Over the past decades, the tone of talk about contacts with alien civilizations has become more and more pessimistic. If earlier it was believed that messages from aliens would benefit the Earth, since, they say, our elder brothers in reason should strive to help everyone, now the concept has changed.
More and more scientists, including the astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, are confident that nothing good can be expected from aliens. Therefore, the recent statement of a group of astronomers from Germany and the United States about the danger of alien messages is no longer surprising. But these scientists went further and propose to destroy the "radiograms" of brothers in mind, without even decrypting them.
Astronomers point out that several types of dangerous messages are possible. So, for example, information about a certain threat from space will cause panic, regardless of whether it is true or not. In another case, it may be a large text that will have a demoralizing effect on the culture.
The article, published by the experts, also examines the most likely type of hypothetical message containing computer viruses that could be hidden in data and pose a threat to humanity. A completely isolated digital device is required to decrypt them securely. At the same time, scientists believe that it is impossible to comply with all security conditions and malicious code will start walking in the earth's networks.
Where this will lead is not hard to imagine. It is even possible a scenario when, under the guise of a friendly message, an artificial intelligence program is adopted. Having penetrated the Internet, the virtual creature will capture all communications and bring to life the plot of the fantastic film "The Matrix", in which the computer completely controlled the minds of people.
However, hardly anyone will heed such fears, and when all the promised bad things happen, it will be too late. But still, let's hope for a good outcome, although its probability is less and less every year …