# We find conclusive proof of advanced alien civilization on a nearby exoplanet; what do we tell them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941 "2026-04-01T19:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/63 "2026-04-05T01:56:49Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The former stands out from natural signals and is readily received, processed, and the content retrievable to anyone. with that level of tech or higher. It’s dirt simple and you don’t need the engineering specs to figure it out. The latter is almost indistinguishable from noise at any tech level we can imagine. So, hypothetically, the exos would perceive diminishing analog signals replaced by nothing. Leading them to conclude that an extermination level event had occurred, whether self-imposed or natural. At least until they developed digital transmissions for themselves and realized there the possibility of an alternate explanation. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/64 "2026-04-05T10:44:18Z")
“Rich White men are the tastiest. The richer, the tastier” ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/65 "2026-04-05T12:20:42Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > I’m thinking that within a few centuries of radio invention curious beings on both sides would target plausible planets with highly directional antennas. They would deliberately avoid strong encryption. This is entirely possible. Maybe all civilisations develop encrypted communications quite rapidly, and are therefore undetectable; but any civilisation which is serious about making contact with other civilisations would attempt to use simple, unencrypted, optimised forms of transmission first. This would probably involve collimated radio transmissions at suitable wavelengths, and laser transmissions in shorter wavelengths that could be seen when contrasted with the normal stellar luminosity. Maybe some other methods might be suitable. But bthat is not the subject of this thread. What should we tell them? I’d start with a comprehensive nature documentary, followed by aspects of biology, history and science, but prudently avoiding too many details about weapons of mass destruction and industrialised warfare. Wait until we get the same info back from them, before we start discussing politics and ethics. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/66 "2026-04-05T12:53:23Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Oh, no. Face-to-face (as it were) contact is off the table. The physics would make it impossible, no matter how advanced the alien civilization. I think it’s more plausible than postulating that they are already at the nearest stars. Just a modest but plausible improvement on speed would cut travel time down to a few thousand years, which is within the plausible lifespan of creatures so they would not have to send generation ships. To long lived creatures, it would be more like one of the several years long sea voyages common during the era of sail. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/67 "2026-04-05T13:00:27Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Also, if five light years, or even twenty-five, they are already watching our television and may know us almost as well as we know ourselves. And rebuilding their society based on the historical documents. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/68 "2026-04-05T17:10:35Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > . . . but any civilisation which is serious about making contact with other civilisations would attempt to use simple, unencrypted, optimised forms of transmission first. Yes except – why civilizations? There sems to be an assumption in these discussions that our planet has only one government that matters, and same for the other side. While some alien planets could well have one world government, which has complete control over attempts to contact us, others will be decentralized. Right now, earth SETI is so expensive as to be semi-centralized, but as costs go down and the wealth of rich SETI amateurs go up, there wil be an all of the above approach. I also think that highly centralized planetary civilizations are unlikely to get to advanced industrialism in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/69 "2026-04-05T17:20:35Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > I’d start with a comprehensive nature documentary, followed by aspects of biology, history and science, but prudently avoiding too many details about weapons of mass destruction and industrialised warfare. In AI terms, you are claude. But can Grok really be stopped? ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/70 "2026-04-05T18:21:03Z")
Certainly we should be aware that any culture or civilisation we might meet will almost certainly be far in advance of our own, as Der\_Trihs remarked earlier. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > a civilization could easily be thousands or millions years older than us. Given that their advancement could be randomly anywhere on the spectrum between _“less than a century behind us”_ and _“anywhere between less than a century and hundreds of millions of years ahead of us”,_ it seems obviously the odds are very high that they are _much_ more advanced. Even if the culture or civilisaton we make contact with _appears_ to be at a similar level of development to ourselves, this should not be taken for granted. They could be lying. A very advanced civilisation/culture could be very good at lying indeed. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/71 "2026-04-05T18:36:39Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > There sems to be an assumption in these discussions that our planet has only one government that matters, and same for the other side. While some alien planets could well have one world government, which has complete control over attempts to contact us, others will be decentralized. Right now, earth SETI is so expensive as to be semi-centralized, but as costs go down and the wealth of rich SETI amateurs go up, there wil be an all of the above approach. Interesting point, but maybe a bit anthropocentric. The ‘civilisation’ on this alien planet might consist entirely of solipsistic entities who hate each other and never act as a unified civilisation, or a group-mind made of antlike centipedes who have a single unified mentality. Or anything in between. Indeed, the arrival of a message from Earth might be so divisive that we cause a world-wide conflict in their world and cause them to self-destruct. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/72 "2026-04-05T18:39:14Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > the arrival of a message from Earth might be so divisive that we cause a world-wide conflict in their world and cause them to self-destruct In the novella I’m writing, they treat the whole thing as a giant “WTF?” and can’t make heads or tails of if we contacted them on purpose, if so why, and what (if anything) it all means. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/73 "2026-04-05T20:23:27Z")
The ideal situation would be the existence of an ‘Interstellar Internet’, where older civilisations and cultures contact younger civilisations and cultures and share experiences, wisdom, technology and top tips, without ever contacting each other in person. The Interstellar Internet might still cause local conflicts, especially if the new contactees fail to use the new technologies wisely. As should be obvious, almost any sufficiently advanced technology could be used as a weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/74 "2026-04-05T23:06:11Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > The Interstellar Internet might still cause local conflicts, especially if the new contactees fail to use the new technologies wisely. I would presume that access to a galactic extranet would have filters restricting access to potentially dangerous technologies. And if the tech has existed for millennia or longer, they’ve located most of the loopholes. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/75 "2026-04-05T23:18:46Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > As should be obvious, almost any sufficiently advanced technology could be used as a weapon. Maxim 24. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/76 "2026-04-05T23:38:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Maxim 24. I get that reference! At any rate I doubt they worry about weapon technology too much, because a civilization that can establish interstellar communication is _already_ going to be more than powerful enough to destroy itself, while being too far away to be a danger. They’d be more worried about handing out non-weapons technology that can do something really dangerous by accident when used by the ignorant. We’ve got plenty of examples of that from our own history with things like asbestos or greenhouse gases. Assuming they care, they might make a point of the safety warnings being as easily understandable as possible, while the actual technological details needing to be decrypted or interpreted somehow so the receivers don’t implement the technology first, and read the safety instructions later. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/77 "2026-04-06T08:11:06Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I get that reference! Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/78 "2026-04-06T09:47:59Z")
Also this reference. [![](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/der_trihs_5696.png) ](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/der_trihs_5696.png) ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2026, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/79 "2026-04-06T09:56:27Z")
More on the concept of the Interstellar (Galactic) internet here, from SETI. > **[Is the Galaxy Already Connected? Why the "Galactic Internet" Might Be Hiding...](https://www.seti.org/news/is-the-galaxy-already-connected-why-the-galactic-internet-might-be-hiding-in-the-dark/)** ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/80 "2026-04-07T01:34:05Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > Interesting point, but maybe a bit anthropocentric. The ‘civilisation’ on this alien planet might consist entirely of solipsistic entities who hate each other and never act as a unified civilisation, or a group-mind made of antlike centipedes who have a single unified mentality. Or anything in between. They might. And the sample size of known advanced industrial civilization planets is one. That’s all the evidence we have. But that’s not quite zero evidence. Suppose we were to put all the advanced industrial civilization planets in the observable part of the universe onto a bell curve going from most disunified to most unified. How likely is it that planet earth, which is full of solipsistic people and governments is out on one end of said bell curse? Not likely, because most civilization-containing planets will be in the middle rungs of said bell curve. Odds thus say that single unified mentality worlds are rare, and ones with hundreds of countries, and millions of intelligent creatures, putting their own interest first and foremost are common. The relevance to the thread is the second use of the word “we” in the title. There are lots of competing civilizations on earth that might contact the advanced alien civilization a supposed five or so light years away. What the U.S. government says, and the Chinese government, and Elon Musk, would all be different. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/81 "2026-04-07T10:29:48Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Odds thus say that single unified mentality worlds are rare, and ones with hundreds of countries, and millions of intelligent creatures, putting their own interest first and foremost are common. Not necessarily. There may be a tendency in advanced civilisations to connect minds together over time, until every thinking being is a member of the totality, allowing consensus decisions to be reached more quickly. This would be an ‘attractor state’ that might be widespread. Or there might be some sort of ‘facultative group mind’ where all or most of the individuals join together to make big decisions or deal with emergencies. If most civilisations are very old (as projected by Der\_Trihs mathematics) then they could have evolved or engineered these sort of emergency superstructures long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2026, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941/82 "2026-04-07T10:33:13Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > How likely is it that planet earth, which is full of solipsistic people and governments is out on one end of said bell curse? Not likely, because most civilization-containing planets will be in the middle rungs of said bell curve. I don’t think so. I doubt that less unified species could actually advance that far in the first place, and since the historical trend is towards larger polities and more powerful weapons over time I expect most species end up either unified or extinct. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-find-conclusive-proof-of-advanced-alien-civilization-on-a-nearby-exoplanet-what-do-we-tell-them/1028941.md?page=5)