Hello, my name is Shawn. This is where I put things. This site has been active since 2002. A lot has changed since then but basically I'm still writing ridiculous articles about ridiculous things. You can also look at my That is to say, aliens scare the bejesus out of me. Always have. Thus this article, Meet the neighbours: Is the search for aliens such a good idea? caught my eye and gave me chills.
The article raises some good points. Do we really want aliens to know we’re here? Given that we have no idea what they’d be like, we can’t rule out that they’d be hostile. Why invite it?
Some interesting passages.
Indeed, evolution on earth is, as they say, red in tooth and claw. And it’s likely that any creature we contact will also have had to claw its way up its own evolutionary ladder and may possibly be every bit as nasty as we are - or worse. Imagine an extremely adaptable, extremely aggressive super-predator with superior technology.
Also, this from Carl Sagan.
[Sagan] recommended that we, the newest children in a strange and uncertain cosmos, should listen quietly for a long time, patiently learning about the universe and comparing notes. He said there is no chance that two galactic civilisations will interact at the same level. In any confrontation, one will always dominate the other.
And if a civilization reaches us first, they’ll definitely be the dominant ones. I agree with the sentiment of learning and listening and shutting the hell up.
My theory is that if we were visited by a species advanced enough to make the journey that they wouldn’t arrive with the intent on making friends. They’d be here because they needed something, namely our nice habitable planet and all of it’s resources.
Thankfully there is nothing to actually be worried about for now. It would take so long for even the most advanced civilization to respond to our earliest signals that if they arrive, it’ll probably be hundreds if not thousands of years from now.
The main point of the article however, and the one most worth making, is that independent organizations are sending out signal flares on behalf of all humanity and there isn’t even a forum for debate on the topic. If we’re going to make a mistake this colossal, let’s at least all be on the same page. I don’t want our children’s fate to be in the hands of some hippies with a radio telescope.