Does contact with extraterrestrial civilizations pose a risk to humanity?

Perhaps the deepest and most wonderful question ever asked concerns our place in the Universe. Why are we here? Are we alone in the vastness of space?

After 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution, 4.5 billion years since the formation of the Earth and the Solar System, and at least approximately 4 billion years since the emergence of life on our planet, humankind has managed to get there. This is the first time Earth has hosted an intelligent, sentient and technologically advanced civilization..

Today we have managed to probe the depths of the universe, receive signals in all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, determine their origin and properties, and even attempt to go beyond the limits of the planetary atmosphere into space.

Although we have been searching for other signs of intelligent life in the Universe for more than half a century, we have so far been unable to obtain solid evidence of its existence.

But in parallel, some scientists have also advocated reverse communication: Instead of listening, we should communicate our position “out loud” to prove our existence, in the hope of attracting attention and making contact with civilizations that are listening. . Others think this is a bad and potentially self-destructive strategy.

After all, are there risks to communicating with other extraterrestrial civilizations? If so, what would they be?

This is an interesting question to investigate, even from a speculative perspective; because although the possibilities are unknown, extreme social changes and the future of humanity may be in danger.

How calm We don’t even know if there is life outside Earth or what it would be like.Until then, what we can do is divide the possibilities into 5 separate groups.

• Scene 1: We find simple life (such as microorganisms) in our own cosmic backyard through the discovery of fossilized, dormant, and even active structures of extraterrestrial origin;
• Scenario 2: We found indirect signs of life on an exoplanet around a distant star. Whether through direct imaging or transmission spectroscopy, a living system will have specific signatures that would allow this conclusion to be drawn;
• Scenario 3: We receive and decode an electromagnetic signal (in radio waves or other frequencies) from an advanced extraterrestrial civilization;
• Scenario 4: We received a direct visit from aliens. This is the hope of those who investigate weather phenomena and unidentified flying objects;
• Scenario 5: Other civilizations focus on collecting signals, not sending them, so we must do the transmitting;

The first 3 scenarios are being seriously researched and examined by scientists. The fourth is shrouded in much pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, and the fifth undoubtedly brings to light an infinite number of fears and hopes.

By sending a signal into space, once the signal reached a place a few light years away where someone was listening, they (whoever it was) were able to receive the signal back and finally get the answer to our long-standing question, as if to say: yes we are listening, we are too!

In this case, friendly interplanetary communication can be established (with the obvious limitation of very large astronomical distances), in which knowledge and techniques, much of which is absolutely new to us, will be shared for mutual benefit.

But as every sci-fi fan knows, for every hope there is an equal amount of fear. There are also possibilities that: There is no one outside to receive our signal; that someone received our message but ignored us and decided not to respond; or worse, aliens are picking up our signal and responding in our direction with malevolent intent.

In this scenario, by making our presence known in the Universe, we may be opening the doors to a marauding and potentially marauding civilization equipped with advanced technology beyond our own. Given the gap in this power, an eventual war would be short, brutal, and result in a tragic end for the people.

But the honest truth Without more and better knowledge about the universe, we can never know for sure even if there is intelligent life elsewhere.. This is a mental and purely speculative exercise, driven mostly by our own imagination and our knowledge of past events that have occurred on Earth.

But regardless of whether intelligent extraterrestrials exist, malevolent or well-intentioned, one fact cannot be denied: For all the problems humanity has, there is no evidence of any help coming from outside the planet for any of them.