Space Advisor Proposed Setting Aside Disputes in Case of Encounter

Maxwell Hunter sat down to write a memo about an encounter with intelligent life in space. Working with the White House Space Council staff, he addressed an official at the U.S. Department of State. His question was simple: What would the United States do if it discovered sentient beings beyond Earth?

The memo was written in 1963 and released to the public in 2026. Hunter didn't claim that such visitors had already arrived. He sought to imagine how U.S. decisions would change based on their capabilities — and suggested that humans set aside their disputes.

Three Ways to Arrive

Hunter described three possibilities. Intelligent life could exist on a planet in our solar system, like Mars. Visitors could arrive from another system, orbiting a distant star. Or they might be able to travel faster than light — something the science of his time couldn't explain.

The last possibility particularly concerned him. If such beings were encountered, he wrote, the United States should expedite negotiations. The ability to travel faster than light, he explained, would indicate an understanding and mastery of nature far exceeding human knowledge.

First, Understand What They Can Do

Even without such speed, Hunter believed it was crucial to quickly ascertain the technology visitors used. Did they fly using engines powered by conventional materials, or by atomic energy? Perhaps their understanding of nature was even more advanced.

The answer, he wrote, would significantly impact U.S. policy. An encounter with visitors of limited capability would not be similar to an encounter with those who understood the laws of nature far better than humans.

A Problem Greater Than Our Disputes

Hunter also had a suggestion for all humanity: if an encounter occurred, immediately set aside their differences. Even if only limited-capability visitors were found, or remnants of an interstellar expedition, he believed the encounter would present humanity with a problem greater than those it had created for itself.

What Remains Unknown

It is unknown if intelligent life exists beyond Earth, or if an encounter will ever happen. The memo states that scientists considered an encounter within the solar system unlikely, but Hunter thought it was wrong to treat the possibility as impossible.