BONUS: What if we find aliens?

In this follow-up mini-episode, Jorge talks to an anthropologist about how humans would react if we ever discover alien life.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, welcome to sign Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. I'm
hoor cham And in this bonus short episode, we are
following up on our recent episode about the search for
alien life. In that episode, we talked about what scientists
are doing to look for life out there in space,
and so now the question is what if we find it?
Are we prepared? Would people freak out or would they

(00:23):
shrug and go about their regular lives. We're gonna talk
to an anthropologist who's been looking into this question. Are
we gonna hear her opinion on what discovering aliens would
do to the human race. I think her answer at
the end will surprise you. So here is my interview
with doctor Clara Kapoa as we answer the question what
if we find aliens? Well, thank you doctor Coppola for

(00:52):
joining us.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Thank you for having me. It's really nice meeting you,
the famous cartoonist, the creator.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Of the Thank you so when.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I miss Clara. I studied socio culturalthropology. I specialized in
science and technology studies, and my question was search for
life beyond Earth. So I was writing about what it
really means to people to think about what the other
life is, how people used to search for that life
or how they would work with the idea.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Doctor Kapova has worked with NASA and the European Space
Agency on several projects, but one of them was to
get a sense of what people see in their heads
when they imagine an alien So, for example, take a
moment and close your eyes unless you're driving, and picture
in your head when an alien being would look like.

(01:44):
Did you imagine little green men or women, or maybe
something insect like? Or may you imagine a reptilian creature
like the ones in Star Wars or Star Trek. Well
you're not alone.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
When I was doing my research and talking to people,
not only scientists but also citizens of Europe, I would
just ask for their idea about the otherness or other
life was. You know, there are hundreds and hundreds of
imagined life form that are being brought to us by
different books and movies and series and the variety of
our imaginations. It's amazing, actually, So a lot of us

(02:23):
would read a book when we were little or at
school or what you movie, and people tend to always
remembered that as a memory, and this memory almost defines
what they imagine that the other life could be.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
It's always something you remember from your childhood.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I would say. So that's the feedback I was getting
from people.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
So people's expectations of meeting aliens are shaped by the
movies and books in media we consume. And what's interesting
is what those depictions, which are made by writers and
artists say about us.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
What I find really interesting think about imagined extraterrestrials. They
always somehow mirror what we are or we are not.
Either it's negation or it's based on what we see
in the nature I see.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
What we imagine aliens might be is a reflection of
ourselves and how we see ourselves. We want to see ourselves,
how we don't want to see ourselves. Can you explain
that a little more.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
This is based on the first contact scenario, So when
people imagine first contact with the extraterristrial, and it's something
that I'm often asked about, like what if we meet,
what it would be like? What do you think will happen?
And of course there's been already a research john about this,
and it's mostly based on the encounters of humans with

(03:43):
other humans, and this is reflected in the movies or
the stories as well.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Okay, what Tarkakapopa is saying is that it's very hard
to imagine something you've never seen before, so our brains
automatically go to things we have seen before, or that
we've seen in bo or movies. I asked her if
she thought that was a good idea to prepare ourselves
for potentially meeting aliens. Do you think it's a good

(04:09):
idea to use that as a reference?

Speaker 2 (04:12):
What else do we have?

Speaker 1 (04:13):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
That's the thing, you know. We use this because the
human experience we have with encounters with something alien or unknown.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
In other words, we are probably completely unprepared to meet
alien life because we only know what we know and
we don't know what we don't know. Okay. In the
main episode about aliens, we talked about how people are
searching for two kinds of life out there. Some scientists
are doing astrobiology, meaning they're looking for basic life like

(04:44):
microbes that used to live on Mars or maybe self
replicating molecules on the moons of Jupiter. And then there
are scientists who are looking for intelligent life out there
or aliens with advanced technology. According to doctor Kapova, how
we'll react depends on which of the two we find
first the people I talk to.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Most people I interviewed acknowledge that there will be a
different reaction dependent on the life form or the type
of the life form that will be.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Discovered, Meaning you probably react differently if I told you
we found microbes at Mars than if I told you
there's an alien flying saucer outside your window right now.
And doctor Kapova also found that your reaction depends on
how old you are.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Young people today they've seen so many science fiction movies
that they almost like, yeah, of course there's like somewhere,
but it's so far away and will never see it,
while older generation be, oh my god, this is like
the word changing question, you know. So it almost feels
like pop culture has been bombarded us with new ideas
that were almost like gotten used to it.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Do you think the younger generation will not be very
surprised or won't be very changed by this information.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
That's a good question from what I heard from people.
A lot of people think that it wouldn't mistake that much,
but it's tect my everyday life. Unlikely.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
You don't think there'll be a fundamental shift in how
people think about their lives or civilization or humans.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
You know, our planet consists of six billion people. It's
really really hard to say how out the society react.
So who are we talking about? You know, there has
been a study done that the people in Asia actually
think that aliens are mostly walking amongst us, but we
just can't see them. So we also know that each

(06:37):
culture you have some sort of like a template or yeah,
a template through which this discovery will be perceived. And
if we're talking about the change of the world, this
will be almost a personal thing, right. Well, I'm just
trying to say that there is no generic answer that
would cover all people on planet. I see.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
It would be different for each and every single one
of us.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, that's what I say.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
In other words, we may not know how the world
will react if we find alien life until it actually happens. Okay,
The last question I asked doctor Kapova was what would
it mean to her to discover aliens? What would it
mean to you if we found life in other planets
or somewhere else in the universe. Let's say it's the
astrobiology kind. What would you think?

Speaker 2 (07:23):
So I would think that I have now an answer
to one of the questions I've been asking myself for
a very long time. But when I was a child,
I was really curious, like is there something else? Are
you really alone? Where do we came from? Who are we?
So I would have that answer and I would be delighted.
That's it.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Would you change anything about your life right now?

Speaker 2 (07:42):
No?

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Would you still go sailing to Antarctica next month?

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (07:47):
I didn't tell you before. Doctor Kapova recently took a
leave from academic research to work on a sailboat, and
she's scheduled to sail to Antarctica next month. So would
she still sail to Antarctica if we found my chrobial
life in another planet?

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Absolutely? Yes?

Speaker 1 (08:06):
Okay, what if it was the alien civilization kind that
we discovered?

Speaker 2 (08:11):
That is a different story, because if we could communicate
with them, that I would be curious to know more
about them.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Interesting, So then you might not go on that sailing
ship to Antarctica. Let's say NASA has your contact information.
European Space Agency has your contact They say, Clara Nay simplication,
which is established contact. Can you come in and help
us ask them questions?

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Okay, I would go because that will be two grays
about I think.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
You would go you would definitely change your life.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Of course, I would want to know. It's one of
the most fundamental questions, and I would be really curious.
So if you asked me, I would probably go, yes.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
I think that perfectly illustrates the range of reactions we
might have depending on what we find out there.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yes, as I said, it really depends on the person.
I'm sure we would find commonalities, but it would be
an amazing anthropological study on that on the humans or
the aliens, I guess in the interactions.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Oh fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining us.
Like krek Kapova, it was my pleasure.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Thank you for having me tonight.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
All right. I hope you enjoyed that short bonus episode
and that it maybe got you to think about what
would mean to you to find out we're not alone
in the universe. Thanks for joining us. See you next
time you've been listening to Science Stuff. A production of iHeartRadio,

(09:36):
written and produced by me Or hey Hm, edited by
Rose Seguda, Executive producer Jerry Rowland, an audio engineer and
mixer Chandler Mace and you can follow me on social media.
Just search for PhD Comics and the name of your
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(09:56):
and please tell your friends we'll be back next Wednesday,
another episode