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222 Hopes We already have sought to make other intelligences aware of our exis- tence, notably by messages transmitted from radio telescopes. If we detect extraterrestrials, that compulsion could be even stronger. Planetary Society SETI Coordinator Thomas McDonough believed that the temptation to transmit our heritage and receive a kind of immortality would be irresist- ible; Sagan and Shklovskii thought it would not be “immodest.”’* There may be a more subtle kind of satisfaction. As Davies saw it, the most important consequence of discovering extraterrestrial life would be to restore to human beings something of the dignity of which science has robbed them. Far from exposing Homo sapiens as an inferior creature, the certain existence of alien beings would give us cause to believe that we, in our humble way, are part of a larger, majestic process of cosmic self-knowledge. In Walter Sullivan’s vision, communion with cosmic mani- festations of life would join us with a far more magnificent form of continuity.” By contemplating contact with other-worldly creatures, suggested histo- rians Launius and McCurdy, humans grant themselves a privileged posi- tion in the cosmos, worthy of visitation by God-like beings. Psychologist Carl Jung had expressed a similar view decades earlier: When a human attracts the interest of another world, his status is enhanced, and he acquires a cosmic importance.'* If contact occurred, many predict, we would see the common nature of humans defined by contrast with aliens. Contact would remind us, as nothing else could, of our identity as a species. “The differences among human beings of separate races and nationalities, religions, and sexes are likely to be insignificant,” Sagan claimed, “compared to the differences between all humans and all extraterrestrial beings.” Many hope that this would have a unifying effect, easing tensions and encouraging cooperation among humans. Sagan thought that this effect of contact is, by far, the strongest social value of the search; Drake declared that an implicit goal of interstellar communication is to draw together the residents of Earth. For many SETI advocates, the idea that humanity will immediately unite in the face of “others” has become an assumption.” Others expect more modest results, foreseeing that the unifying effects of a remote detection may be temporary, and that differences among nations are likely to reemerge. Some past threats or opportunities that appeared to involve most of Humankind have had limited but significant effects on international cooperation. Nations have built international insti- tutions and mechanisms to deal with exploiting a technology, such as the allocation of the radio frequency spectrum; to deal with evident externali- ties, as in limiting ocean dumping; to share costs that are too high for one Unifying Humankind