Question: To what extent would you confer with a lifeform of an unidentified utopia that rests outside our solar system?

Joel Butler answered on 22 Sep 2017:

I think what my research on diplomacy between humans and other humans has taught me is that if you want to have a productive conversation with other people, you need to minimise the ‘unidentified’ part as much as possible. People communicate in all sorts of ways beyond just talking, whether that be gestures, body language, symbols, gifts… you name it. Even if you speak another language, sometimes you need to understand the culture as well in order to really get your message across, or even just to avoid offending people. Then you need to put yourself in the shoes of the other people in order to really understand what motivates them and what they’re going to want from you (if anything at all). There’s a saying in Turkish that roughly translates as ‘you can’t learn a language without touching the tongue of the other’, which basically means you have to get up close and personal with people from that place before you can really understand what they’re all about. So what I’d try to do is learn as much about these other lifeforms as possible before trying to build a close relationship. Once we’re sure of what we’re doing and can trust ourselves not to mess things up, then I’d open full formal communication and try to get us a share of those sweet utopian goodies.