Alien Factor and United Nations.

I saw a post today by a friend of mine, Abbas who resides at the border of Italy and Austria. Pretty far away from here. But the post was about things which are much farther than earthly distances. It is about new frontiers, where no man has ever gone before.

Today is a historical day; united nations have appointed a first contact for any aliens who may decide to drop by. A Malaysian astrophysicist Ms. Ottman has been nominated to perform this job. She recently stated “The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that some day humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials”. She further states "When we do [make contact], 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.” Ms. Othman is currently head of the UN’s little known Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

Wow I like this UNOOSA’s “beam me up Scoty” job. But I do have some questions. How do you qualify for this job. As you may have guessed by now I am not an astrophysicist but I have been a Trekkie all my life along with my big brother (Yes I confess). So I wonder first and foremost how do you get this job. Do you need past experience of alien abduction or dealing with aliens, if you do, how you can prove it. Second what is the tenure for this job, do you get fired if you have no alien contact in the first 10 years of your job.  Third, how is your job performance measured? Talk about job insecurity.

Well all jokes aside this is forward thinking. Prepare for everything. So power to Ms. Ottman.

I remember this intriguing quote from book Contact by Carl Sagan, when little Ellie inquires from her father about existence of life out there, he says “Well, if there wasn’t, it’d be an awful waste of space.”

So you must be wondering what this has to do with medicine. Nothing!

About the Picture: Getting ready for a job interview.