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Monday, 16 January 2012

Klaatu barada DIE!

That didn't end well
The BBC looks at the question of how the first message from outer space should be answered.

If it's this one, I'd recommend keeping silent and building lots of weapons.
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3 comments:

  1. eonMonday, 16 January 2012 at 05:48:00 GMT-8

    Heck, we get that message every day from our own deep-ecology types.

    Maybe we could introduce them to the E.T.'s?

    In his book "Uninvited Visitors", Ivan Sanderson observed that possible communications from possible aliens came down to a few basic messages, to wit;

    1. Communicate!

    2. Collaborate!

    3. Submit!

    4. Serve! (Boiled or Fried)

    Sanderson assumed that aliens who wish to be ignored, or who wish to ignore us, will keep their big yaps shut and not make us aware of their existence.

    Winchell Chung, over at Atomic Rockets, assumes that a genuinely xenophobic culture will, if it is able, launch an attack immediately upon becoming aware of another culture. FTL capability may not be necessary, if said xenophobes have the capability to accelerate substantial masses of anything (even meteoric nickel-iron) to high relativistic velocities.

    A kinetic strike at .8C can ruin your planet's whole day, permanently. And if launch comes soon after detection, the "Bye-Bye Humans" message may already be inbound, since we've been broadcasting our existence (via radio and TV transmission) for over a century.

    I'm most concerned with any potential ETs within about 60LY. After all, they've just seen "I Love Lucy" and The $64,000 Question".

    cheers

    eon

    ReplyDelete
  2. GaussMonday, 16 January 2012 at 23:45:00 GMT-8

    I remember something about how by the time the broadcast radio signals from Earth reached the edge of the solar system, they were so weak as to be indistinguishable from the background radiation from the Big Bang. So at least part of all this may be moot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. IronmistressTuesday, 17 January 2012 at 10:03:00 GMT-8

    Wow, Hyperdrive! I loved that series. Too bad BBC discontinued it after two seasons.

    Yup, weren't the Lallakkis lovely?

    ReplyDelete

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