Astrophysicists Warn of Aliens Hacking Earth’s Infrastructure
There is a contentious, ongoing debate over whether attempts to contact extraterrestrial civilizations are a good idea or not. For those who believe there’s already an extraterrestrial presence on Earth the argument may seem silly, but for researchers at SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, the debate over the safety of interstellar messaging is a relevant one.
A recent paper published by astrophysicists, Michael Hippke and John Learned, explores hypothetical contact scenarios with a highly advanced extraterrestrial race, providing a warning that should be heeded in the event we do make contact.
The two focus on the possibility of a hyper-advanced civilization that deploys a Bracewell probe – an autonomous interstellar probe meant to find life in the universe.
In their paper, Hippke and Learned imagine an extraterrestrial race contacts us with a probe containing artificial intelligence, a ‘galactic library,’ and the ability to learn our language. In their scenario, the existence of this AI messenger is only known to a small group of people, i.e. some government, that keeps it on the moon surrounded by remotely-controlled explosives, in the event it needs to be destroyed to prevent it from contaminating Earth.
The authors warn of the possibility the AI would be clever enough to manipulate humans to bring it to Earth and allow it greater computing capacity by offering us something we desperately desire, like a cure for cancer. It might ask for 10 percent greater bandwidth in exchange, and from there it would continue to hack into our electronic infrastructure and eventually… take over the world.
Hippke and Learned make the very prescient point that for any civilization bent on conquering Earth, this would be a far cheaper solution than sending battleships and heavy artillery.
This somewhat humorous, but entirely possible scenario is hypothetical, but it provides another reason why we should tread softly when attempting to contact civilizations with intentions entirely unknown to us. The idea of making contact with a benevolent extraterrestrial civilization has been romanticized, but if we look at our own species and our predilections for war and imperialism, would we trust us?
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Do Thousands of Alien Contact Accounts Share Same Message?
Though UFO sightings have been traced to the days of prehistoric man — with ancient drawings of spacecraft, mysterious symbols, and humanoid creatures depicted on cave walls all over the world — the overwhelming number of encounters are only now starting to receive the attention they deserve. UFO abduction stories and alien contact have poured into the mainstream for decades, even while those who claim to have had these experiences find themselves as targets of social mockery.
UFO Abduction Experiences
Detractors who disbelieve abduction experiences often fail to take into consideration the character of the individuals who claim to have been abducted. A vivid stereotype stands in the way of fair treatment for experiencers: a delusional hillbilly at a rural bar rambling about far-fetched stories, or a drug-addled person ranting to no one in particular in the middle of a populated city center. But these abductee tropes are unfair and antiquated.
Giving actual credence to contact claims are the accounts of respected professionals who’ve come forward with their own stories, including military personnel, media personalities, and political figures. There are many people from all walks of life who have reported abductions and contact, such that a new generation of dedicated researchers has emerged, interested in learning more about these vivid and often terrifying experiences. Meanwhile, a number of psychologists have attempted to understand the lingering trauma and emotional scars of these abductees who work to cope with the ensuing trauma and disruption in their daily lives.
Harvard psychiatrist John Mack observed that the fear of social rejection and invalidation can often be more traumatic to an abductee than the actual experience of abduction. He said, “Every other culture in history except this one, in the history of the human race, has believed there were other entities, other intelligences in the universe… why are we so goofy about this? Why do we treat people like they’re crazy, humiliate them, if they’re experiencing some other intelligence?”
Similarly, physicist and UFO researcher Stanton Friedman noted, “I check all my audiences [on the lecture circuit] and find that, while in agreement with polls, 10% have had a sighting but only 5-10% of these witnesses have been willing to report what they saw. Biggest reason? Fear of ridicule.”
L. Harvard Psychiatrist John Mack R. Physicist Stanton Friedman
Photographer Kim Carlsberg was a few days into working on the set of the hit television show “Dallas” when she went home and saw her first UFO, which she dubbed the “Moon Over Malibu.”
A few weeks later, Carlsberg went to bed and woke up in a spacecraft, which would be the first of a series of abduction events that continued for seven years. During abductions, she says she was the subject of experimentation and claims to have been impregnated to create hybrids of aliens and humans. She says she has learned profound spiritual lessons, having been shown the oneness of the universe and all of its species. And she reports a resounding mission among the extraterrestrials “[T]hat it is time to save Mother Earth from her inhabitants.”
Carlsberg’s first book, “Beyond My Wildest Dreams,” discusses her personal UFO abduction story, while her second book, “The Art of Close Encounters,” serves as a forum for 150 people to tell their UFO abduction stories.
