I'm not so certain that this would be that difficult. Left and Right, Clockwise vs. Counterclockwise are simple opposites; that is to say, they are emblematic of opposities in that it's arbitrary what you call one ('flurgle') as long as the other is not-flurgle.

Maybe it's because "Alien Civilization" to me automatically means both civilizations are probably advanced enough to understand spin-up and spin-down--the fact that we use a right-handed coordinate system by convention, but in a left-handed system spin-up is spin-down and spin-down is spin-up--so any contact with such a civilization would have us both shrugging our shoulders and going "Huh, yeah. Opposites."

My first instinct was to say, "The only people who will pledge are those who aren't really a problem anyway."

But pg defends himself in the (HN thread)[http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2947462] rather well, I think: a small positive step is still a visible change.