It is quite likely they’d be capable of some aggression, as this kind of behaviour is generally favoured by natural selection, at least here on Earth. After all, a species that cannot fight to defend itself or hunt is less likely to develop the capacity for exploring the unknown and taking the risks of space travel.
What could we realistically do to stop an alien invasion?
“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet,” Stephen Hawking said in 2010. He has compared meeting aliens to Christopher Columbus meeting Native Americans: “That didn’t turn out so well,”
From the vault: How do we protect ourselves from alien invaders?
SHHHHH ! More alarming is the possibility that alien civilizations are remaining out of contact because they know something: that sending out signals is catastrophically risky. Our history on Earth has given us many examples of what can happen when civilizations with unequal technology meet — generally, the technologically more advanced has destroyed or enslaved the other. A cosmic version of this reality might have convinced many alien civilizations to remain silent. Exposing yourself is an invitation to be preyed upon and devoured.
Perspective | Contacting aliens could end all life on earth. Let’s stop trying.
Gravitational lensing could be the way forward, now that we know most of the universe isn’t visible to us, yet.
“In this video we explore a design for what would be the largest telescope humanity will ever use. It would allow us to take images of an exoplanet from over 100 light years away at better resolution than hubble is able to see mars from earth. The proposed FOCAL spacecraft uses a weird property of space called gravitational lensing to bend light around the sun as if it was a giant lens.”
It is quite likely they’d be capable of some aggression, as this kind of behaviour is generally favoured by natural selection, at least here on Earth. After all, a species that cannot fight to defend itself or hunt is less likely to develop the capacity for exploring the unknown and taking the risks of space travel.
“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet,” Stephen Hawking said in 2010. He has compared meeting aliens to Christopher Columbus meeting Native Americans: “That didn’t turn out so well,”
SHHHHH ! More alarming is the possibility that alien civilizations are remaining out of contact because they know something: that sending out signals is catastrophically risky. Our history on Earth has given us many examples of what can happen when civilizations with unequal technology meet — generally, the technologically more advanced has destroyed or enslaved the other. A cosmic version of this reality might have convinced many alien civilizations to remain silent. Exposing yourself is an invitation to be preyed upon and devoured.
This guy is, heh.
Anxiety, narcissism, self-importance, lack of knowledge, you know, the usual things cause this in those we should protect against themselves.
Agreed – though they should be dismissed, rather than understood – the BBC advice is wrong.
You could have unique a flag for each person using barcodes or better QR codes.
This?
Gravitational lensing could be the way forward, now that we know most of the universe isn’t visible to us, yet.
“In this video we explore a design for what would be the largest telescope humanity will ever use. It would allow us to take images of an exoplanet from over 100 light years away at better resolution than hubble is able to see mars from earth. The proposed FOCAL spacecraft uses a weird property of space called gravitational lensing to bend light around the sun as if it was a giant lens.”
Great idea that others are working on