Download or read book Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Human Law written by Michael Bohlander and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-08-07 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is statistically unlikely that humans are the only intelligent species in the universe. Nothing about the others will be known until contact is made beyond a radio signal from space that merely tells us they existed when it was sent. That contact may occur tomorrow, in a hundred years, or never. If it does it will be a high-risk scenario for humanity. It may be peaceful or hostile. Relying on alien altruism and benign intentions is wishful thinking. We need to begin identifying as a planetary species, and develop a global consensus on how to respond in either scenario.