by Joshua Bourne, Social Media Administrator, METI International
You may have come across an earlier, riveting blog post from us, written by William Alba, called “Asking Questions,” in which it is suggested we ask an array of questions to aliens. But perhaps there is one question aliens would want to ask us: why do we want to establish contact in the first place?
Social interaction is vital to our physical and mental health. The American Psychological Association (APA, 2020) defines social interaction as any process that involves reciprocal stimulation or response between two or more individuals.
Social interaction includes the development of cooperation and competition, the influence of status and social roles. Social interaction is an important reason for us to contact other life. We as human beings can (1) feel an inherent, psychological desire to connect with others, and (2) have an often insatiable curiosity to learn about others, and intelligent life on other worlds check off both of these points.
Think about the above definition as an example. Developing cooperation and even competition in particular. When we connect with other life, cooperation is what we aim for but competition is what we might even get as a result, and competition is also a major part of the human experience. Competition in what sense? Well, suppose we come across a civilization more advanced than ours. Would it drive us to develop greater technologies to match them? Which people and organizations would enter in this new race?
Do we see what might happen here? Developing new technologies to make ourselves comparable to other life we connect with will drive competition not only within ourselves but to aliens. This drive to be the best is a part of who we are, and can not only help develop life here on Earth but may help us connect with aliens and each other as we find ways to cooperate with each other.
The other part of the social interaction definition that stands out is reciprocal communication. We humans do not have just a need to communicate, but to be heard. When we communicate with other civilizations, we might just be doing so in the hopes of being acknowledged. Yes, we may want to learn from them, but we may also want some feedback if what we are communicating has some truth and resonates with life from another planet.
Connecting with aliens can not only help satisfy our innermost psychological need of connection, cooperation and competition, but also connect with each other. That is part of METI International’s mission and one that many of us can connect with.