As legendary sci-fi writer, Arthur C. Clark once said,

two possibilities exist.

Either we are alone in the universe or we are not.

Both are equally terrified.

Humans love to entertain the idea that we are not alone in the universe. And while

that's perfectly possible, given the universe's almost incalculable size, so far no evidence

has yet been found to suggest that alien life exists anywhere close to Earth, at least not in any intelligent or easily

observable form. This is the logical basis of the Fermi paradox, which states that if the universe

is so large and supposedly full of alien life, why hasn't any been observed yet? So far,

the Fermi paradox has been upheld, but many scientists remain optimistic. Early in 2019,

NASA Chief Jim Bridenstein mentioned that complex organic molecules were recently discovered on Mars,

along with biogenic methane gas and a huge lake of liquid water under the Red Planet South Pole.

According to the NASA Chief, the sum of these discoveries points to us being well

on our way to discovering basic alien life within our own solar system. The discovery of even

a small handful of microbes would be a historic and monumental occasion for science and could suggest

the possibility of interplanetary colonization. But what if scientists were to discover something much more complex?

What if they intercepted a signal that contained undeniable proof that an intelligent, technologically advanced alien civilization existed?

What if they found intelligent alien life forms on one of our closest exoplanets, such as Proxima Centauri B or Glea 667C.

It's time to find out. Let's work from a premise that could well be possible in the future.

Humans discover alien life. In order to get some idea of what the consequences of such a discovery

might be, it's important to consider that such a discovery could take many forms.

One of the best ways to examine such a discovery is by using the Rio scale.

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