"Discovery of Alien Life" regarded as 2013 risk factor at the World Economic Forum in Davos

Here are some of what I consider the highlights of the information in their webpage:

The discovery would certainly be one of the biggest news stories of the year and interest would be intense. But it would not change the world immediately. Alien life has been supposedly discovered before, after all. Around the turn of the 20th century, the US astronomer Percival Lowell convinced many people (including himself) that Mars was crisscrossed by a vast system of canals built by a dying civilization. But the belief that humankind was not alone did not do much to usher in an era of goodwill and earthly harmony, nor did it stop the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Over the long term, the psychological and philosophical implications of the discovery could be profound. If life forms (even fossilized life forms) are found in our solar system, for example, the origin of life is “easy” – that any place in the universe life can emerge, it will emerge. It will suggest that life is as natural and as ubiquitous a part of the universe as the stars and galaxies. The discovery of even simple life would fuel speculation about the existence of other intelligent beings and challenge many assumptions that underpin human philosophy and religion.

And what I thought was the most interesting part, which makes me wonder if this isn't an excuse to prepare humankind to a much more substantial type of alien encounter:

Through basic education and awareness campaigns, the general public can achieve a higher science and space literacy and cognitive resilience that would prepare them and prevent undesired social consequences of such a profound discovery and paradigm shift concerning humankind’s position in the universe.

Here's a link to the source:
reports.weforum.org...

The discovery would certainly be one of the biggest news stories of the year and interest would be intense. But it would not change the world immediately. Alien life has been supposedly discovered before, after all. Around the turn of the 20th century, the US astronomer Percival Lowell convinced many people (including himself) that Mars was crisscrossed by a vast system of canals built by a dying civilization. But the belief that humankind was not alone did not do much to usher in an era of goodwill and earthly harmony, nor did it stop the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Many people won't believe it till they see it with their own eyes, the same as many people won't believe in God till proof can be provided.

Also, I'm fairly certain were aliens or the child of a supreme religious being were to visit Earth (again?), then we would fight about that anyhow...it's in our nature at the moment.

reply to post by Jykan


I hope it is a big space baby




I think it depends on the life they find, If it is just a few microbes I don't think the populace will freak out we will just accept it but If it is intelligent and they come to us lot's of people will go bonkers. (I won't unless they want to eat me).

reply to post by Deny777


Wow, good catch ... whether people want to believe it or not we are slowly being prepared for disclosure.

Some are ready and prepared for the news, others ... not so much. But we are being prepared none the less.

S+F

Originally posted by Jykan
Many people won't believe it till they see it with their own eyes, the same as many people won't believe in God till proof can be provided.

Also, I'm fairly certain were aliens or the child of a supreme religious being were to visit Earth (again?), then we would fight about that anyhow...it's in our nature at the moment.

I thought about it, and I believe that any race smart enough to discover space travel to other star systems would be technically advanced beyond our wildest dreams. Meaning they'd probably laugh at the belic capacity of our entire planet against just one of their ships. That would be necessary in order to deal with our governments which I'm sad to admit, are pretty much savage animals who would jump at any chance of getting their filthy hands at alien technology.

Our visitors would have to come forward and say "look, you really don't want to piss us off. If we're not back within 10 of your Earth days, your planet will be instantly vaporized". I guess that would get our governments' attention and respect. Then they'd proceed to present themselves to the population of the world. How to do that without creating mass panic? How about anouncing a few Earth like planets outside of the Solar System and then creating awareness campaigns in order to conduct a peaceful paradigm shift regarding intelligent alien life? Oh wait! ... :p

I hope you're right.

I personally think our control over technology improves at a much quicker rate than our control over ourselves.

Just wait, very soon we will see NASA putting out traffic cones in space and the ISS being stocked up on tea and biscuits...then BAM...interstellar Superhighway...right where we were.

The PTB will be on Mars by then no doubt.

Originally posted by Jykan

The discovery would certainly be one of the biggest news stories of the year and interest would be intense. But it would not change the world immediately. Alien life has been supposedly discovered before, after all. Around the turn of the 20th century, the US astronomer Percival Lowell convinced many people (including himself) that Mars was crisscrossed by a vast system of canals built by a dying civilization. But the belief that humankind was not alone did not do much to usher in an era of goodwill and earthly harmony, nor did it stop the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Many people won't believe it till they see it with their own eyes, the same as many people won't believe in God till proof can be provided.

People will believe it if the television tells them to. Alien life is such a painfully obvious fact that anyone with half an ounce of intelligence could accept it. The idea of water being abundant in other parts of the universe was almost as controversial in the not to distant past.

reply to post by Deny777


This is really a Big News!

S&F.

People will believe it if the television tells them to. Alien life is such a painfully obvious fact that anyone with half an ounce of intelligence could accept it. The idea of water being abundant in other parts of the universe was almost as controversial in the not to distant past.

I don't know. I have had this conversation with loads of people...some believe, some don't. I think we would require an actual landing and possibly a handshake.

Just to clarify...I do believe in alien intelligence. I've seen what counts as intelligence on this planet (lowest common denominator of course...no-one (who isn't religious) here) so it shouldn't be difficult to find.

You know those Martian rocks....

One thing that I found odd was, according to a Brazilian news agency this information was published in the World Economic Forum wednesday, so 2 days ago. I conducted a google search in English and nothing came up

I wonder if this was due to sloppiness of the US and UK news agencies or they deliberately ignored this (IMHO) very importante news... In Brazil it's all over the news, I even heard it on the radio this morning and the news guys from the radio station were atonished to learn that discovery of alien life was being discussed as a priority at such an important economic forum which BTW has no relation whatsoever with UFOs, aliens and such.

Originally posted by Deny777
One thing that I found odd was, according to a Brazilian news agency this information was published in the World Economic Forum wednesday, so 2 days ago. I conducted a google search in English and nothing came up

I wonder if this was due to sloppiness of the US and UK news agencies or they deliberately ignored this (IMHO) very importante news... In Brazil it's all over the news, I even heard it on the radio this morning and the news guys from the radio station were atonished to learn that discovery of alien life was being discussed as a priority at such an important economic forum which BTW has no relation whatsoever with UFOs, aliens and such.

It is possible that they just have no answers to the economic mess we are currently in and thought that alien life existing would be a sensationalist enough subject to deflect from their uselessness.

reply to post by Deny777


Here in the US we have many decades of ridiculing anything related to UFOs and Aliens. It has worked well, I would be surprised if anyone in the MSM took this seriously but they should and if they do they first have to get approval from the Government to publish such a story.

When the day comes, people need to be prepared, especially those so ingrained in the philosophy and religion that it will crumble their belief system, such as stated in the article.

reply to post by Arken


Yes, it is really big news. This organization is a serious gathering of academia, governmental, and economic entities, so to include such a statement is either a far-out thought-game by a few people or, interestingly, may reflect some inside knowledge. That latter would be more fun, but I somehow doubt that such major news wouldn't leak from a prominent source much earlier than a planned release date.

Funny thing is, here in Brazil the MSM doesn't take aliens and UFOs seriously either, but the World Economic Forum at Davos is seen like a serious, big thing and always makes the news every year. The fact that they've included the alien life subject in their discussions, AFAIK for the first time ever, didn't prevent local news agencies from presenting the information to the public.

I prefer Ronald Regan's view on the issue, instead of being occupied with all our internal conflicts it will help put life into a better perspective and focus more on what we have in common than what separates us.

reply to post by boymonkey74


I agree. I don't think any amount of education or drip feed disclosure as some call it will prepare us for an actual encounter. Even though the idea that intelligence is more than likely out there somewhere is widely accepted today people will probably freak out when faced with the facts. It's one thing to accept something in theory, reality is something different. Unless the intelligence turns out to be hostile I don't think it will affect our economies in a negative way, quite the opposite. It might spur innovation.

Sorry but I just see a list of possible threats that may or may not happen in our future , the Discovery of Alien Life is just one of the possible scenarios .

Runaway Climate Change
Significant Cognitive Enhancement
Rogue Deployment of Geoengineering
Costs of Living Longer
And finally Discovery of Alien Life

And what I thought was the most interesting part, which makes me wonder if this isn't an excuse to prepare humankind to a much more substantial type of alien encounter:

I don't think this is code Disclosure , just preparation for the seemingly inevitable announcement of past or present life on Mars .

The quote I found interesting was ...

In 10 years’ time we may have evidence not only that Earth is not unique but also that life exists elsewhere in the universe.

Interesting times ahead .
James Webb Space Telescope Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life

All I gotta say is this:
BRING ON DA ALIENZ!!!

Little by little, step by step the paradigm shift concerning humankind’s position in the universe and more importantly this paradigm shift of the mind is now manifesting in the minds and perceptions of respectable sources as this information from the OP indicates and shows.We are beginning to see a stepping stone approach to the ET hypotheses from those who would have laughed in your face not so long ago, the ET hypotheses is starting to gain respectability and not just a topic for targets of hill billy jokes ect,.