Oxford scientists have warned that a plan by NASA to broadcast Earth’s location into outer space may prompt far-reaching consequences, including a possible alien invasion.
Anders Sandberg, a senior research fellow at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute (FHI), told the Daily Telegraph that beaming information about the solar system, Earth’s surface and humanity as such may pose a substantial risk.
He claimed that even though the chance of such a message reaching an alien civilisation was low, “it has such a high impact that you actually need to take it rather seriously”.
Sandberg argued that the so-called “giggle factor” related to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence meant that “many people just refuse to take anything related to it seriously, which is a shame because this is important stuff".
The scientist also pointed to the problem of piercing through interstellar space, which he said means that a message received even by a very advanced extraterrestrial civilisation might amount to little more than “a postcard saying 'Wish you were here’".
The remarks echo those made by Sandberg’s FHI colleague Toby Ord in his book titled The Precipice, which addresses existential risk and the future of humanity.
In the book, which was published in 2020, Ord points out that the main question mark is whether the ratio of possible peaceful alien civilisations prevails over hostile ones.
“We have very little evidence about whether this is high or low, and there is no scientific consensus. Given the downside could be much bigger than the upside, this doesn’t sound to me like a good situation in which to take active steps toward contact”, the researcher asserted.
NASA’s “Beacon In The Galaxy” message, which reportedly wraps up with an invitation for aliens to respond, is expected to be broadcast from China’s Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope and the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array in northern California.
The missive will include basic mathematical and physical concepts to help establish a universal means of communication, the constituents of DNA, plus information on the biochemical composition of life on Earth. Additionally, the message will broadcast the solar system’s location related to major clusters of stars, as well as digitised depictions of the solar system, the Earth’s surface as well as male and female humans.
June 2021 saw the release of a Pentagon report, which revealed that 143 of 144 UFO-related reports since 2004 remain beyond the US government's explanation, and that extraterrestrials haven't been ruled out as a potential origin. The publication of the document was preceded by a host of leaked photos and footage from the US Navy showing what resembled mysterious UFO-like objects flying over American airspace.