How would people respond if Aliens send us reply to Voyager?

[Akisa]

Lets say after 30 years from now Voyager returns back to our solar system modified pictures/depictions of some alien retrieving it, images of their solar system and returning it back to our solar system. How would world community react?

[Tvtyrant]

Lots of suicides. LOTS. Just think of what rocks floating through space does...

[inexorabletruth]

Well… suicides are a possibility. But I think it could also bring in a second renaissance of discovery. We've been probing the skyline, looking for signs of intelligent life, since the first telescope was invented.

The scientific and theological community will be roused to discussion, speculation and preparation for how this new information will change society as a whole, and an new boom in demand for space exploration and space tourism technology will fuel a new and exciting industry that could create new jobs and new corporate dynasties.

For example, the owner or the company I work for announced this summer that he's taking a moon vacation in 2014 to plot land on the moon for the first moon-hotel. He estimates that each room can be rented for $38,000 a month. At the moment, it seems like the pipe-dream of an eccentric billionaire, but if we have definitive proof that we may even meet new lifeforms out there, then the demand for such types of tourism will increase exponentially.

Of course, there's also the probability that all land-to-air missiles will start pointing towards the heavens, and many extremist factions will go deep underground in panic bunkers until all this "madness" blows over.

I suppose the bottom line is… we could expect many changes. Some good, some bad. But I prefer to think about the good.

[Evandar]

I wouldn't expect many suicides. (although with the number of people on the planet, pretty much everything nowadays has a chance of provoking a suicide)

A lot of scientists would highfive each other.

[Traab]

Well, preferably we would have much better rockets to send out a reply by then. Maybe come up with a way to communicate more rapidly than once every 3-6 decades or so. After that, perhaps by the time we could arrange it, we could setup a meeting place off world somewhere, to figuratively meet them halfway (assuming they are even capable of better space travel than us, they might not if they only sent our own rocket back) Otherwise, just work on finding the next big thing in space travel to reach them eventually.

Just knowing there IS intelligent life out there would be enough to reignite the interest in space travel. Its even remotely possible it could become a joint world effort. Of course its at least as likely it will be every nation for itself, wanting the accolades of making first face to face contact. But either way, technology would start jumping forward again. Working on the moon landing gave us so much new stuff to work with, being able to have the goal of meeting someone outside our solar system? That would get things moving so fast it would be crazy.

[inexorabletruth]

Of course its at least as likely it will be every nation for itself, wanting the accolades of making first face to face contact.

Fear not! Most government funded space travel is an international effort by now. The space station is a great example of that. It's the private sector that's competitive. Virgin and Bigelow lead the way in privatized space travel at the moment, and are even developing a prolific trade in space tours to the lucky 5%'ers who have the money to blow on such diversions.

[Ravens_cry]

I'd be pretty happy. Scared, but happy, that an alien race is so close that they could return Voyager after only 30 years. Either that or they are breaking the known laws of physics in new and interesting ways, and that is also something that would make me happy and scared.

[tensai_oni]

For the aliens' sake, I really hope they have better technology than we do. Possibly of the "bullets bounce off, explosions do nothing" variety.

We're not exactly the most rational lot, the whole of humanity. I expect a violent reaction, aimed not only at aliens but at other humans. I'm not saying everyone will be like that, the vast majority will probably be just anxious or very hopeful, but there will be enough to make Earth a substantially less peaceful place for a while.

But it will be worth it. Making peaceful contact with another civilization from a different planet, knowing you are not alone out there? Totally worth it.

[DeusMortuusEst]

I'd be pretty happy. Scared, but happy, that an alien race is so close that they could return Voyager after only 30 years. Either that or they are breaking the known laws of physics in new and interesting ways, and that is also something that would make me happy and scared.

Very much this. 30 years is not much when exploring space. These aliens pretty much live in our backyard, or they somehow managed to get to our backyard from their home planet. Both of these things would simultaneously excite and scare me. I'm not sure what I'd feel the most.

[Lord Raziere]

I'd be afraid.

there are so many possibilities there is so much that can go wrong.

and even if it goes right....it is very likely that all that we know, will be changed forever. we will no longer be alone. the discoveries that will be made will probably revolutionize society, the changes will be massive, the cultural upheaval will be a tidal wave. if things are not handled well, there is a strong possibility of culture shock, of the gifts they give us and the gifts we give them of causing trouble.

it would be a change of singularity proportions. once they arrive, there is no telling what will happen. and just imagine, what many people think of an earth based singularity, of an artificial intelligence created far more intelligent than we are- a scary godlike figure, prone to thinking humanity inferior, a robotic uprising boogieman created from our own fears that what we create will someday destroy us, now imagine our fears of the aliens invading, of something far more advanced than us, coming to squash us like a bug for reasons that we cannot comprehend, the fear of the predator alien civilization coming to eat its prey, of Cthulhu.

there will be people that will be afraid, and they will cause trouble. hardly an ideal situation for an alien singularity to occur. and even the ideal situation is one fraught with peril, with the possibility of an "Alien's Burden" thinking taking over and treating humanity as primitives who are unenlightened and don't know anything about the universe. Even my most idealistic speculations project great problems, even if all goes well.

[Ravens_cry]

Very much this. 30 years is not much when exploring space. These aliens pretty much live in our backyard, or they somehow managed to get to our backyard from their home planet. Both of these things would simultaneously excite and scare me. I'm not sure what I'd feel the most.

Exactly. It would be . . . terrifically awesome, in both the current and etymological senses.
It should be noted that the Voyagers left Earth over 30 years ago and are only now edging out of our solar system.
Yep, as Douglas Adams put it, "Space is big.You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."

[danirijeka]

It also depends on WHAT the aliens would send back. Should they put in pop culture references implied from our broadcasts, heavens help us all, since we're going to be exterminated.

[Spiryt]

More bunkers, more pilgrims and prophets on hilltops, more TV programs, more long, heated discussions with "banned" "banned" "banned" aplenty on the first page.

[Traab]

For the aliens' sake, I really hope they have better technology than we do. Possibly of the "bullets bounce off, explosions do nothing" variety.

We're not exactly the most rational lot, the whole of humanity. I expect a violent reaction, aimed not only at aliens but at other humans. I'm not saying everyone will be like that, the vast majority will probably be just anxious or very hopeful, but there will be enough to make Earth a substantially less peaceful place for a while.

But it will be worth it. Making peaceful contact with another civilization from a different planet, knowing you are not alone out there? Totally worth it.

That would probably make it worse. I would personally hope for aliens closer to us in tech because it would help foster the "They arent so different from us" aspect. If they are blatantly superior to us it would make the people living in fear from too many alien invasion movies feel even more justified in their terror because if they are right, then there is precious little we can do about it.

On the other hand, imagine if they are tech level with us? Every communication would come sooner and sooner as our relative tech levels increase and improve. We would see visible progress between us as we both advance and reach out toward the other, (assuming they even really want to) Going into a relationship as equals would be the best way to start things imo. Oh sure it would be NICE if godlike aliens with a benevolent mind set arrived and handed us the keys to our own intergalactic ship to learn from, but there would be something so much more satisfying about being able to work together and maybe even help each other out.

[warty goblin]

There would be a lot of yammering, middle aged guys in conservative suits giving speeches in front of buildings with lots of columns. Billions of words would be written about how 'this changes everything'. Eight months later everybody is back to doing exactly what they were doing before, except there's now a couple new branches of government and at least one new religion. But the cat still needs fed, and the burgers flipped.

The better question is what to write back. I'd go with 'beer, my place?'

[AKA_Bait]

I suspect that a lot of people would also be pretty skeptical as to whether it is genuine (including me) precisely because of the physical distances and technological challenges involved. Something like this happening is pretty unlikely, would have serious cultural/philosophical/religious implications, and so would be a pretty juicy target for an Andy Kaufman/War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast type stunt.

[EmeraldRose]

It also depends on WHAT the aliens would send back. Should they put in pop culture references implied from our broadcasts, heavens help us all, since we're going to be exterminated.

How strange would it be to have a completely alien culture out there somewhere that has developed the exact same pop culture? And sends us back images of their celebrities and stuff?

I would be very scared. For the entire universe...

[Tyndmyr]

Awesome conspiracy theories.

[danirijeka]

How strange would it be to have a completely alien culture out there somewhere that has developed the exact same pop culture? And sends us back images of their celebrities and stuff?

I would be very scared. For the entire universe...

No, no - I was referring to our TV/Radio broadcasts reaching out into space (I had these two comics in mind: xkcd#1212 and Subnormality#56 (language warning)

(yes, I know they'd be very weak signals, but then again Voyager is a speck of dust in the Universe, too)

But your twist is quite scary, too. whyamIthinkingofaliencleavageshotsat8.30inthemorni nggoodheavens

[The Succubus]

They'd probably ask us why Harry Kim is so annoying.

[Cespenar]

I hope:

1) Either they are much more benevolent than us. Or,
2) The space traveling universe has a watertight law & order system.

If not, well, things will likely go as they do when a civilization discovers a much less advanced civilization than theirs.

Read: not well.

[Kato]

Uhm... if we assume the laws of physics are still in action which means likely no invasion (because distance) but merely certain knowledge there are others out there and possibly really, really slow communication (as in, a message every decade)...
I have no idea. Yeah, I'm sure it will impact human civilization and there will be changes, likely huge ones but I don't see it leading to the end of civilization nor to some big advancement unless the aliens are willing to share whatever they may have that's better than what we got.

[LaZodiac]

Voyager's the one with the panels on it with the male and female human figures on it, and all the collected data about human life, right?

[Trixie]

What makes you guys think anyone would even announce this?

It's the private sector that's competitive.

It's not competitive. All of private space travel efforts put together are yet to meet level set by Gagarin's flight 52 years ago. Vostok spacecraft was capable of multiple orbits, not just suborbital dip, despite being (from today's perspective) quite simple vehicle.

Quite frankly, there are not even any private highways built without state help, and space infrastructure is orders of magnitude more expensive. Only way to build it is public, not private financing, IMHO.

No, no - I was referring to our TV/Radio broadcasts reaching out into space

Actually, they don't. No one out there will hear us, that have been recently disproved.

[Kato]

Voyager's the one with the panels on it with the male and female human figures on it, and all the collected data about human life, right?

Yeah, if I remember right. (Wikipedia says so as well) Though, I'm not sure how well aliens would understand it.. but then again I know hardly anything about linguistics (or whatever branch would concern itself with it)

[Trixie]

Though, I'm not sure how well aliens would understand it.

Funny thing is, it was a gramophone disc. We, right here on Earth, are rapidly losing capability and devices needed to understand data we recorded on it 35 years ago, aliens would first dig up plans of similar device from their ancient past, if they have any

But then again, then they would be spared from seeing the horror of seeing very schematic drawing of a human, sans clothes. Can you imagine the outcry it caused back then when some people learned scientists included it on plaque?

[AtlanteanTroll]

Watch the aliens be offended at what's included. What then? What if we've offended their extra-terrestrial decencies!

[Guancyto]

Thirty years is more or less still within our solar system. So yeah, either they're here for a visit or they live here.

Case #1, they're here for a visit. That means their technology is substantially more advanced than our own. They found an exoplanet, determined it contained life, possibly deciphered its broadcasts and found that thing it launched to explain what it was all about. Oh, and crossed the timeless gulf of stars.

Evolution tends to foster organisms in competition with each other. Aliens won't look a thing like Star Trek, but they'll probably understand things like "screwing over beings that are unimportant for one's survival."

Prognosis: If we have something they want, basically an interstellar "scramble for Africa." (This is very bad for us.) Actual alien presence likely to be minimal, it is a freakish biome to them and they don't have to do much when they can park in orbit with a mass driver and have the humans give them things.

People's responses: Not good. Aliens in orbit with mass drivers who have puppet governments all over Earth are pretty bad as 'impetus for social upheaval' goes. Expect a lot of wars, especially if different groups of aliens have set up different puppet governments.

Difference in biome and lack of presence means it's very difficult for us to catch up technologically, as well.

Case #2, they live in our backyard. They deciphered our broadcasts (close proximity means they've been hearing them for years with not a lot of delay), and figured out that they have neighbors. Living far beyond the habitable zone means they're absolutely nothing like us biologically (suck it, Vulcan!) but their tech is likely to be comparable, if not slightly inferior.

They're also unlikely to have anything we want and the difficulty of actual travel between the two planets means that a lot of reasons to come into conflict flat-out aren't there.

Prognosis: Life goes on. Space travel gets a much-needed boost in popularity, many new religions pop up (otherwise known as 'Tuesday'). Scientists give each other high fives and then sit down to figure out what the hell happened on this distant planet. A second planet to study the evolution of probably answers a lot of scientific questions and raises a hell of a lot more.

Xenolinguistics becomes an actual thing. Linguists were never so happy to be relevant.

[Jay R]

Can't speak for anyone else, but if I were face-to face with an alien artifact, I'd be all too tempted to respond, "Klaatu barada nikto".

[Coidzor]

Well, scientists are going to be fairly confident that FTL travel is a possibility unless we shortly encounter the aliens themselves in a generation ship rather than something more interesting, because I'm trying to remember *where* Voyager would be in 30 years time, but it wouldn't make it to another solar system in that time, as it's not traveling at even a significant fraction of light speed.

Prognosis: If we have something they want, basically an interstellar "scramble for Africa." (This is very bad for us.) Actual alien presence likely to be minimal, it is a freakish biome to them and they don't have to do much when they can park in orbit with a mass driver and have the humans give them things.

Which is a pretty big IF.