This question is as old as humanity and yet for most of human history has been relegated to the domains of philosophy and religion. But with the advent of astrophysics and the tools of modern astronomy, this question now falls squarely within the disciplines of rigorous scientific research.

The evidence is mounting. From the tantalizing possibility that there may be simple life in our own solar system on places like Mars, Europa, Enceladus or Titan to the scientific realization that in the Milky Way galaxy alone, there are tens of billions of potentially habitable planets. We are discovering that the statistical probability we are alone in the Universe – is zero! But finding irrefutable and unambiguous evidence is no small undertaking.

At the SETI Institute over 100 research scientists representing nearly the full spectrum of natural sciences seek to find that evidence. In collaboration with NASA, leading academic Institutions and renowned research organizations around the world, we seek to understand how the Universe works, how life began, how we got here and are we alone. These questions are among the most profound in modern science and addressing them is not simply about unlocking these mysteries, but about understanding why we even exist, what is our place in the cosmos and what it means to be human.

Our tools include radio and optical telescopes that probe distant solar systems to look for signs of technology, such as radio transmissions or bursts of laser light. The James Web Space Telescope can detect chemical compounds in exoplanet atmospheres that only industry can produce. Such techno signatures serve as a proxy for life and intelligence and can reach across our galaxy allowing us to explore worlds, we do not have the technology to visit.

But what if an extremely advanced species living on one of these worlds were able to visit us? What would the consequences be for humanity – our societies, our religions, our geopolitics, our lives and our very existence?

We Were Never Alone is an extraordinary and thrilling exploration of precisely such an event. From its opening passage of three mind-bending and seemingly disconnected stories, to an exploration of the possible consequences of contact, D.J. Hasson’s novel propels the reader along a journey that is at once simply unbelievable, yet simultaneously so absolutely plausible we can imagine reading the headlines in tomorrow’s newspaper.

But more important than a page-turning thrill ride that is a joy to read, We Were Never Alone offers an important and hopeful message for a time when our planet’s most advanced species struggles to find truth, justice, peace and harmony within an environment of misinformation, division, disparity and existential threats of our own making through the unintended consequences of our technology.

Among his many talents and skills, D.J. Hasson is a close-up slight-of-hand magician who will fool and amaze you every time. In We Were Never Alone, he uses the slight-of-pen of a gifted writer to offer a compelling perspective for how we might navigate the troubled waters of our time and possibly survive long enough to become our own interstellar species. The story goes so far as to offer new pathways for our future that can overcome the greed and shortsightedness of our present.

This book is a SETI story precisely because it is a hopeful story. The discovery of technological life beyond Earth will statistically be the discovery of a civilization far older and more advanced than humankind. Such a discovery will suggest the possibility that intelligent and highly advanced beings can overcome the existential threats of their technological adolescence and the tribal nature of their societal evolution and create a world where peace, equality, truth and a balanced co-existence with environment can overcome hatred, distrust, corruption and violence.