(Un)expected Visitors 3: Evolving the Candidate Species
By: Paul Rommel Elvira
Tags: Evolution, Alien Experiment, Organic Database, Human, Earth

Evolving the Candidate Species

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”– Carl Sagan

If we are to stand in the shoes — if they have any — of the alien scientists the purpose of their experiment can become clearer. Why should anyone make an evolution experiment on a distant planet? Aside from curiosity, which is a strong driver in itself, we could also be motivated by all the genetic combinations that life on Earth could come up with. If we share the same genetic framework, then such novel genes on Earth could be considered a huge treasure trove for us (the alien civilization) for advancing our own health, medicine and related scientific research. We could be searching for the fountain of youth or looking to propagate species we already lost on our own planet. We also could be waiting for an advanced civilization on Earth to develop unique technologies that we do not have, although this is quite improbable. Highly advanced civilizations capable of zipping around the far reaches of the universe and colonizing other planets should have been able to develop all the technologies that they need.

Nevertheless, alien scientists could learn a lot from any new civilization that they study. Since they should know that evolution is predictable and that they could have accelerated the process, all they have to do is wait for an intelligent species to rise up from all the organisms on Earth. Again, we are assuming here that the experimenters’ civilization is stable and they have extremely long life-spans. As mentioned earlier, a good analogy of the lifespans would be between a microbiologist and his/her bacteria or Caenorhabditis elegans (a worm) samples: the microbiologist as the alien scientist and the bacteria or C. elegans as earthlings. This alien species would have to develop the technology to make deep space travel possible to perform such an experiment.

If the alien scientists were able to start multiple experiments similar to what they have done on Earth, then they can theoretically just expect for any of the candidate species — like a highly intelligent and highly curious civilization such as humans — to reach their planet to confirm that a particular experiment was successful. This could also be the reason why they did not bother to return to Earth and assess how the experiment went. In other words, a failed experiment is not worth another trip to our planet and the failure is quite clear from the nonarrival of a reporter species. The alien scientists only need to have a positive result and that result is a self-reporting specimen to complete their experiment. In the case of planet Earth, that reporter species could be none other than us humans.

We might not know it but we could be on our way to letting the alien scientists know of our existence. Just like the zombie snail discussed previously, humans are wandering around our galactic neighborhood and are thus bound to attract attention. We are exploring our nearby planets and moons, sending probes beyond the solar system and broadcasting signals all around, hoping that advanced civilizations are listening or looking for us.

If this forgotten intergalactic experiment turns out to be true, then it is clear that we are the candidate/reporter species for this planet and we are performing our duty quite well. Since our technological prowess continues to improve in leaps and bounds, we are destined to eventually have the capability for intergalactic travel to finally meet the alien scientists.

Of course, after humans have left Earth or died out, other species could take over and continue the search for extraterrestrial life. That is, if humans failed to do the job. The next intelligent species could come from terrestrial animals, although in what animal species it would be difficult to predict. It could take a long time for another species to reach what humans have already achieved but as long as the alien civilization exists, the experiment continues. The alien scientists can rest assured knowing that evolution is predictable and that life tends to evolve towards intelligent forms.

When humans explore the universe, we would be bringing with us all the advanced hardware and software that run the complex machines and spacecraft that enable our interstellar travel. Aside from these, we would also be carrying with us a wide variety of bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms on our belongings and inside our bodies. Expeditions looking to colonize other planets would also likely have a stash of seeds and live or cryopreserved gametes of livestock for establishing agriculture on prospective refuge planets. Explorers might also bring encyclopedias or databases about Earth and everything on it. In short, we would be transporting a lot of information about our home planet and this is just what the alien scientists need. Based on the clues we might give the aliens, they could determine our species’ origin, as well as the exact location and the current status of our planet.

If they are only after new knowledge or satisfying their curiosity, then aliens knowing about Earth and its resources would not be that catastrophic for humans. However, if the ultimate objective of the alien civilization is to eventually exploit new resources that humans heavily depend on, then it could get complicated for us. Either way, humans making contact with another civilization outside the solar system could invariably lead to our species and our planet being unnecessarily exposed to outsiders. In other words, our space exploration activities could end up in a bioprospecting expedition to Earth by other alien civilizations.

Even if the human explorers are careful enough not to include books and databases in the cargo while looking for alien life, they could still divulge a lot just by presenting themselves to the alien civilization. This is because we are a walking encyclopedia, although we are not talking about our brain contents here. I am referring to a database billions of years old! This database is contained in an organic body capable of replicating itself. We humans are a walking, talking storage of vast information about planet Earth. We are, in a way, Earth’s primary record keepers, as what the following chapters illustrate.