What will we humans learn if we found intelligent extraterrestrial life?

Question

How will this change our way of thinking? What will we learn?

The extraterrestrial life can smarter than us, or they can be as smart as or below our intelligence.

Answer 1

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I honestly think that we would go into chaos. People just wouldn't be able to handle such a mind-boggling aspect of life. Besides, even if we found life that's intellegent like us, the chances of us having the same form of communication would be slim to none. For all we know, extraterrestrial life could communicate through signals of flashing light, seismic vibrations, sending certain-smelling gases into the air, or even another sense altogether that we on earth don't even have! It's pretty amazing if you think about; we humans communicate through sonic vibrations (hearing). We just can't know how to communicate with other-worldly life until a form shows up!

Answer 2

We will learn more about the universe from the E.T.s (evolution, formation of the universe, etc.)
Of course we probably are, but the government is hiding it

Answer 3

I don't think it'll change much of anything except the science and religious community. I'm sure most people will be shocked, it'll be on the front page of all the new papers and then in a week it'll be on page 10 and everyone wont care.

Answer 4

Hopefully we will learn to enjoy and cherish the diversity on our planet.

Answer 5

That we might have to come up with a new way of thinking and maybe rethink about how we act and DEFINALLY rethink about our religions

Answer 6

I have no idea for certain, but I think it would give us a better perspective on things. To see the Earth as a whole instead of "us" against "the people who have the oil we want".

Answer 7

One of the great quests of mankind has become the search for life elsewhere -- to learn whether or not we are alone in the universe.

Since searches have begun to reveal planets around other stars, and since some of those planets are close enough but not too far from the stars they orbit, it seem likely that we will eventually find a planet where life as we know it could exist. Then question then will be whether or not life does exist there.

The search for intelligent life elsewhere is a subset of the search for life. Since we cannot travel to distant stars to meet other intelligent creatures, it is likely that our communication with intelligences elsewhere will be limited to the exchange of information. I hope "they" would be as happy to learn of our existence as we of theirs.

As to their intelligence -- that is purely a matter of speculation. Humans have evolved enough intelligence to solve problems and change the environment, and there is a huge range between the brightest and the least gifted. I suspect we would find the intelligence of inhabitants of other worlds to be comparable in most ways to our own, but that is my own speculation, not based on any hard evidence or facts, since we don't have "anyone" to study.

Answer 8

that were not the only ones out there and it will give us somewhere to go if the earth blows up due to global warming

Answer 9

We will learn that a group of nutters will form on Earth that deny the thing ever happened because it is not in the Bible. Another group will call them angels and still yet others will say they are demons. Most people won't really care all that much unless they meet them on the street.

Answer 10

Knowing how humans think, I'm sure we would take their technology and find some way to make new weapons, sad but true.

Answer 11

First and foremost we will finally know that we are not alone in the universe. That has been one of humankind's oldest and most profound questions. We will have learned that life is possible elsewhere, that we are not the center of everything, and that we're not so damned important as some of us think.

We will be forced (and fortunate) to see ourselves as sharing this universe with other beings, who may have knowledge we could use. For one thing, we might (if we could skirt the language and distance barriers) find out if they had something equivalent to a nuclear age, or to terrorism or famine or disease or hatred or irrationality, or even political resistance to societal advancement... and how, if so, they dealt with these challenges. I personally would ask them if they had to deal with lack of compassion and of critical thinking, two of the personality traits which so endanger human beings in so many ways.

But as Ken E wisely touched on, there will be people who refuse to believe it, attributable at least in part, I think, to the simplistic notion that if *they* can't understand how we know of the ET's existence, neither can science. There will be people who are scared by it -- many of whom will become hostile or paranoid and act out in any number of ways.

There will be religious fanatics from all different denominations who will somehow (negatively or positively) associate the beings' existence with the god of their choice. Some (but certainly not all) people of faith will suddenly ask themselves why the Bible and other man-centered documents of theology do not mention these other creatures, which they will have to assume were *also* divinely created or, perhaps, are freaks of nature (which will then re-raise the question, "Then why not here? Why, if you think spontaneous life is possible, can you not accept that it happened *here*?") The whole evolution "debate" will be inflamed.

There will be UFO enthusiasts who will beam with pride, saying "I told you so" despite the fact that they have not generally (in fact ever, to my knowledge) provided any hard evidence of alien beings visiting earth! (Quick disclosure: I believe extraterrestrials must exist; I just don't think they come to earth every few weeks -- if ever!)

There will be sheer delight in the science community -- especially among the exobiologists -- who have made the seeking of such beings their life's work.

But above all, it will immediately change our perspective from one of a single lonely life-harboring oasis surrounded by vast emptiness... to one of an equally vast space in which we have company... and if on this other planet, why not on many more? The notion that we are an entire cosmic collection of beings will finally hit some people.

When and if that happens, and if we're still around, just maybe rationality will win over nation-centric, religion-centric, and politically divisive attitudes, and the bulk of humanity will see us all as the same, more than different... that we are all part of ONE (human) family. Just maybe.