Observations of unidentified flying objects, as well as alleged contacts with representatives of extraterrestrial intelligence, have recently been heard so often that there is almost no doubt about the existence of other intelligent civilizations living in the Universe. This is what ufologists and enthusiasts think. But scientists are much more skeptical about this …
The image of the "enemy"
First, they say, conventional wisdom about UFOs and aliens is gleaned mainly from science fiction works that portray aliens either as aggressors seeking to destroy or enslave human civilization, or as wise "older brothers" …
For example, in the Russian-American film Phantom, aggressive aliens try to take over the Earth in order to get access to the energy of its fossils, which they feed on. … And on the billboards of the company selling drinking water Crystal Springs, a huge flying saucer is depicted. UFO abducts a mini-truck delivering water …
Meanwhile, according to the former head of the SETI Research Center Jill Tarter, this is a very limited view. Tarter believes that the images of "brothers" or "enemies" in reason, created by mass culture, are just a projection of our subconscious idea of them, which has nothing to do with possible reality.
The famous astrophysicist and writer Carl Sagan tried to present an adequate concept of the alien mind in the novel "Contact", based on which the film of the same name was shot in 1997. There, the aliens are able to take on human form. But this has already happened … And it is not a fact that aliens in general can be benevolently disposed towards humanity so as to arrange a tour of the Universe for people and so on. Even more absurd is the concept of conspiracy theorists from UFOlogy, who believe that aliens constantly interfere in earthly affairs and control us. So, NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao made a statement that we do not notice the presence of representatives of alien intelligence on Earth, since they are in a state of suspended animation. But sooner or later they will come out of it, and then we will see them …
If there are highly developed civilizations outside the solar system, then they will perceive us in about the same way as we perceive microorganisms. It is unlikely that they will be of particular interest to less advanced inhabitants of other planets. At least not enough to try to brainwash us and take over our bodies, or, on the contrary, help us. We should not exaggerate our own importance for our neighbors in the Universe, Tarter said. Who said that they even need contact with us?
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Let's also try to reason logically. What could induce representatives of an extraterrestrial civilization to undertake an expedition to Earth? After all, we do not observe, say, an excess of heavy elements, as on other earth-like planets. The hypothesis about the possible invasion of some aggressive civilization is hardly true either. If such a civilization existed, then its representatives would have exterminated themselves before they reached us, says Jill Tarter.
Finally, over the entire period of space exploration, no real traces of intelligent life have been found anywhere. Nobody tried to contact us. And if we take into account that the age of the stars with high metallicity known to us (and therefore having planets) is more than 10 billion years, communication of the inhabitants of these systems with us on an equal footing is hardly possible.
What to do with guests from space?
Nevertheless, at the open scientific forum Euroscience in Dublin, the question was raised: what to do if aliens from space still visit Earth? Even if the long-awaited meeting does happen, the participants of the Dublin conference believe, we will not be ready for it.
For example, astrophysicist from Oxford University Joseline Burnell asks: “What are we going to do when they arrive? Shall we put them in the zoo, eat them, make them serve in our army, or will we offer them to build a democratic society in our country? Of course, this is a joke, but it is unlikely that something really constructive will come to our minds, scientists say. Rather, it is the aliens who will dictate their terms to us, and not we to them. The world famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking believes that creatures from another planet are capable of arriving on Earth with only one purpose - to colonize it, since their own resources will have already been depleted by that time. And it won't be easy to stop them.
According to Joseline Burnell, theoretically intelligent life on other planets can exist if the atmosphere of these planets contains ozone and carbon dioxide. But if brothers in mind decide to fly to us, then, firstly, how to establish contact with them; secondly, who should be involved in this - politicians, clergymen, or perhaps journalists? Burnell believes that this issue needs to be addressed now. It is necessary to create a kind of "contacts commission", which will deal with preparations for the visit of representatives of another planet …
Is Earth a Threat to the Universe?
Meanwhile, a scientific report was published on the website yournewswire.com, prepared jointly by experts from NASA and the University of Pennsylvania. It follows from it that the development of our civilization may not meet the interests of our "neighbors" and they can take measures to protect themselves and other space civilizations.
In particular, our economic activities have turned into disastrous consequences for the environment … Over time, this may become a threat to the space environment. If aliens are watching our atmosphere, then they've probably already noticed signs of danger.
In addition, alien civilizations in general may be afraid of rapidly developing "neighbors", perceiving this as a factor of aggression. Sooner or later, such civilizations will want to go beyond their planet and, possibly, will engage in the extermination of alien life forms, if not consciously, then simply by doing their activities outside their home planet.
Do not forget that traces of civilizations that existed thousands of years before us have been found on Earth. And all of them either died as a result of their own aggressive activities, or were destroyed by someone from outside …
Until the meeting is far away
Is it too early for Ana to talk about any contacts at all? At a conference held at Harvard University, the famous astronomer Gerrit Vershur suggested that there may be a fairly large number of inhabited planets in the Universe, but the creatures inhabiting them are unlikely to be intelligent.
According to the famous Drake equation, Vershur says, in the entire group of galaxies adjacent to each other, which includes our Milky Way, besides us, there may be only one civilization developed enough to come into contact with us. This explains why all attempts to get in touch with brothers in mind so far have ended in nothing.
According to another conference participant, Professor Dimitar Sasselov, life on planets with suitable conditions can easily develop, but it takes too long for intelligent forms to appear. The Universe was born only 14 billion years ago - by cosmic standards, this period is not so long …
Professor Russell also added that the heavy elements necessary for the formation of earth-like planets were very rare at the dawn of the universe and were formed only during the thermonuclear activity of stars. Only 7-8 billion years ago they accumulated enough for the Earth to form, and it took another 4 billion years for the simplest life to turn into a civilization. So intelligent life in the Universe is by no means widespread.
Astrophysicist Andrew Knoll, in turn, suggested that if life exists on distant planets, then it, most likely, developed according to the same principles as on Earth. Meanwhile, only in the last hundred years mankind has reached such a level of development that made it possible to go beyond the boundaries of its native planet. So it is unlikely that anyone will visit us any time soon. In addition, before our "neighbors" are ripe for contact, the end of the entire earthly civilization may come, which, given the political and environmental situation on Earth, is quite a likely thing. And then there will be simply no one to make contact