Beam me up Mrs Othman

Newt! I work for the UN, you are safe now...

I guess they are running out of ways to spend our money. At least that’s the first thing that came to my mind when reading this.

A space ambassador could be appointed by the United Nations to act as the first point of contact for aliens trying to communicate with Earth. Mazlan Othman, a Malaysian astrophysicist, is set to be tasked with co-ordinating humanity’s response if and when extraterrestrials make contact. Aliens who landed on earth and asked: “Take me to your leader” would be directed to Mrs Othman.

This would be sort of funny if it wasn’t for the fact that they are serious about it.

But okay, let’s assume for a moment that this post is relevant and necessary. It could happen you know, the chance that a intelligent Alien stops by or send us a message is about one in a billion, but still, it’s not totally unthinkable either.

However, if so is really an astrophysicist the best choice? Wouldn’t an anthropologist or, if we are to believe what most ‘experts’ seem to think is the most likely Aliens we’ll encounter, an entomologist a much better choice? Or why not the trickiest, most scheming no-good lying cheating bastard of politics? It seems to me that a thieving bureaucrat or a devious diplomat would be better suited.

I mean we are talking about extraterrestrials. What good is an astrophysicist if we are to talk with them, make deals, plead for our lives or trade gold for hyper drives? Sure she might be able to point towards their home in the stars or have a basic understanding of some of their math or gadgets, but that’s pretty much it.

Are we seriously going to put the faith of this planet and everyone on it in the hands of an astrophysicist working for the UN? We can just as well give up and volunteer for slavery and/or deliberately jump up on the dinner table to be nibble on.

Even scarier it becomes when you read:

“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.”

Really? So a totally corrupt organization that is practically run by dictators and soul-sucking diplomats, a organization hell-bent on increasing protectionism and imposing socialist guidelines to third world countries already have a ready-made mechanism in case ET stops by?

If there was any doubt before I can now say with the outmost confidence that we are truly, utterly, completely and royally fucked.