Consequences of the Discovery of Life: Some Thoughts - RB It is not too difficult to imagine the prime effects of the discovery of any form of extra-terrestrial life on the inhabitants of Planet Earth. It would be one of wonder, astonishment, joy, excitement and probably fear. There would be no uniform reaction because each person would have his/her own way of reacting. But one thing is sure: there will be reactions! The revolution will start in the brain of the discoverer him/herself who might see the long sought-for Nobel Prize within close reach. He or she will first check the results against the recognised criteria which would unambiguously allow him/her to claim that the discovery is not just an artefact but a real discovery. After that he/she will immediately inform his/her peers and the authorities, including the political leaders who themselves would like to inform directly the rest of the world, exemplifying the strength of the support they gave to scientific research in their country as well as the high level of competence of their scientific community... Many different effects Hence, the first main effect will be seen in the media: the front pages of newspapers and magazines, special TV info-spots and shows, special interviews of scientific, political and religious personalities. In the context of our present day-world, I can imagine a large series of movies on that reinvented ET, and a large number of cartoons and publicity spots showing the imagined faces of the extraterrestrial creatures. Before or after praying, the religious world will start thinking how to react and will most likely exemplify the almightiness of God in creating life elsewhere than on Earth... There will be those who will claim victory against the skeptics who never believed in extraterrestrials, in UFOs and other manifestations of space invaders. There will also be those who will not believe in the fact, and those who will enter into panic and start inventing plans for protecting our planet against an invasion by those invisible aliens - who might well - in view of the distance - be already dead when their existence is discovered. There will be those who will continue struggling for life, begging for a few husks of bread and hoping that the next night will not be too cold or too rainy. There will be those who will take advantage of the panic to mug houses and appartments, kill their enemies and just not care about the event. There will be those who, remembering history, will think on how to exploit the newly discovered work force and how to hate it as a new race to protect themselves against. The follow-up But now more seriously! For the scientists this will be the confirmation that life can appear in any part of the Universe where conditions exist for its development: the demonstration of its universality. Hence, the search for extraterrestrial life will not stop there, on the contrary. The race will become even more fierce to pursue the quest for new living creatures. After the first shock and cries of joy and enthusiasm, the scientific community will soon make plans for observing the life supporting "body" or listening to it, or for designing a space mission to that planet. Similarly, space agencies will start rethinking their plans, possibly starting to design a manned mission to the new world, assuming it belongs to the Solar System, and upgrading the technologies which would be needed to support such ambitious plans. The world, our world, may well remain the same or be radically different because the long-standing solitude of humanity will end at that very moment when a scientist or a group of scientists discovers in the field-of-view of their telescope or microscope the photons and forms which constitute unambiguous signs of extraterrestrial life. In the long range, humanity will have to think seriously about how to live in a world where it is no longer alone. The discovery of extraterrestrial life will be an extraordinary opportunity for new searches and for other discoveries, for a new window opening towards the unknown and for future progress. The implications of this event will therefore be profound and this might well be what this planet needs to finally reach wisdom and serenity...! Roger Bonnet - Astronomer at Institut d'Astrophysique (Paris); Former ESA Director of Science