A0541: What happens to our monetary system after first contact?

When official first contact is made with an intelligent alien species, your current monetary system will still be in place. It is only on the day that official first contact is made that the governments of the world will have their first contact with the alien species. Until that day comes, all people will be able to gaze at the gigantic spaceships in the firmament with the naked eye for years. At first they will only be visible as small glittering dots in a section of the sky, but over the years they will come closer and closer to the surface of the Earth, so that after a while you will be able to see them very clearly with the naked eye. Every person, no matter where they are on the surface of the Earth, will be able to recognise at least one of these gigantic spaceships. No one will say they are fake spaceships because no one will believe them. If you can make them out as geostationary little glittering dots in the firmament with the naked eye, then your amateur astronomers will already be able to see a great deal of these spaceships with their little telescopes. Then, in a few days, humanity will be in an uproar and this moment will be the starting signal for the official first contact. 

A few years later, this alien species will officially set foot on your planet’s soil for the first time, and when it does, all governments will also make first contact with this species. From the time the little glittering dots are spotted in the firmament until the alien species steps on the surface of the Earth, several years will have passed during which no government on Earth will have been contacted by the alien species. All these years all people will only be able to speculate what these gigantic spaceships mean, and if you imagine what this will mean to governments when they are totally unable to explain to their citizens what is happening, then you will also imagine that the citizens will begin to raise this issue tirelessly. The citizens will come up with many theories that are completely far-fetched, but now that extraterrestrial life can be discussed quite openly, more and more intellectuals will also come out of their caves because they are now allowed to think about something that does not endanger their social position. If they were to try to discuss the subject of intelligent extraterrestrial life quite calmly and objectively today, and to do so publicly, it would mean their social downfall. 

When every day every person can behold at least one of these huge spaceships motionless in the firmament, then they want clarity about what it is supposed to mean and now the intellectual persons can also talk about it. Many theories will tend in the right direction by them, but they do not know and since the extraterrestrial species will not make any attempt at contact, there is great helplessness among the governments and every hint is gratefully accepted. Everyone on Earth will ponder why the alien species is there but will not make contact. 

At first great excitement broke out when the spaceships appeared, but now after some time all people are reassured but absolutely perplexed about the meaning of this appearance. If many people only talk about one subject among themselves, then there are always some directions as to how such a conversation can end, because usually two different points of view compete against each other as in a contest. But if people only know one point of view, because there is not yet a well-founded second opinion on a subject, then people will very effectively illuminate this point of view from many directions and in these conversations very many facets crystallise which are discussed in depth. First, people discuss it among themselves until the media will also discuss these facets. These facets not only deal with the appearance of the different species, of which no one knows what they look like or what their purpose is on Earth, but people think much further. Many of the themed facets deal with this unknown species, how they live, what they eat and drink, how they dress and what their hobbies are. You will also quickly realise that the form of society must be different from Earthly societies, because Earthly societies would hardly undertake such things if they were technologically capable of doing so. 

Your present form of society is very inhuman because it is always based on many people doing something for very few people who then profit from it. If you were to visit an inhabited planet today, a group of you would try to exploit the society on the other planet. Many persons are becoming more aware of this fact because no one believes that this unknown species is hostile. When people think this far about it, they will also think about why their own form of society is actually so inhumane, and this is where the great realisations of earthly humanity begin. You will discuss these issues privately all over the planet and you will follow the discussions in the media about them very closely. When intellectual people take up an issue and they are of the same opinion, it becomes very apparent to all concerned that your society needs to be changed. The call for change cannot be ignored and if the politicians do not have a valid counter-argument, then they will have to change something about the form of society due to pressure from their own citizens. 

Until the official first contact is made, the earthly forms of society will renew themselves from within because the citizens want it that way. When the wars stop because no one is interested in them any more, then the resources can also be distributed much better. The extraterrestrial species is only present in the firmament and that for a few years, but just the sight of the gigantic spaceships will already ensure that earthly society undergoes a peaceful change. At some point, the monetary system will also be questioned, but since humanity does not have free access to inexhaustible energy sources until then, the monetary system will still be active for some time. 

When the official first contact is completed, so that for the first time flying machines of the extraterrestrial species land simultaneously in front of every government on Earth, then many technologies will be presented as gifts at this official first contact. One very useful gift is equipment that seems to generate energy out of thin air that can be fed directly into your power grid. The alien species has already adapted the technologies for you so that you can use them directly. If you can produce from an inexhaustible energy source the raw material that an advanced form of society needs, then many raw materials on your planet will no longer be needed. If a state has access to this energy source, then many devices can be operated virtually for free. The advantage is obvious when you look at the cost and pollution that electricity generators produce. If every person generates energy from nothing at all times, then people will become more and more independent. You will get a lot of technology that you can use immediately for the common good, so that many jobs will also become unnecessary. When many people lose their jobs, you cannot compare this with your present situation, because you will have developed a completely different consciousness, by which we also mean today’s readers. 

You will have completely different priorities, because before the official first contact is made your social structure will have changed from the inside out simply because of the appearance of the gigantic spaceships. You will perceive yourselves as the humanity of Earth, and that includes every person, regardless of nationality or religion. You will live charity because you have realised that all these inhumane acts are absolutely unnecessary. If many people stop going to work because they can’t or don’t want to, what do you think those people will do? They will try to add value to the community. This is hard to believe for most readers today, but this is what this change of consciousness will trigger in almost all persons. If you support each other, this humanity will also rub off on the social fabric, so that your form of society will become more and more human. One day the state will ensure that every person receives everything they need. You humans are so curious that many people want to learn more and more and you become a society of researchers and scientists who do not have to worry at all about how to get something to eat every day, but progressive societies take care of that by themselves. 

The money system will disappear one day because it is not useful. A money system will always ensure that the form of society becomes more and more inhuman. You do not need money and in a few years you will also be more than aware of it, so that this point in time will also usher in the downfall of your money system, even if it is still there for a few decades. After the official first contact, money will play an ever smaller role for people, so that the end of your monetary system will be a gradual process.