THW: Avoid contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life

Let me start by thanking Pro for allowing me to participate in this debate. This is a very interesting topic.Pro brings up some potential risks of making contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life (IEL). I fully acknowledge these risks, but I believe they are outweighed by the potential benefits to humanity. First let me address the points raised by Pro:"1) Pathogenous organisms could be transferred between our species, resulting in an epidemic either on our planet or on theirs."This would indeed be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. As Pro herself acknowledged, contact with IEL does not necessarily have to be within physical proximity. We could communicate through radio waves or some other long-range communication medium. Once a certain level of understanding is achieved, we could work out the details to study the biosystems of each species in a controlled, sterile environment, away from each population. This would allow us to determine precisely what the pathogenic risks are without endangering either population. And if it is determined that the pathogenic risks are too great for physical contact, we could still safely maintain contact through other long-range communication technologies."2) Intelligent extraterrestrial life is likely to be aggressive and highly technologically advanced, and would therefore pose a considerable military threat."Pro asserts that IEL is "likely to be aggressive," but this is based on the violent evolutionary history of life on Earth. We have no idea how life could have evolved on another planet. It could be that natural selection on another planet favors non-violent, peaceful co-existence. Or maybe natural selection has nothing to do with the evolution of IEL - maybe there is another mechanism we don't know about that necessitates peaceful societies. Now, I don't know if this is actually the case, but neither does Pro know if the opposite is true. There is no way to evaluate how "likely" it is that IEL would be aggressive or violent, so this isn't an overwhelming reason to avoid contact with IEL."3) There is little to be gained from interacting with extraterrestrial life."The risk associated with contact with IEL are outweighed by the tremendous benefits in increased knowledge. By contacting and interacting with an extraterrestrial species:- We can learn more about how life evolves outside of Earth, and whether life on Earth is unique or a variation on a larger theme played throughout the universe.- Assuming IEL is more technologically advanced than humanity, we could learn how to create new tools to improve our society, perhaps unlock free energy, end poverty, or cure all diseases. - Our two species could exchange resources that the other might lack. With humanity's current consumption habits, it might be wise to open extraterrestrial trade relations to meet our material needs. - Learning about extraterrestrial culture has the potential to offer new ways of living and thinking about our place in the cosmos. Throughout human history, cultural interaction has often enriched each culture individually. These are some benefits that I think make contact with IEL a worthy endeavor. It could also be the case that contact with IEL is inevitable. Humans have been pumping radio waves into space for over a century, so any moderately advanced society nearby will eventually know of our existence. It may be too late to avoid contact with IEL. Therefore, I submit that we should prepare ourselves and carefully consider the many benefits of alien contact. In sum, while there are risks to making contact with IEL, they are outweighed by the potential species-altering benefits that could be gained from interacting with an extraterrestrial species. And in any case, contact with IEL may be unavoidable if they are sufficiently advanced, so the resolution may be moot. For these reasons I believe we should not avoid contact with IEL.