Director Ridley Scott trained audiences for a cinematic mix of horror and science fiction. In a recent interview, the master admitted that he was intimidated by the prospect of an alien invasion of Earth. The filmmaker is sure that somewhere out there, on distant planets, there are hundreds of alien species, ready to enslave us as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Why should the inhabitants of Earth prepare for the worst if aliens want to visit us? Why is contact with extraterrestrial civilizations dangerous?
Interview on the eve of the release of the picture
Do not rush to panic, because Ridley Scott's opinion is subjective. The director gave a detailed interview to Agence France-Presse on the eve of his next premiere of Alien: Covenant. The film premiered on May 19 in the United States. Ridley Scott, who firmly believes in the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations, warned reporters that alien travelers have more powerful capabilities. And if they manage to get to our planet, it will resemble a game with only one goal.
Earthlings will not have a single chance to resist the invaders
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Most likely, extraterrestrial intelligence has achieved such transcendental peaks that will be beyond the control of earthlings for several hundred years. This visit will not be friendly. The alien guests will be determined to enslave us as a new colony. And it will not be like the plots of many sci-fi films, where earthlings keep up with the times and demonstrate the wonders of intelligence. We cannot fight back the invaders, and in order to survive, we have only one chance: to surrender: "If you are foolish enough to challenge the aliens, you will be removed from Earth in 3 seconds."
What does science say?
We have heard a subjective opinion. What do scientists say about this? The theory that alien intelligence can greatly outstrip us in scientific and technological development is far from new. Even if their technologies are ahead of ours by a couple of hundred years, we will not be able to fend for ourselves. This fight will be similar to the one that the Aztecs waged against the conquistadors, where the more effective weapons of the latter played a decisive role.
Now, not guns and cavalry, but more powerful new technologies are coming to the fore. In order to penetrate the Earth, extraterrestrial intelligence must learn to travel at the speed of light. This means that our missiles and digital technologies are too primitive to fight back. According to many scientists, it will be impossible for earthlings to oppose alien races on equal terms.
How many extraterrestrial civilizations actually exist?
Now let's move on to discussing another curious theory that appeared in print thanks to an interview with Ridley Scott. We are talking about the number of alien races, of which, according to the director, there may be from one to two hundred. Here's what Seth Shostak, chief astronomer at a research institute specializing in the search for communications signals from intelligent extraterrestrial life, says. The expert believes that Scott's assessment is completely unsubstantiated from a scientific point of view: "We do not have any data that could confirm the exact number of extraterrestrial civilizations."
Let's start from estimates based on planets and galaxies known to science and suggesting that the real number of extraterrestrial life forms may be much higher. Only in our galaxy there are about one trillion planets. The entire universe could be filled with another two trillion galaxies. Just think about these huge numbers! Of course, not every planet can be inhabited, but somewhere life can exist in its infancy.
How many inhabited planets are there in our galaxy?
To narrow down the search, scientists could first analyze the possibility of the existence of civilizations on all the planets of the Milky Way. According to Seth Shostak, only a part of these celestial bodies can support life. Perhaps we are talking about one in ten planets, perhaps one in every thousand. As you can imagine, we are talking about life forms that are more complex than the simplest bacteria. One way or another, this adds up to over a billion potential aliens. All of these planets may have different types of intelligent life.
However, we can weed out from all these applicants for a meeting with us those civilizations that have already self-destructed, reaching the peak of development, or were destroyed by aliens. We can also weed out those civilizations that have not yet reached the level of development of earthlings. According to our expert estimates, only one planet out of a million bodies in the Milky Way can be ahead of us or be on the same stage of scientific and technological development with the Earth. Thus, the inhabitants of only about one thousand planets could potentially become our guests.
Could extraterrestrial civilizations know about us?
Even if an alien planet is located 70 light years from Earth, it does not allow contact for one simple reason: we did not send any signals into space. And this means aliens cannot know about our existence. Even if we are talking about such technological adepts who are equipped with high-precision telescopes or other powerful devices, they will only be able to notice that our planet is surrounded by a layer of the atmosphere. But why would aliens travel 70 light years to be convinced of the existence of bacteria?
Why invade the solar system
Alien intelligence can invade the solar system for only one reason: if their own resources are depleted. To support life, they need new materials: planets, satellites, asteroids. But if aliens are able to travel at the speed of light, then they are able to create all these materials in their own world. And it will be much easier than a long journey across the galaxy for dubious treasures. However, there is also a not very pleasant circumstance in these conclusions: aliens could appear with us if they realized that we would be an excellent addition to their usual diet. But until they know about our existence, we have nothing to fear.
Inga Kaisina