What could be the first contact between humanity and alien intelligence? American quantum physicist Jim al-Khalili, in his newly published book Aliens: The World's Leading Scientists on the Search for Extraterrestial Life, cites opinions that refute the Hollywood horror stories about evil alien monsters.
According to one of these "horror stories", aliens supposedly can feed on people, but astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell considers such assumptions to be complete nonsense, since the extraterrestrial life form will clearly not be similar in biochemical composition to living beings on Earth and, therefore, is not able to assimilate terrestrial amino acids. For the same reason, it is impossible to mix humans and aliens. If a man cannot be crossed with a chimpanzee, then what can we say about the inhabitants of other planets, Dartnell pointed out in this regard, calling such speculations "absolutely incredible."
Aliens will clearly not look like humans, says Enil Seth, an expert in neuroscience and neurophysiology. "The differences between aliens and humans will be deeper than between humans and octopus," she said. And cosmologist Martin Rees argues that humanity will not encounter an organic form of life at all, but only with extraterrestrial technology - for example, research probes.
Another common myth that is refuted in the book is the assumption that aliens will take over Earth's resources, such as water or metals. This is a completely illogical assumption, Dartnell argues. On Earth, most of the metals are not in the earth's crust, but in the mantle, and therefore it is much easier for aliens to mine metals on asteroids, and not on Earth. As far as water is concerned, Jupiter's icy moons could serve as a truly inexhaustible source for them.
What could be the purpose of the appearance of aliens on Earth? According to the experts interviewed, curiosity can be an incentive. "If aliens ever appear on Earth," says Lewis Dartnell, "they will be scientists - specialists in the study of living organisms, in history and linguistics, seeking to become familiar with specific aspects of life on Earth."
Igor Borisenko
