If tomorrow they announced that it had been happening for a while? Perhaps we'd move on.

If tomorrow were First Contact? Everything would change.

Peaceful contact with aliens would tell us something fundamental about the nature of ethics and the universe.

Advanced aliens do not need any material resources or real estate from humanity. We can already interpolate that from existing science. So that is not the reason why there are here. And we know they haven't exterminated us already centuries ago.

Instead it would tell that we share some fundamental values like curiosity and diversity with alien species - as long as they evolved through natural selection and had to raise and teach and love their children. As long as they had to find productive ways to work together as a people.

We would realize that we are not alone and that we are being judged. That we can't just endlessly bulldoze the galaxy and that there are limits to acceptable behavior. Because there is always someone more powerful that could smash us, but they already didn't. That certain ethical ideals are fundamental properties emerging from the universe itself.

It would be a powerful counter to the current nihilistic materialism, that we need to start working to improve our culture.

My friend and I came to this conclusion like 20 years ago. Once the shock wears off everyone's minds will adapt, with most people falling into "great, there's aliens, but I've still got to get to work." I mean the US only sorta screeched to a halt for like a week after 9/11, and most of that was the airline industry. The pandemic was way worse, but the problem was very different. So unless the aliens do something (good or bad) that affected everyone directly - war, disease, super powers, apotheosis, free global WiFi, w/e - we'd all be back up and running in like 4 hours.

Counterpoint: we're still talking about ChatGPT and that, I hope, is not as smart as some aliens capable of intergalactic communication between intelligent species.

People as a collective are incredibly stupid. And because of this they’re incredibly easy to manipulate. It has always been this way- it’s just that now, the powers-that-be have figured out exactly how to use them to a perfect advantage.

This POV is too extreme but there’s some truth to it. Not only is the news cycle always relentlessly moving on, and not only are attention spans short, but TBH we’ve seen so much sci fi that discovering real aliens would practically feel like old news.

But two things:

1. you’re underestimating how much the news cycle would make of this - it’s a honeypot of ongoing intrigue. It’s got elements of science, government conspiracy, threat of war, and spirituality to it: the media would set up camp around this topic and make a permanent circus of it.

2. there are a lot of smart people in the world who would pay a great deal of attention to the details and facts coming out of this. Yes there are more stupid people than ever but I think there are also more smart people than ever. If you belong to those circles and subscribe to the right media outlets then you know. If you just consume an IG feed everyday, you don’t.

This has already happened. And your prediction is correct: nobody talks about it.

Given how obviously impressionable and just not "on top of things" the politicians are in the US these days, I'm not sure someone could come up with a argument that convinced me that alien life with the ability to do interplanetary travel would waste their time trying to communicate with our leaders.

Within a day they would just decide to kill all of us for the safety of the galaxy.

Let the Aliens run for president

Nah. It'd be alien themed-halloween.

It's not because of a lack of interest. It's not because we "get used" to things to quickly. It's because it doesn't matter. Like, alright. So aliens are real. Aliens have secretly been communicating with all the world's government.

So... What actually changes?

Is this new information going to fix the housing market? Is capitalism going to change? How is this information going to change corporations squeezing everything dry? Aliens being confirmed is awesome, wondrous news! But... How will I, an average dude, be part of it? What is the point if I wake up tomorrow and everything around me is still the same? Wars are still the same, religions are still the same, the economy, hell, even the information these aliens bring to Earth, only benefits the top 1%.

If I still have to work a shitty job just to barely afford living in a single room, what difference does knowing aliens exist make?

If nothing else developed from the talks, then yes.

But if it started a new conversation with academics, if it opened trade opportunities, if it brought meaningful new technology, it would dominate world discussion for decades.

But if it was a single message sent at the speed of light and we had to wait 50 years for our reply to get back to them, and then 50 more years to hear any more communication....

Yeah, nobody's going to remember that happened.

Depends on how attractive the aliens are.

It wasn't that long ago that the US Government acknowledged that UFO's are real and people barely noticed.

For a month, we'd talk about aliens. Then, we'd talk about Trump or Musks latest shit takes about aliens.

Yeah, I think there’d be the initial shock of it, but we’ve been pretty well primed as a society for the idea that, yes, life probably exists and it may already be here. So if it turned out they were just communicating with governments, it’d be like, “Oh, so they’re not even here? Huh, that’s… cool… I guess.” Communications would likely only ever come in every few years, so it’d more just be a matter of us having received a signal from intelligent life. Still be cool though, but shrugs would be the general response.

I think 80% of the world would look up, go "huh. Well, anyway..."

The remaining 20% would be split at either side of the spectrum, with 10% on one side freaking out and trying to whip the 80% into a frenzy, while the last 10% would be a mix of, "PLEASE TAKE ME WITH YOU DON'T LEAVE ME HERE PLEASE", "HnnnnnnNNNGGG IM COOOOOOMING", and "Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?"

It depends, I would say. If the aliens ask unpleasant questions, they would probably be talked about and reported on continuously. Like:

Alien Ambassador: "Why are you destroying your habitat with your eyes open? We don't understand. Your scientists have proven beyond doubt that you will become extinct if you don't fundamentally change your ways. Why don't you care at all?"

Continuous headlines:

"Aliens want to ban humanity from traveling"

"Space fascists want to raise gas prices"

"Go home job-stealing aliens: How outer world wokeness is destroying {any given country}"

...

I think something this momental would make it so that the world won't allow us to forget even if the news does. Think about it. Imagine the fallout that would follow finding out that we're not alone in the universe, that there's something out there way smarter than us and have been in contact with our government. How did contact the government? How long have they been in contact? Are they here already? People would probably go a little bit crazy initially. Doomsday peppers would stock up, like what happened during covid, religious fanatics would probably go haywire because what if aliens had something to do with shaping religion? Then there's the scientific stuff. How are they comminicating? How can the government keep contact? There'd probably be people calling the government into question because how can they hide something so momental from is for however long they have? Then the other governments of the world to. What would they say? Would they be contact to? Would they start fighting because they're not in contact and want to be? I think the world would go crazy enough that'd we'd feel the effects for a while and definately longer than until Halloween.