The James Webb space telescope is set to launch on December 18, 2021. Recently I was privileged to ask a local astronomer and lecturer about the Webb telescope during a ZOOM presentation. “How will James Webb push the envelope of astronomical knowledge?” I asked. “Within five years we will have detected life on other worlds,” came the unhesitating answer.

Are you ready for E.T.?  Now, to be fair, the answer was about “life,” not space faring extraterrestrial civilizations. Detecting oxygen, or even industrial hydrocarbons, in another world’s atmosphere does not mean their starships are on the way or that instructions for building a faster-than-light communications ansible are coming anytime soon.

But it does open up the possibilities, and those possibilities are enormously disruptive.

It’s simple to imagine benevolent extraterrestrials who share their advanced technology, and just as easy to worry over predatory creatures who want our resources and slave labor, but both are unlikely in the extreme.

Instead, considering the age and immensity of the universe, our first contact is likely to be with a species that has been civilized far longer than humanity. And by that, I mean millions, possibly hundreds of millions, even billions of years.

Let’s start with religion. Nowhere on Earth has the same religious belief spontaneously arisen in different continents and different cultures. That’s not true of science and invention, where “multiple discovery” is a common occurrence, because finding patterns in nature and connections in technology does not depend upon revealed knowledge or belief. 

For the billion-year-old aliens we meet, that means their science will be based in the same discoveries as ours, no matter how far advanced, but there will be no Christians, Muslims, Jews, or Buddhists among the stars.

What we will be faced with are creatures advanced enough to be gods themselves and with no interest in the theology of fledgling races. It is possible they may still have their own “revealed truth,” but no one on Earth will be swayed by their meditations on the structural revelation of false vacuum instability. In other words, any discussion of religious belief is likely to result on both sides in the equivalent of “say what?”  

Any anticipation that basic moral principles might apply will probably also be met with head shaking disbelief. Things that may be disconcertingly true of our alien correspondents:

• Perhaps they eat their young, raising only the strongest brood pairs.
• Sexes by the thousands, with some non-sentient genders limited to reproductive purposes.
• Disdain for nature and an economy based on genetic manipulation of all life.
• A civilization in which cultural cohesion is dependent on lies and deceit.
• Pollution and the spreading of waste embraced as a virtue.

Whether any of these might be likely, it is almost certain that looking for universal support for our own moral and ethical values; however, woke they may be, will not be met with success. 

And if we do encounter repugnant behaviors, good luck taking the moral high ground with a species that barely sees your civilization as a childish curiosity.

Once communication begins, it would take a while to begin to see ourselves through alien eyes, but once we do, the shock to our collective psyche could be massive. A billion-year-old species may not see planet dwellers as civilized at all. Their interest in relating to us may be the same curiosity we have in deciphering dolphin squeaks.

They may be uplifters, searching the universe for promising species to help along (and there’s no guarantee we’ll pass the vetting process).

Even after we settle the solar system, they may perceive humans as a poverty-stricken people in need of a galactic charity drive.

One thing is certain, they would no more value our deepest held philosophies than we turn to crows and ravens for insights on the meaning of life.

Well, all that sounds rather discouraging. Where lies hope in being demoralized by contact with the interstellar Olympians?

In the long run, it will be good to be shaken up. Thinking you’re the smartest, wisest, most pious kid on the block is not a good formula for personal growth. At best, it’s a kind of indulgence in the drugs of self-importance and egotistical delusion.

In our own history, the arrival of a highly advanced civilization on colonial shores has never been good for the natives. This will be different. 

Civilizations that mine stars and use black holes for power generation will need nothing from us. They may be disconcerting, concept shattering, bewildering mysteries capable of bending time and space, but the biggest affect they can have on us is this:

No, dear humans, the truths in which you take such pride are somewhat incomprehensible and largely meaningless to us. We mean no offense, it’s simply the way of things. Your meanings are your own to find.

But science, in that you did find the greatest gift that reasoned thought can bring. It’s how we are able to have discourse with you at all. Your growth will be rapid now and change you in ways you have yet to imagine. 

There is much more to learn than you know; but take heart, space faring civilizations can last for many millions of years. 

Above all, you are not alone.

Leave your nest. The resources out here are, quite literally, limitless.

And time is on your side.