We want to make sure that humanity is not alone in the universe. That somewhere in space, tens, hundreds, and maybe thousands of light years away, there is an intelligent civilization similar to us. That they, just like us, lead a meaningful life and want to find brothers in mind.
Dozens of radio telescopes are listening to the radio, hundreds of astronomers are looking for more and more new planets in systems of distant stars. Scientists predict the first contact with aliens within 10-15 years. This can be either a response radio signal, or the direct arrival of aliens on Earth.
Are we ready for this? Isn't it worth, on the contrary, to curtail all the search for extraterrestrial civilizations and hide in our dark corner of space, fearing that we ourselves will be found?
British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking compares the appearance of aliens on Earth with the landing of Christopher Columbus in America. For earthlings, as well as for the Indians - the native inhabitants of America, this will not end with anything good, - he warns.
Here are 5 more arguments in support of the fact that we should not look for brothers in mind now:
We may not find a common language with them
We cannot find a common language within the boundaries of our civilization and planet. For centuries people have been at war with each other. Some countries are constantly conquering others. The neighbors on the planet are constantly presented with claims of a different nature, both ideological and material. If we believe in the existence of another intelligent civilization in space, we should not rule out that relations with it will also not be the most rosy.
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Having become acquainted with our culture and how we live, representatives of the extraterrestrial race may consider us licentious, or vice versa, excessively enslaved. People may appear to them to be extremely belligerent and incapable of compromise. Aliens may not like how we conduct economic activities on the planet, gradually polluting it and destroying nature.
We may not comply with their moral and ethical standards so much, if they certainly have them, that they will limit contacts with us. Or they will set us requirements, the fulfillment of which will become a condition for the continuation of relations, including the transfer of any technologies. For example, environmental requirements. Or reducing conflict tensions in the world and disarmament.
But we may not like the way of life, traditions and culture of aliens. Will we communicate with them after that? Are we ready to accept them as they are?
Our planet may interest them more than we
What interest could another civilization have in us? The likelihood of establishing contact with a civilization that is at a lower level of technical development than us is negligible. We will have to fly to them ourselves, and we are not yet capable of that. But such a civilization may be interested in our technologies. Just like we can be interested in the technologies of those civilizations that have gone far ahead.
A civilization that has surpassed us in terms of development will hardly be interested in our technologies. But our planet may be of interest. After all, the development of technical progress, as a rule, is accompanied by the depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation.
Perhaps the aliens' home planet is no longer suitable for life, and they could not restore its ecology. The question of finding a new home for them will be more relevant than ever. And here we will come in handy with our signals.
How can representatives of an extraterrestrial civilization realize such an interest? It is possible only through the invasion and conquest of the Earth. Will we be able to resist?
We won't get help from them
In addition to the simple hope that there is someone like us in space, we are driven by a pragmatic interest. We hope to receive technologies from a more advanced civilization that will allow us to improve life on the planet. It is widely believed that the United States has already acquired technology from aliens in the last century. And given the rapid development of some industries, this version has a right to exist.
But only if you look at how we use technology in our earthly life, you can see that the most advanced technologies are used primarily in the production of weapons. And weapons on the planet never cease to kill people.
There is every reason to believe that representatives of an extraterrestrial civilization will not transfer to us any significant technologies. Not so much for humanitarian reasons, fearing that we will send them to manufacture weapons for earthly wars, but for pragmatic reasons, assuming that we will use these weapons against them. And it doesn't matter, as an attack or as a defense against their, foreign invasion.
Aliens will not arrive alone
In the novel by H. G. Wells "War of the Worlds", numerous adaptations of which many have seen, the invasion of the Martian invaders was not stopped by humans.
The Martians were stopped by other earthlings who live on our planet next to us - microbes. The aliens had no immunity against them.
Extraterrestrial life can also be represented not only by intelligent representatives. On their planet, if they have passed the same path of evolution as we do, there must be animals and microorganisms as well. And the latter, in the case of our direct contact with aliens, can get to Earth.
They can be on the aliens themselves, on their clothes, items that will be transferred to earthlings. Microbes can be breathed out by aliens. Such organisms can be extremely dangerous for humanity. Can we ensure proper quarantine for guests and prevent possible epidemics?
Not so long ago, astronauts who arrived from the Moon were placed in a quarantine van designed to prevent the spread of infection that they could have picked up on the Moon. But during manned flights to the moon, the question of the presence of microbes on our natural satellite was only an unlikely assumption. If aliens appear on the doorstep, the likelihood that microorganisms will arrive with them will be much higher.
Are we ready to share the Earth with them?
Having detected our signal, aliens can perceive it as a saving beacon. And having arrived on Earth, they will simply ask to accept them. Like refugees. Since the alien planet is suffering an ecological disaster. Either there has already been a disaster on their planet, and they have been wandering in space for hundreds or thousands of years in search of a suitable planet. A kind of wandering civilization without its own planet.
Will we show the tolerance peculiar to earthlings and let representatives of the extraterrestrial race into our cities and homes? Sooner or later, the new inhabitants of the Earth will have to provide rights equal to those of Earthlings. Including electoral ones. Will the technology received from aliens be worth the need to live with them on the same planet? And it is not a fact that in gratitude for our salvation all the knowledge of the aliens will be transferred to us.
Think of the fantasy film District 9 directed by Neil Blomkamp. Ghettos of aliens in our cities, and not only in Europe or Africa. But it is also quite possible in the Urals or Siberia. This is hardly how we imagine contact with an extraterrestrial civilization.
Our signal in space can be stumbled by a generational ship created by aliens. Many science fiction writers on Earth considered just such a way of conquering space by earthlings. For example, Dyson's starship assumed a flight to Alpha Centauri in 150 years.
What if extraterrestrial civilizations also come to such methods of space exploration. We can get a colony of aliens in Earth's orbit, who, after a long journey in space, may not want to return home.
In other words, we would like to find extraterrestrial life somewhere far in space, but are we ready to face it at our doorstep?
Sergey Sobol