ADDENDUM: This story is bullshit. Dammit, I had I feeling....
Breaking news in the fast-paced world of exopolitics: The United Nations has appointed an obscure Malaysian astrophysicist, Mazlan Othman, to act as Earth's primary-point-of-contact for visiting extraterrestrials. Othman will head the UN's little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa).
The recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars has made the detection of alien life more likely than ever before; the UN feels that it must be ready to coordinate humanity’s response to any first contact. During a recent talk, Othman noted, "The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that some day humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials. When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination."
Professor Richard Crowther, an expert in space law and governance at the UK Space Agency and who leads British delegations to the UN on such matters, noted that Othman is now the nearest thing we have to a 'take me to your leader' person.
In my opinion, the first order of business for Othman should be a screening of Mars Attacks to learn what not to do during first contact:
- Neurodiversity vs. Cognitive Liberty [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump: 2009.10.13 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Limits to the biolibertarian impulse [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump: 2009.10.15 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Neurodiversity vs. Cognitive Liberty, Round II [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump: 2009.10.17 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Cognitive liberty and right to one's mind [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- TED Talks: Henry Markram builds a brain in a supercomputer [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- And Now, for Something Completely Different: Doomsday! [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump: 2009.10.19 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Oklahoma and abortion - some fittingly harsh reflections [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Pigliucci on science and the scope of skeptical inquiry [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Remembering Mac Tonnies [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump: 2009.10.24 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump: 2009.10.26 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- The Bright Side of Nuclear Armament [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Grieving chimps [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Elephant prosthetic [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Mass produced artificial skin to replace animal testing [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Dog gets osseointegrated prosthetic [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- NASA Shuttle-derived Sidemount Heavy Launch Vehicle Concept [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump for 2009.02.02 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump for 2009.11.04 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Link dump for 2009.11.05 [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- IEET's Biopolitics of Popular Culture Seminar [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Einstein and Millikan should have done a Kurzweil [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Affective Death Spirals [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Cure aging or give a small number of disabled people jobs as janitors? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Would unary notation prevent scope insensitivity? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Cure aging or give a small number of disabled people jobs as janitors - unary version. [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- At SENS4, Cambridge, UK [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- SENS4 overview and review - how evolution complicates SENS, and why we must try harder [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- SENS4 top 10 photos [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- My AI research for this year [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- My AI research: Formal Logic [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- My AI research: Category theory and institution theory [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- My AI research: The Semantic Web [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- My AI research: Features and Flaws of Logical representation [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- My AI research: Graphical models and probabilistic logics [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Hughes and More engage Italian Catholicism: Image caption competition [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Surprisingly good solutions, falling in love and life in a materialistic universe [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- What do you get when you cross slightly evolved, status seeking monkeys with the scientific method? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Seeking the optimal philanthropic strategy: Global Warming or AI risk? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Machine Learning - harbinger of the future of AI? [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- At the Singularity Summit in NYC [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Katja Grace: world-dominating superintelligence is "unlikely" [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Normal Human Heroes on "Nightmare futures" [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Anissimov on Intelligence Enhancement [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Yudkowsky on "Value is fragile" [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Response to Pearce [Last Updated On: November 8th, 2009] [Originally Added On: November 8th, 2009]
- Creative thinking lets you believe whatever you want [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Let’s get metaphysical: How our ongoing existence could appear increasingly absurd [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Linda MacDonald Glenn guest blogging in November and December [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Link dump for 2009.11.15 [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Call 1-800-New-Organ, by 2020? [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- IBM's claim to have simulated a cat's brain grossly overstated [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- John Hodgman pulls off Fermi Paradox schtick [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Deus Sex Machina [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- How Americans spent themselves into ruin... but saved the world [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- I am my own grandpa (or grandma)? [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Link dump for 2009.11.29 [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- The art of Tomas Saraceno [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Link dump: 2009.12.05 [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- The Harmonic Convergence of Science, Sight, & Sound [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Working on my website [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Transhumanism, personal immortality and the prospect of technologically enabled utopia [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- RokoMijic.com is up [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Why the Fuss About Intelligence? [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Initiation ceremony [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Birthing Gods [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- 11 core rationalist skills - from LessWrong [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- The best of the guests [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- The best of Sentient Developments: 2009 [Last Updated On: December 13th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 13th, 2009]
- Link dump: 2009.12.15 [Last Updated On: December 15th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 15th, 2009]
- The Utopia Force [Last Updated On: December 22nd, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 22nd, 2009]
- Avatar: The good, the bad and ugly [Last Updated On: December 23rd, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 23rd, 2009]
- Singularity Institute launches "2010 Singularity Research Challenge" [Last Updated On: December 24th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 24th, 2009]
- Transhumanism as a "nonissue" [Last Updated On: December 24th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 24th, 2009]
- Hanson on "Meh, Transhumanism" [Last Updated On: December 25th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 25th, 2009]
- Merry Newtonmas from Transhuman Goodness [Last Updated On: December 25th, 2009] [Originally Added On: December 25th, 2009]