What do we do if SETI is successful?

The moot question isn't what will happen after Earth receives and confirms an alien signal.

The question is moot, because any alien species advanced enough to send directed signals across solar systems, can and will reach, overwhelm and subsume Earth with ease, once we Earthlings manage to contact such aliens.

And if such events happened in the past, that might explain a few interesting notions we humans tend to have.

"Any sufficiently advanced extraterrestrial intelligence is indistinguishable from God." ~Shermer's last law

But what if that was their intention from the very beginning? What if Earth itself is just yet another alien farm?

What if Earth's beautiful and bountiful life (flora and fauna) was the result of terraforming, by aliens, but indirectly using spores tacked onto cosmic flying objects (comets, meteors, asteroids) that they knew will cross such solar systems and crash into inhabitable planets on some not so random chance?

Abiogenesis is the emergence of life from nonliving organics. It is the leading theory regarding how life spawned on Earth, but it is being questioned due to recent evidence.

Conditions for Life: For life to exist, certain conditions must be met. These include:

* Presence of Water: Essential for biochemical reactions. * Organic Compounds: Building blocks like carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen are crucial. * Energy Source: Sunlight or geothermal energy can drive life processes.

Evidence and Research: While no definitive evidence of extraterrestrial life has been found, scientists continue to explore environments on other planets, such as Mars and Europa, which may harbor conditions suitable for life. The study of extremophiles on Earth—organisms that thrive in harsh conditions—provides insights into how life might exist elsewhere in the universe

One prominent theory regarding the extraterrestrial origin of life is Panspermia.

The Panspermia Hypothesis suggests that life, or the building blocks of life, may have been transported to Earth via comets, asteroids, or space dust.

There are several forms of panspermia:

* Naturalistic Panspermia: Life evolves on another planet and is ejected into space, eventually landing on Earth.

* Directed Panspermia: Intelligent beings from another planet intentionally send life to Earth.

* Intelligent Design Panspermia: Life is designed and seeded by extraterrestrial intelligences.

I believe Earth life is the result of Natural Panspermia. But if SETI or other observatories detect and confirm alien signal, then Directed Panspermia might be our origin.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a66036689/a-scientist...

I couldn't imagine worshipping aliens even if they were powerful enough to be indistinguishable from gods.

I also think that if such powerful aliens (or actual gods for that matter) were to exist, they wouldn't give a rat's ass about whether we worship them. Because we'd have nothing to offer them. It's like us stepping on ants without thinking about it. Their world is so limited it's meaningless to us. If any gods existed we'd be the same to them.

In any case my intuition will always be to fight hostile authorities, even if its futile. I would never be able to be in the military for example.

Are you religious?

If yes you are already worshipping and imaginary concept. At least with aliens you would have some kind of connection with reality.

If not the word god is not really a part of the vocabulary.

No I'm not religious at all. I do think it's likely there are powers far greater than us, it's statistically likely. If we're the top that life has to offer it's a pretty sad affair.

But I think it's extremely unlikely they would give a rat's ass about what we do or believe.