We aren't the first species reaching for the stars

For thousands of years mankind has been gazing up to the stars, and now we do have the opportunity to reach for them as well. It seems to be the normal way of evolution to start exploring the universe. But we need to think about how we do that and when we do it. You might say we can reach for the stars already, but can we really? We might be able to do it from our technological knowledge in a few decades, but there is more that we need to prepare. Aliens will instantly know what we are about, by just scanning our leaky mind. So if we live in peace, in equality and everyone has the same chances with opportunities, then we make a good impression, but if there is much inequality, starvation, wars and de-location of people then do we still make a good impression? 

Humanity has just arrived

It would be very selfish to state that we are the first species reaching for the stars. Our galaxy is billions of years old and there are also billions of stars and exoplanets that potentially have intelligent life. And they might have evolved millions of years before humans have. So they have reached for the stars, whilst earth still was trying to survive with dinosaurs. Regarding exploring the galaxy and reaching for the stars, humanity has just been born and we still don't know how to act and how to use appropriate technologies. But at the same time aliens have been through it all. They have evolved into logic based friendly extraterrestrials. I specifically say this, that they are logical and kind, as it is the obvious way for intelligent life to evolve. I will explain.

Logic based thinking

When a species evolves, there will be a point in time when they would have looked and analyzed their own methods or reacting to problems. An example is human emotion and how these emotions influence decision making. Many decisions we make are based on emotions alone, and in many cases these decisions are bad ones. Think of decisions made out of love, fear or hate which can have disastrous consequences. If one takes control of ones emotions, then these negative consequences can be avoided altogether. For this you need to get into a state of mind where you feel emotions come and go, but they don't influence how you think or how you act. When you are able to do that, then you can make decisions which purely are based on logic. Aliens most likely have evolved through this as well, and thus their decision making purely is based on logic. If we want humans to be able to talk with aliens, then we need to take emotions out of the equation, aka we need to learn how to make good decisions based on logic without being lead by emotions. This doesn't mean we can't be emotional, but we need to separate decisions from emotions.

Aliens are benign

I assure you, you don't have to be afraid of aliens and that has a good reason. Aliens have just like us once been in the situation to reach for the stars, but also for them the question arose what to do if they would encounter hostile aliens. With this there are two options to occur:

• they feared such an encounter and thus they would take appropriate measures to protect themselves;
• they did explore the universe and consequently encountered aliens. But they met hostile aliens which ended badly and thus they won't want to repeat that situation by protection.

The obvious question is how would they protect themselves? You might say with weaponry, and they most likely have it as a last resort simply for protection. But this isn't the primary way to protect oneself. They would use stealth aka come in secret without the visited species knowing about it. That way they know for sure they are protected and can determine in safety if the new species is benign or hostile. In that case there are also two options occurring:

• the visited species is considered hostile. In this case they simply would let that species alone;
• the visited species is considered benign. Here lies the opportunity for the aliens. They would make first contact and most likely would invite the new species to join the alien society.

This last point has many advantages. The good aliens would be a growing group of good species, sharing their technologies and knowledge. It is the best way to defend oneself as a benign species against threats. The hostile aliens on the other hand would not get the opportunity to join the alien society and thus wouldn't have all the advantages. The hostile aliens would develop very slow and their numbers would be minimal compared to the benign alien group. From this we can stipulate that aliens are benign, friendly and kind.

Humans have to change

Previous two reasons show what aliens are like. They make decisions based on logic and reasoning, and they are kind. Now you can say, we are like that for sure. Then I would ask you: "Are we really kind and are we really logical?". To answer this question you must open your eyes and see what is going on this World. And the message you see, isn't a good one. There have been Wars in many countries, people have been chased out of their homes and countries, there is poverty everywhere with a small rich group not caring about the rest. If an alien would see this happen, then what would they think? Would they think we are friendly and kind, or would they think we are difficult, unfair, hostile and armed to the teeth? I guess you know the answer to that yourself. We are considered the hostile aliens here and from that point of view the aliens wouldn't want to do anything with us. So per definition we are separated from the good alien group, unless we change. An additional problem is that we use emotional based thought and decisions made from that in many cases are faulty. If we really want to communicate with aliens, then we need to use logic without the emotional factor. This would mean we need to train in having equanimity so that decisions aren't based on our emotions.

Read furthur in: Why should we change for Aliens?