Posted on 01/24/2010 4:40:53 PM PST by Mount Athos
Mr Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich warned: "We might like to assume that if there is intelligent life out there it is wise and benevolent, but of course we have no evidence for this.
"Given the consequences of contact may not be what we initially hoped for, then we need governments and the UN to get involved in any discussions," he told The Sunday Times.
This week a two-day conference is being held at the Royal Society in London, titled, 'The detection of extraterrestrial life and the consequences for science and society.'
There is also an astrobiology conference in Texas in April at which new methods of detecting aliens will be discussed.
Douglas Vakoch, director of interstellar message composition at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in California, told the paper: "My personal view is that being more active is a worthy strategy. There is more serious talk of it, though not at the institute level."
Professor Simon Conway Morris, a Cambridge University evolutionary biologist, will be talking at the Royal Society on 'Predicting what extraterrestrial life will be like – and preparing for the worst."
He thought that, given that the principles of Darwinian evolution should be universal, it was "inevitable" that intelligent life would have developed elsewhere in the universe given the right environmental conditions.
"If that is correct – and it applied to manipulative skill – then that suggests there should be alien technologies," he said.
Some scientists are puzzled as to why no messages have been sent back even though humans have been transmitting radio and television signals for the last century.
Prof Conway Morris reasoned that if he were in their shoes "I'm not sure I'd answer the telephone."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
To Serve Man...
This guy has obviously spent plenty of time watching movies.
It’s so improbable that it’s pointless to bring up.
Thats just it. They might treat us like we treat ants, with chemical warfare. Or like we treat Chickens.
“Some scientists are puzzled as to why no messages have been sent back even though humans have been transmitting radio and television signals for the last century.”
Don’t radio waves eventually fizzle out over time? I once heard that radio waves wouldn’t even reach Alpha Centari.
Aliens might not be friendly.
No $h!+.
ping later
What does an astronomer know about friendly aliens?
Does he reside in Arizona?
There should be some thought given to the problem of first-time alien contact. If they are significantly more advanced than us, most likely they would exploit us in some way. If we are much more advanced that them, they may be treated as the American indians were treated.
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Its not debatable, there are alien civilizations.
Probably not going to be confirmed for a couple of hundred thousand years though.
Yeah well they better not show up when I’m having a bad day.
i love that comic
All I need is air that I can breathe. Water I can drink. And life I can eat.
Hahahahaa ... government and the UN are the LAST things we need if in contact with any extraterrestrial beings!
Just wait ‘til algore reads about this!
I doubt it. Look for a Star Trek "prime directive" to be in place by the time we're able to encounter inferior (technological) societies.
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