Next year, scientists will send messages to search for aliens

cnet.com ^ | Daniel Oberhaus

[Thibodeaux]

Until we learn to communicate with honey bees we can not expect to communicate with extraterrestrials.

We barely understand there is order to the colony. The colony is intelligent and makes decisions. We know that bees have races but don’t know if the different races have different languages.

Bees are here and now. Extraterrestrials may be also and we don’t know it

[PIF]

The METI opposition group, which includes scientists like Stephen Hawking, argues that since we have no idea what ET might be like, sending a message into the cosmos comes with a huge existential risk. If the aliens happen to be friendly, no problem. But if they're hostile, that means we're essentially sending out a beacon that says "ATTACK Exterminate HERE."

[Ancesthntr]

I know that Harry never suggested betting on that assumption - but these “scientists” are essentially doing just that by wanting to broadcast the “here we are” signal.

It is just a stupid idea. If “they” are there, somewhere in the Cosmos, then we’ll eventually come across them...hopefully, very far from Earth, and without any info about where the home planet is located. Given the age of the galaxy, I wouldn’t even want to come across aliens in 10,000 years (even if our technology keeps increasing at a geometric rate), as they could easily be a million or 100 million years ahead of us. The fact is that we just don’t know...and it is best to be cautious. Any other spacefaring race WILL be the apex predator of its home planet.