It's another sunny day
and you're out for your morning jog,
when you notice something strange.
The birds seem to be acting funny
and are louder than usual.
All of a sudden,
a great big shadow is cast over you.
The sky turns dark
as thousands of unknown crafts
blot out the Sun.
Uh oh, looks like we've got company.
What now?
Put on your tinfoil hats
and pay close attention.
With over decades of films
and convincing radio plays,
aliens have captivated our imaginations
and our worst fears.
They've come in all shapes and sizes,
looking either cute and cuddly
or absolutely terrifying.
More often than not,
they are portrayed as devious humanoids
that have come to Earth
to experiment on us or wipe us out.
But what if they're friendly
and just here to help?
Either way, we'll need to be cautious
and prepared if we want to,
in the words of Mr. Spock,
"Live long and prosper."
Okay, let's imagine that SETI,
the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence,
receives a signal
from aliens approaching Earth.
World leaders would be notified
and quickly gather together
the best and brightest scientists.
All of this would be done discretely of course,
to keep the public from panicking.
As world governments prepare for the worst
and try to keep things secret,
their cover is blown
as alien crafts descend
over prominent monuments
with the intention
of drawing massive crowds.
Linguists, physicists,
biologists and astronomers
would band together
to help decipher their language and origin.
Efforts would be made
to develop some form of communication.
Maybe a backlog of What If videos
would get them up to speed.
In the 1970s,
NASA sent out two gold records
on the Voyager spacecrafts
with words, music, phrases, letters
and a diagram of the human body.
This was in the hopes that,
if aliens intercepted and studied the record,
they would understand where we are
and that we are friends, not foes
or food.
Hopefully, in this case,
they've gotten the message.
So, how do we approach these aliens?
If the movies are to be believed,
it might be in our best interest
to think like environmentalists.
Peaceful aliens could be here
to help us clean up our act,
or more specifically, our planet.
If we're nice to them,
maybe they will share
their advanced knowledge and technology.
Or broker a peace treaty
in exchange for vital resources.
If all goes well,
we'll have new cosmic allies
and maybe hover cars if we're lucky.
Yes, finally.
Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Let's be real. This is all wishful thinking.
What if these aliens are out for blood?
Would we even stand a chance?
While scientists may try to establish
peaceful communication with the aliens,
the military may have other plans.
The world’s militaries would need
to break out a master plan,
starting from the moment
a hostile message is received and decoded.
The first line of defense would be in space.
Even a small piece of space junk
could destroy a spacecraft.
The Space Shuttle Columbia
broke apart upon returning to Earth’s orbit
after foam fell off an external tank
and damaged a wing.
In this case, our best bet would be
to start blowing things up in low Earth orbit,
such as satellites, missiles,
and whatever space junk we have.
If all goes well, we could take them out
before they even step foot,
or tentacle, on our planet.
But if their ships manage to survive
the barrage and enter Earth's atmosphere,
the military would have to strike
with their full might.
We're talking fighter jets, missiles,
guns, tanks and whatever we have.
But what if their defenses are too strong?
As terrifying as getting probed might be,
a panicked mob of people
can be just as scary.
Whatever the scenario is,
we shouldn't freak out
and buy massive quantities of toilet paper.
Everyone is going to have to set aside
their differences and work together
as a team to keep our species alive.
Panicking also leads
to people getting trampled
and if you haven't seen our episode
on How to Survive a Human Stampede,
you might want to add that to your queue.
If our artillery is useless against them,
the next best option would be
to use nuclear bombs.
Sure, we might wipe out
a big chunk of Earth's population,
but it might be just enough
to force them out.
Or at least lower their shields.
If none of this works,
should we just run and hide?
If they're advanced enough,
we'd have to be pretty fast
and super sneaky.
As scientists and the military
try to reverse engineer the alien technology
in a safe, undisclosed location,
maybe our greatest chance of survival
lies elsewhere.
The ugly truth is,
we've actually encountered
an alien invasion before.
When Christopher Columbus and his crew
stormed North America over 500 years ago,
they were aliens to the Indigenous people.
Unfortunately, the crew brought with them
deadly pathogens
that spread fatal disease.
To quote the late great physicist,
Stephen Hawking,
“We only have to look at ourselves
to see how intelligent life might develop
into something we wouldn’t want to meet.”
Maybe our biology, or more specifically,
our immunity, is our best defense.
Alien species could be from a planet
devoid of water
or viruses like the common cold.
If that's the case, get your spitballs ready
and sneeze anywhere you'd like.
If they happen to be in
protective spacesuits
with filtration systems,
well, we might be out of luck at this point.
Some astronomers believe
taking to the seas is our best defense.
As we haven't found any exoplanets
with water like Earth's,
water could be poisonous to the aliens.
Perhaps setting up shop
at the U.S. Naval Academy
in Annapolis, Maryland
would be a good place to be,
what with all the seafaring technology
at their disposal.
Or maybe there's a certain song
or frequency
they would absolutely loathe
that we could blast over the airwaves
and scramble their systems.
Who's up for some polka?
Consider the analogy of humans
stomping on an ant hill,
except in this scenario,
we're the ant hill.
We may not have any form of retaliation
if they're much bigger than us.
Our biggest explosions could be felt
as a mere tickle to them.
So, at this point,
we might be wise as a species
to welcome our new alien overlords
with open arms.
Perhaps, a peace deal could be made
where humans are kept safe by the aliens
in exchange for our company
as pets.
The biggest takeaway from all of this,
we shouldn't jump to conclusions.
They could just be friendly visitors
on a field trip far away from home.
They might even bestow us
with superpowers, if we're lucky.
At the very least,
we'd have some cool looking corn fields.
From a scientific point of view,
it's more likely that the extraterrestrial life
we'll first encounter is microbial.
NASA and other space exploration
and science agencies
have been looking for planets
that could support life.
This doesn’t mean people
or humanlike bodies necessarily.
The conditions for life to evolve
like here on Earth are pretty slim.
But microbial life could be possible.
Microbes can survive toxic environments
and even thrive in extreme temperatures,
like the atmosphere of Venus.
What we do know for certain
is that we've discovered 3,850 exoplanets
in the expanse of the Universe,
some of which could support life.
We’re still not sure what kind of life, if any,
but the dramatic increase in the ability
to find planets outside our Solar System
in the last 30 years is remarkable.
With credible reports of UFO sightings
dating back for centuries,
maybe we've already been visited by aliens.
Or perhaps, some of us
have even been abducted.
If you're probing for more answers,
or just looking to keep safe,
keep watching How to Survive.