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Is the concern whether we are ready to meet UFO's, or whether we are ready to meet aliens? I imagine that it's the thought of contact with aliens, not their spaceships, that keeps people up worrying. Are we ready to meet aliens? Are we ready to accept differences that not only challenge our science, philosophy, and values, but even our own biology? That's a very big question, so step back, and look closer to home.

While "alien" is commonly used to mean "extra-terrestrial", it also means "foreign" or "different". Consider how humanity deals with things that are foreign and different. We scorn our neighbors who don't have the right color of shades. We argue vehemently over differences of opinion, politics, money, and most anything else. We'll even go to war and kill over differences in religion. Discrimination over nationality and skin color is still rampant. In short, despite some progress that has been made as the world grows more global, different is still bad. We are slow to accept that which is different, and even slower to accept that which we don't understand. ("How can they live like that?" "How can they possibly believe such nonsense?")

When an actual, interplanetary alien introduces itself (there's no guarantee that they'd have gender - or that there would be only two genders either), humanity will face something utterly unique, different, and at least temporarily incomprehensible. The automatic response to such a situation is hostility. Self-control and curiosity are the weapons to keep the automatic response in check, but ask yourself whether you believe that the majority of people are governed by self-control and curiosity.

Assuming that the aliens would survive initial contact (either because they have the ability to protect themselves, or because humanity actually manages to restrain its natural impulses), they would introduce all sorts of novel ideas. Science would undoubtedly have decades of study and learning to catch up with, including the need to accept that various assumptions have been wrong. While a normal part of science, scientists, like everyone, are slow to embrace change, and will likely not be happy to have been proven wrong in so many ways in such a short time. Alien culture is certain to present a completely novel set of customs, beliefs, and values. Their social and family structures will likely be different, as well as their sexual habits (if they have any), their appetites, their views of life, nature, and lower life forms - possibly

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