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Introduction technological powers to colonize our planet. Kurd Lasswitz, in his novel On Two Planets, envisioned an initial conflict followed by reconciliation and the beginnings of a tutelary relationship that would advance Human- kind to a higher state. H.G. Wells, in his The War of the Worlds, foresaw disaster. This division of opinion about the outcome of contact has contin- ued into our own time. Many speculations about the consequences of contact have rested on assumptions about what extraterrestrials will be like and how they will behave. Those assumptions rest, in turn, on analogies with the nature and behavior of humans. As later sections of this book will show, those anal- ogies have been questioned forcefully. The most intensely debated issues about the consequences of contact are not scientific. They concern social, political, philosophical, and religious questions of some magnitude, ranging from intellectual disorientation to the extinction of the human species. Many speculations about the societal implications of contact are outside science; they tread on other sensitivities. Attitudes toward the consequences of contact have reflected a wide range of cultural and personal views, with many arguments gathered around the poles of millenarian optimism and catastrophic pessimism. Some extrapolate from our history as it has been, including its horrors. Others foresee a future history as they would prefer it to be, imagining that other intelligent beings do not share our faults. Deniers evade the debate about consequences entirely by claiming that we will never come into contact with intelligent aliens. Scientists who firmly attach themselves to what can be observed and confirmed when they are doing science in their own fields often abandon that hard connection with reality when they speculate about the behavior of extraterrestrials. Many commentators leave out the possibilities that do not support their opinions, defying or ignoring precedents in our history that do not fit within their preferred visions. Science fiction author David Brin found that “few important subjects are so data-poor, so subject to unwarranted and biased extrapolations—and so caught up in mankind’s ultimate destiny—as this one.” Many people have an emotional investment in the outcome.'* Arguments about the consequences of contact continue to evolve with new scientific findings and new technological capabilities, and with changes in our cultures. Although specific visions and worries may change with the times, the underlying split between optimism and pessimism remains. Discussions of consequences have been democratized. Participation in this debate has widened beyond the astronomical community to include biologists, anthropologists, historians, psychologists, journalists, interna- tional lawyers, legislators, and many others. None of the participants can