What if....

Recently, there was a lot of attention given to a story run by the Chicago Tribune. You probably read it. It concerned various, fairly credible, employees at O'Hare Airport that spotted what they believed to be a disc-like craft hovering over Concourse C. After several minutes, the alleged vehicle shot through the clouds with so much force that it left a disc-shaped hole in the cloud cover. More than half of the country believes that some UFOs are extraterrestrial-manufactured vehicles. And the number grows steadily. I'm not going to discuss whether "they" are real or not. Old debate that doesn't get anywhere. It's a big universe and the odds we are alone are infintesimally small. So, really, it's not a question of "if", but "when." So what will happen when we meet "them?" Well, I think a lot of it depends on when and where we meet them. Let's look at the "tomorrow" scenario, meaning what if we discover intelligent alien society tomorrow. First, a lot would depend on how we find and contact them. There's three ways that could happen. 1. They contact us. 2. We contact them. 3. We discover evidence of their passing.In the first option, they'll either contact us by long-range communications or by visiting us directly. If it's the former, breathe a sigh of relief, they're probably peaceful. A message from beyond, probably in pure math, that says "hey, you're not alone, allow us to introduce ourselves" is a pretty good sign they're benign. This would spark a renaissance in human thinking. First, they're likely to share some technology that we could find useful. Then we have to change our view of the universe. However, some people believe it would bring about world peace and unity and stuff like that. I doubt it. If they're alien, they're philosophical standpoints are not likely to be compatible with ours on many levels. So much of what we do and how we think is genetic and evolutionary, although we don't like to think so. Beings who went through a different evolutionary path are not likely to think like we do. There would be both big and little differences. For example, they may not value individual freedom as something important. Or they value it far out of proportion to society. Then there will be the little things. They may not be as bashful about procreation. They may not understand privacy OR they could be ultra-private to the point where even staring someone in the eye is considered impolite, or asking a question of any kind. The point is that we'd have to adjust our way of thinking to associate with them somehow, and, likely for centuries, they're very presence and actions, even if peaceful, will be unnerving to many of us. The less tolerant groups on our world, such as religious fundamentalists and ultra-conservatives, are not likely to be able to deal well with an alien species. Their world views don't have the flexibility. Because, if they contact us from a distance, it will take years for us to communicate unless their first messages include instructions on how to create faster-than-light communications systems, it will be easier for us to get used to. It will be a gradual change that allows for a lot of debate, re-education and public discourse. We'll have time between communications to discuss how (and if) to respond. It will be unsatisfying in some ways, but we could adjust better.
If they show up on our doorstep, I'd be a little worried. If you're an advanced species that's peacefully exploring, you don't go parking your mothership over D.C. unless you have a sick sense of humor. If you're not peaceful, that's exactly the way you approach. Pearl Harbor on a planetary scale. If this happens, there's really not much we can do. If they are after the planet itself then its as simple as tailoring a biological agent and spraying it in the high atmosphere. In a few weeks we'd all be gone. Taking us as slaves and whatnot is also possible, though a bit more difficult. But unless we can get the nukes off we're done for until we could learn their technology and rebel in a few generations. Fortunately, physics seems to indicate that there's little defense against a nuke besides a really hardened structure. The problem is that they need guidance systems unless you use dumb "fire and forget" rockets.
2. We contact them.
Not in this lifetime I don't think. We've beamed out a couple signals into the ether on purpose, but we have no way of knowing if we're aiming them at anyone or anything capable of listening or responding. But, if by chance SETI picks up a signal not aimed at us, and we decide to beam a message, this is the means of contact that we will be the most able to adapt to. Before such a message is sent there will be a lot of public and scientific discourse on what the message should say. There will be analysis of their signals which will attempt to scry out their psychological profile and respond in the most appropriate manner. This would be the calmest transition we could have, most likely.
3. We discover evidence. The face on Mars turns out to be an actual structure (I know it's not, but for the sake of conversation...), an alien body's uncovered in an aztec tomb, an astronomer locates a Dyson Sphere a few light years away, a CNN news crew in Iraq happens to catch a clearly-defined craft hovering over Najaf at night, or a whistleblower stationed at Groom Lake comes forward with alien vessel debris. In a lot of ways, this is similar to if we are contacted. We still have to deal with the fact that they exist. However, there's no real pressure to contact them right away. If its evidence on earth, we have to ask ourselves why they haven't made contact. Was Gene Roddenberry right about there being a "Prime Directive" that says leave developing species alone? Or did they just decide we weren't worth actually talking to.
Most likely such evidence will be provable by the level of sophistication it holds. In other words it will be obvious it was not man-made or natural. A bit of an inferiority complex there, but we can handle it. If we are very lucky, the evidence would unlock secrets to their technology...an actual FTL-capable vessel would be great. This would allow us to visit them first on their own grounds. That's the best situation for us, in case that first meeting does not go well. We'd be better prepared, and there's the chance that we could cover our tracks and not let the local alien neighbors know which house is ours.
Previous studies by the U.S. government, such as the Brookings Report, worry that first contact will create fear and panic, widespread religious doubt, suicides, and a stock market crash to rival the Great Depression. I don't think so. I think we'd have to expand our world view a bit, but in most cases we'd have time to do that. And in the cases where they just show up, well then adjusting will be the least of our worries.