What do you think our government should do if they receive otherworldly contact from an intelligent species not of this Earth? Should other nations be put in the know? Public kept in the dark? Just wondering.
I think they're already here, perhaps even more than one species. Even if just 1% of 1% of 1% of the sightings in the past 100 years is true, then there has been a lot of real alien activity. I think if they're here then the government knows about them... perhaps even has contact with them.
If I were the government, I
would not tell the public. Humanity isn't ready. I would instead create a privately funded organization that has the government in its pocket in which to conduct negotiations, relationship and trade with aliens. The standing POTUS may or may not be aware of such an organization, but Congress definitely wouldn't; because if Congress knew then the public would have to know. Then I would slowly titrate this knowledge to the general public in small doses through popular media (like hollywood) until the public seemed more comfortable with the idea of aliens. Then, eventually, I would stage first contact with the aliens in public, even though I've already been in contact with them for decades.
That, or I would wait until there's a world government controlling everything before doing it. We're halfway there thanks to neo-liberal globalists. On the other hand, maybe an alien reveal would be the perfect way to galvanize humanity into a single unit. Doubt it though.
Right now, humanity is already too divided as it is. An alien reveal would send the economy and the religious into chaos. I think it would even upset the scientists because it would show them how primitive our understanding of the universe is. Aliens that could travel from another star system to here are already defying our laws of physics.
Most of humanity is asleep at the wheel. If the government even knows about aliens, they probably assume we can't handle it, and I don't blame them. A year ago I ran into a bear in the woods at night and it scared the living hell out of me, even though the bear took off and ran. Now imagine if it were an alien being standing in the same room as you, in the flesh and blood... and we're talking alien, as in it is not composed of anything that comes from this planet, AND it's probably far more advanced than you. How would your human senses react to that? I think most humans would freak at the sight of it. Our minds might not be able to handle it initially. Now imagine 7 billion humans having more or less the same reaction simultaneously.
No... the government shouldn't tell us. They should learn what they can, form a working relationship (if possible), and then coordinate society to perhaps eventually come to terms with it. But don't broadcast the knowledge as soon as it's known and in full detail. It would cause mass panic.
In my opinion, no alien society would work with our government except to manipulate it, so I think even the plan I just wrote probably wouldn't work. If aliens are truly benevolent then the best thing they could do for us is remain hidden. Even the most expert humans would have zero frame of reference to deal with them, all while trying to keep their cool in the face of an extraterrestrial. We just aren't ready.