordinate this effort.

There is a possibility, albeit remote, that this category of aliens may have secretly visited earth—or will do so in the not too distant future. If they have indeed made contact with people here on earth, there is a possibility that it’s been decided that such encounter be kept hush so as not to incite mass hysteria.

The second category of alien beings is ones that I would describe as reasonably evolved sentient entities. Their civilization would look more like the twenty-first century human society—with much of the same challenges, aspirations, desires, goals and accomplishments. They would be at about the same level of technological advancement as humans, or maybe slightly more scientifically advanced. 

We would be wise to be wary of this category of aliens, especially if they visit earth first. My instinct is that they would be crafty, devious, ambitious and probably greedy. Given humanity’s proven propensity to be ruthless and vicious, this class of alien beings should not be expected to possess character traits that differ much from those of humans. It’s highly probable that they will try to exploit national, ethnic and racial prejudices that we are currently contending with. These problems need to go away before we make contact. We must never yield to the temptation of thinking of them as even remotely altruistic.

The good news is that since that they are intelligent Beings; they would exercise reason when it serves their interest. It would be important to figure out their reason for coming to our planet, as quickly as possible—as this would form the bases of how we relate to, and interact with, them.  

My first instinct would be that this category of aliens would only risk an adventure to earth if they identify something valuable to them here on our planet that they cannot acquire elsewhere. Now, there are three ways that they would go about securing whatever it is they want from our world. First, they would explore the option of stealing it—probably with the aid of some kind of stealth technology. Second, if outright theft is not a viable option for them, they would attempt to coerce it from us—generally under the threat of force, or through outright aggression. It is only if they consider that the second option to be too costly, and perhaps cost prohibitive, that they would opt for a third option—a mutually beneficial trade relationship.

Its vitally important to encourage a beneficial trade relationship early as early as possible by demonstrating our capacity to inflict devastating damage if threatened, in other to avoid unnecessary miscalculations on the side of the alien visitors. My guess is that they would already know that humanity is capable of unimaginable cruelty when unhinged.  

The third category of self-conscious alien beings, I would describe as lesser beings. They may be somewhat scientifically astute, but they would lack a rounded intellectual maturity. The probably would be somewhat physiologically similar to humans—but would have evolved with an aesthetically different appearance due to their planetary environment. 

photo credit: Huffpost

This class of aliens would be much more temperamental than the previous two. They’d probably be harder to reason with, and prone to suspicion and mistrust. It’d be easier to relate to them more on an emotional level. Though they’d appear charming and agreeable, they would have mastered the art of treachery as an effective defense mechanism.

It would be much more likely that humans would encounter this category of intelligent aliens while during space exploration. Although they’d appear less advanced than humans, they should not be underestimated. What they lack in technical and scientific advancement they’d more than makeup in craftiness.

In dealing with this group of aliens it’s important to resist any imperialistic impulse. Any attempts at colonizing them will end disastrously for humans. This group of aliens will not hesitate to employ biological weaponry in other to inflict unacceptable casualty on its human conquistadors.

If indeed humankind intend to make meaningful, and non-adversarial contact with extraterrestrial sentient intelligent Beings then organized efforts needs to be put into establishing effective rules of interstellar commerce.

Authored by E. Stanley Ukeni, © 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material and other articles or stories posted on this blog site may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed, in whole or in part, without prior expressed written permission from the author, E. Stanley Ukeni.

Photo Credits: NASA/JPL

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