First contact (science fiction)

First contact is a common science-fictional theme about the first meeting between humans and aliens, or, more broadly, of any sentient race's first encounter with another one. The theme allows authors to explore such topics such as xenophobia, transcendentalism, and basic linguistics by adapting the anthropological topic of first contact to extraterrestrial cultures.

Overview

Murray Leinster's 1945 novelette "First Contact" established the term "first contact" in science fiction, although the theme had previously appeared in e.g. H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine" (1895), "The War of the Worlds" (1898) and "The First Men in the Moon" (1901).

There have been entire series devoted to this theme. One classic series is the "interstellar trader" series by Andre Norton. A more modern treatment, using radio rather than spaceships, are "The Hercules Text" by Jack McDevitt, "Signal from Space" by Will Eisner, or "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye" was written to be, in Niven's words, "the "epitome" of first contact novels". Here it is humanity which plays the role of the visiting aliens, as the religious, technological, political, psychological, military, cultural and biological implications of first contact are explored.

The "Star Trek" television series explores the theme in depth, and introduced the concept of the Prime Directive - a law which explicitly forbids first contact (or any form of interference for that matter) between humanity and its allies, and any and all races not sufficiently advanced (i.e. capable of interstellar travel) for such an encounter. There is also the movie, "".

By contrast, in the novels of Iain M. Banks, the "Contact" division of the galactic civilization calling itself The Culture (which features in the majority of Banks' science fiction) are frequent manipulators of less advanced civilizations, steering them towards peaceful progress, especially those which may become aggressive or dangerous, under the pretense of maintaining the balance of galactic power. A notable exception being when the Culture encounters the Earth in the short story "The State of the Art" and deems humanity not to be worth contacting. Novels such as "The Player of Games" and "Look to Windward" delve into the psychology of first inter-species contact in considerable depth and it is in the novel Excession where Banks coins the phrase "Outside Context Problem" in relation to first contact.

The novel "The Gods Themselves" by Isaac Asimov eerily explores simultaneously the potential unity of all races, and the possibility of conflict that is inherent in all first contact situations: even as members of different races understand each other, their disparate ways may endanger both their worlds, even the fabric of their respective universes. This gap between individuals and their respective societies is characteristic of the First Contact plot of "ET". Other explorations of the theme in popular culture include encounters with predatory or semi-sentient races as in "Alien" and "Independence Day".

The absence of First Contact is evident in other works of science fiction, such as Asimov's Foundation series, where the Galactic Empire of Humanity is the undisputed ruler of the known cosmos, since no aliens exist. Examples of the mutual inscrutability and the potentially unbridgeable gaps between races which - by their very natures - are just too different to bond or even to accept each other, include Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence concept of the dark matter photino birds, the god-like Firstborn from Arthur C. Clarke's Odyssey series, and Stanisław Lem's planet Solaris and the events of the novel "Fiasco". In other cases, such as Greg Bear's "The Forge of God" and "Anvil of Stars", or Bruce Sterling's "Schismatrix", aliens are presented as falling into a highly diverse spectrum, some easily relating with humans, others too alien for meaningful communication.

Peter Watts' Hugo nominated "Blindsight" (2006) is one of the latest works to explore the theme of first contact.

Anthropology and other fiction

Many stories about the old American West featured a first contact between English colonists and Native Americans. In Papua New Guinea, first contacts with hitherto unknown tribes were made as late as the 1930s.

Further reading

*"Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters" by Ronald Story (2001) ISBN 0-451-20424-7 (It was the result of a collaborative Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia Project (ETEP); [http://www.magicdragon.com/EmeraldCity/extraterrestrials/alien.html excerpts online] )

See also

*First contact (anthropology)
*Outside Context Problem
*SETI
*Contact (novel)

External links

* [http://www.panix.com/~gokce/firstcon.html List of works of science fiction dealing with First Contact]