If contact is made by an alien intelligence, it is very likely to end up being entirely on the alien's terms. Even if the aliens pursued a hands-off approach (or relevant-manipulator-off-approach as the case may be) and allowed us to duke out who represented Earth, it would be solely because they chose that path, not because we had any say in it. Maybe in another couple hundred years that won't be true, but it's likely to stay true for longer than the UN is going to still be an entity.

> If contact is made by an alien intelligence in the near future, it is very likely to end up being entirely on the alien's terms

Simply because for the next few hundred years, they will have to have come to us, which immediately places them in the position of power. Yet, (if) we become highly mobile in space and find other life, we could easily be the ones in power.

A few months back we decided to take a risk and do an "X-Files" episode (as opposed to our normal fare of tech and startups) and interviewed Richard Dolan, an historian in the field of UFOs and national security. It turned out to be one of our most popular shows to date and we covered this very topic in some detail. It's definitely worth a listen if you're interested in this kind of stuff: http://techzinglive.com/?p=248

This girl.