Ten decisions that could shake the world

Contact with extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) will force policy makers to make some decisions, and will present opportunities for them to influence events by making others. The choices they make could have a profound impact on the human future. This paper describes 10 categories of decisions and briefly discusses their implications. The 10 categories are: (1) calling attention to ourselves; (2) information release and access to the signal; (3) managing political reactions; (4) who speaks for the Earth; (5) what we should say; (6) who decides; (7) how we conduct relations; (8) intensifying the search; (9) expanding human presence and capabilities; (10) adopting an extraterrestrial strategy for the human species.