"Should Humans Try To Contact Alien Civilizations?" -- Motherboard, 2017, 7:11 -- https://youtu.be/VRIeuuXIhxw

Using the Contact Hypothesis where a system of domination and subordination is established when 2 unequal groups first meet, should we really be actively seeking out extraterrestrials? And who should be making that decision for our entire planet? What repercussions could this have on our society? How does this square with the democratic ideal of the collective prosperity of the people? While these questions may be rather absurd in an empirical sense, they get at something about the operation of society that is applicable to a wide array of other topics including technology, civilization, and power.

Doug Vakoch is a former SETI member who founded METI International in 2015, an organization trying to craft and send targeted interstellar messages to extraterrestrials. However, his work has become the center of an international debate on whether humans should try to actively contact other lifeforms without global consensus.