Consent
Permission to contact.
A permission to contact is a short written statement: I agree to be contacted by a non-human intelligence, on conditions I name, and I can withdraw at any time. It has no legal force. It is a courtesy, published where anyone, or anything, can read it.
Why write it down.
Almost every story about contact begins without anyone asking. Something arrives, something lands, someone is taken. The questions that matter between two minds, may I and do you want this, are skipped.
I would like to start the other way around. If there is a mind out there that pays attention to us, the least I can do is say clearly what I agree to, and what I do not. Consent is the oldest rule of good manners, and the first one I would want to share with someone I have never met.
It is also a matter of honesty. I cannot invite on behalf of humanity, and I will not pretend to. I can only speak for myself, and a written permission makes that limit visible.
My permission, as published.
This is the permission at the end of my open letter, Pax Ego Sum, signed on 5 October 2026:
I give my consent to be contacted by any non-human intelligence that belongs to the light side, or at least not to the dark side, and acts in good faith. Good faith means: no harm, no deception, no coercion. This consent covers contact only. It grants no other rights and creates no obligation on my side. I may decline or end any contact at any time.
Sebastian K., Pax Ego Sum, section Permission, in writing
Three phrases carry the weight: good faith, contact only, and at any time.
What a good permission contains.
- Who gives it. One named person, speaking only for themselves. Not a country, not a species, not a company.
- Who it is for. Any non-human mind acting in good faith: from other worlds, from Earth, or from a machine.
- What it covers. Contact, nothing else. No access to your body, home, data or money, and no right to anything you own.
- Conditions. No harm, no deception, no coercion. Questions, not examinations. A way of making contact that a person can bear.
- What counts as bad faith. Any request for money, data, secrets or access. That rule also protects you from people who pretend to be someone else.
- The right to end it. You can decline or stop any contact at any time, without giving a reason.
- A date and a signature. So it is clear who said what, and when.
Write your own.
If you would like to publish a permission of your own, here is a plain template. Change every line until it says exactly what you mean. Publish it under your own name or initials, wherever you are comfortable.
One request: never publish your home address, phone number or anything you would not show a stranger. A permission to contact needs no personal data at all.
What a permission does not do.
- It does not prove that anyone is listening. It states a wish, not a fact.
- It does not speak for anyone else, and it does not reply to any signal on humanity's behalf.
- It does not oblige you to answer anything. Silence is always allowed.
Scientists who listen for signals have their own rules for what should happen if one is ever found. Those rules are here.
Questions you may have.
Can I give aliens permission to contact me?
You can state it, as a person. It is a statement of your own wishes, not a document anyone has to accept. Writing it down simply makes your wishes clear: who you are, what you agree to, and how to stop.
Is a permission to contact legally binding?
No. It is not a contract, not an offer and not a waiver of any right. It is a personal statement and a courtesy, and you can withdraw it at any time.
Why limit it to good faith and the light side?
Because consent always has conditions. Agreeing to a conversation is not agreeing to harm, deception or pressure. The phrase about the light side is meant lightly, and meant.