THAT’S BECAUSE I’M A SCIENCE FICTION WRITER. YOU, POWELL, AND THE REST OF THE SETI CROWD ARE SCIENTISTS, AND YOU ALL HAVE VERY FAR-REACHING IDEAS. I MAKE A LIVING HAVING FAR-REACHING IDEAS. I’M NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT IDEAS. I’M GOING TO TALK ABOUT REALITY. IT WILL PROBABLY NOT BE GOOD FOR US EVER TO BUILD AND FIRE UP AN ANTIMATTER ENGINE. ACCORDING TO POWELL, GIVEN THE PROPER DETECTING DEVICES, A VALKYRIE ENGINE BURN COULD BE SEEN OUT TO A RADIUS OF SEVERAL LIGHT-YEARS AND MAY DRAW US INTO A GAME WE’D RATHER NOT PLAY, A GAME IN WHICH, IF WE APPEAR TO BE EVEN THE VAGUEST THREAT TO ANOTHER CIVILIZATION AND IF THE RESOURCES ARE AVAIL ABLE TO ELIMINATE US, THEN IT IS LOGICAL TO DO SO. THE GAME PLAN IS, IN ITS SIMPLEST TERMS, THE RELATIVISTIC INVERSE TO THE GOLDEN RULE: “DO UNTO THE OTHER FELLOW AS HE WOULD DO UNTO YOU AND DO IT FIRST.”

FROM JIM POWELL AND RICHARD TUNA
TO JILL TARTER, NASA/SETI
OCTOBER 31, 1986

IT SEEMS ONLY NATURAL THAT WHEN WE GOT TOGETHER WITH ISAAC ASIMOV, WHO IS PROBABLY BEST KNOWN FOR HIS THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS, THE RESULT WOULD BE THREE NEW LAWS. WHEN WE PUT OUR HEADS TOGETHER AND TRIED TO LIST EVERYTHING WE COULD SAY WITH CERTAINTY ABOUT OTHER CIVILIZATIONS, WITHOUT HAVING ACTUALLY MET THEM, ALL THAT WE KNEW BOILED DOWN TO THREE SIMPLE LAWS OF ALIEN BEHAVIOR:

1. THEIR SURVIVAL WILL BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR SURVIVAL.

IF AN ALIEN SPECIES HAS TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THEM AND US, THEY WON’T CHOOSE US. IT IS DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE A CONTRARY CASE; SPECIES DON’T SURVIVE BY BEING SELF-SACRIFICING.

2. WIMPS DON’T BECOME TOP DOGS.

NO SPECIES MAKES IT TO THE TOP BY BEING PASSIVE. THE SPECIES IN CHARGE OF ANY GIVEN PLANET WILL BE HIGHLY INTELLIGENT, ALERT, AGGRESSIVE, AND RUTHLESS WHEN NECESSARY.

3. THEY WILL ASSUME THAT THE FIRST TWO LAWS APPLY TO US.

FROM JILL TARTER, NASA/SETI
TO JIM POWELL AND RICHARD TUNA
JANUARY 28, 1987

I’VE ASKED MYSELF OVER AND OVER, THESE PAST FEW MONTHS, DO WE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ALIEN BEHAVIOR BEYOND THESE THREE LAWS? ANYTHING AT ALL? WITH ALL THE SPECULATION AMONG SAGAN AND OTHER SETI SCIENTISTS ABOUT A SO-CALLED GALACTIC CLUB, AND WITH COUNTLESS SCIENCE FICTION FILMS AND NOVELS CIRCULATING AROUND US, AS OF LATE, DEPICTING CULTURALLY ADVANCED AND BENEVOLENT ET’S, ONE MIGHT BELIEVE WE SHOULD KNOW MORE ABOUT THE POSSIBILITIES THAN THREE LITTLE LAWS. BUT WE DON’T, AND I’M AFRAID I MUST BEGIN TO AGREE THAT THE WIDELY POPULAR SAGAN UNIVERSE, IN WHICH ANY ALIENS WHO ARE SMART ENOUGH TO HAVE SURVIVED THEIR THERMONUCLEAR ADOLESCENCE WILL BE FRIENDLY TO US, IS ONLY A REFLECTION OF HUMAN HOPES AND FEARS, NOT POSSIBLE REALITY. THEY REVEAL MORE ABOUT THE MINDS THAT IMAGINE OTHER MINDS THAN ABOUT OTHER MINDS.

SOME YEARS AGO I APPLAUDED WHEN A BINARY CODE DEPICTING A DNA MOLECULE WAS BROADCAST TO THE STARS FROM THE ARECIBO OBSERVATORY. IT WAS A VERY NARROW STREAM, BROADCAST FOR A VERY SHORT TIME, AND IT WAS AIMED AT THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER M13, ABOUT 25,000 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY, FAR FROM THE PLANE OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY. I USED TO WORRY THAT SUCH SIGNALS HAD ALMOST NO CHANCE OF BRINGING A RESPONSE. NOW I WORRY THAT THEY COULD BRING FAR TOO MANY.