Articles About Message Construction

Making Contact: The Etiquette of ET Announcements

Article written by Dr. Douglas Vakoch
Originally published on February 28 2001 at Space.com

Clearly, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is an expanding science. For example, scientists and engineers at the SETI Institute and the University of California at Berkeley are now designing the Allen Telescope Array, to be dedicated full-time to SETI observations and simultaneously to other astronomical research.

While searches for radio signals will continue to be a mainstay of SETI, in the next 20 years there will be additional sophisticated searches for rapid laser pulses from other stars, as the traditional searches at radio frequencies are complemented by more searches in the optical spectrum. With advances like this on the horizon, scientists are becoming increasingly interested in what might happen in the wake of news that we have detected intelligent life near another star.

Scientists such as the SETI Institutes John Billingham and Jill Tarter have taken the lead in planning for the day we might receive a signal from life beyond Earth. Working with diplomats and space lawyers, they have helped develop protocols that guide the activities of SETI scientists who think they may have detected extraterrestrial intelligence.

"The good thing about protocols," according to University of Toronto psychologist Allen Tough, "is that they emphasize confirmation but they are against premature announcement, so they emphasize that you get other scientists in other parts of the world to confirm your data before you make any public announcement."

But as soon as the evidence is in, an announcement would be made to the general public and the wider scientific community.

"The downside of protocols," Tough believes, is that "the media are going to be on this so soon that it may be on the front pages long before confirmation can occur." To confirm that a signal is really of extraterrestrial origin, many groups of astronomers around the world would be involved. In the process, the press might well get word of the possible discovery before the confirmation is complete.

An additional challenge for detection protocols, in the view of the SETI Leagues Paul Shuch, is that they "cannot possibly anticipate every possible scenario." Comparing the SETI enterprise to the Spanish discovery of the New World, Shuch said, "Imagine if Queen Isabella had given Columbus strict protocol on exactly what he was supposed to do once he reached India."

If theres no guarantee that signal detection protocols will be followed "to the letter," why bother creating them in the first place?

Taking a cue from Pathfinder

Scot Stride, an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), believes that NASAs experiences with the Mars Pathfinder mission may provide a good analogy for SETI scientists.

He reports that the Pathfinder team "spent a lot of time preparing for the incredible amount of interest that it generated. How are we going to deal with the press? How are we going to deal with the press releases? How are we going to deal with the public interest in this?"

Stride suspects that these lessons from interplanetary exploration may be of use for planning in SETI.

"Detection of an extraterrestrial signal is going to generate an incredible amount of interest initially," he said, "and if you plan for it, even though your protocols may not be perfect, you will have a chance of answering everybodys questions and satisfying people and their curiosity."

The SETI League's Paul Shuch agrees. "The very act of establishing protocols forces us to consider the possibilities. Whether we actually abide by those protocols, or are signatories of them or not, protocols force the discussion just as the Drake equation forced us to quantify our ignorance."

Nice, but necessary?

While there is widespread support for detection protocols within the SETI community, a few question the need for them.

Harvard Universitys SETI researcher Paul Horowitz maintains that even if an astronomer mistakenly claims to have detected extraterrestrial intelligence, no great harm will come to SETI in the long run.

"I think if somebody wants to shoot their mouth off and do some stupid announcement, I think the world is just going to have to get used to the fact that some information is incorrect and we accommodate this in every other field," he said. "And so I am just a little worried that by setting up all these rules, that you have to have the establishment come in, guys wearing the suits, and look at your meters to make sure you found something. I just rebel a little against that."

In Horowitzs opinion, such mandated verification procedures cheapen the endeavor, stamping it with the label of "not to be trusted." The antidote, according to him, is to rely on the same methods of science as used in other areas of research, where incorrect observations and conclusions are detected by independent and voluntary verification.

As Horowitz sums up his view of SETI protocols: "Im not sure we need these extra rules."

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