Mark Buchanan, a physicist and writer from Europe, has a rather hot take when it comes to the search for aliens — let’s not find them.
In a new piece for The Washington Post, Buchanan suggests that “contacting aliens could end all life on Earth.”
He suggests that the recent push to find aliens might not be the best idea. Contacting another civilization could have direct consequences, he said.
- “The search for aliens has reached a stage of technological sophistication and associated risk that it needs strict regulation at national and international levels,” he wrote. “Without oversight, even one person — with access to powerful transmitting technology — could take actions affecting the future of the entire planet.”
Consider technology as well. According to Buchanan, any potential life form we contact will have improved technology that could surpass our own. And these aliens — who would likely be way older than earthlings — haven’t made contact for a reason.
- “More alarming is the possibility that alien civilizations are remaining out of contact because they know something: that sending out signals is catastrophically risky,” he wrote. “Our history on Earth has given us many examples of what can happen when civilizations with unequal technology meet — generally, the technologically more advanced has destroyed or enslaved the other. A cosmic version of this reality might have convinced many alien civilizations to remain silent. Exposing yourself is an invitation to be preyed upon and devoured.”
The search for aliens and unidentified flying objects has kicked up in recent weeks because of an upcoming U.S. Department of Defense report, which will explain all investigations by the U.S. government into UFO incidents.
The final report — which has not been released — won’t provide any evidence of UFOs involving aliens or extraterrestrial life, though, according to BBC News, However, the report doesn’t rule those out as possibilities, either.
Rep. Michael Waltz of the House Armed Services Committee told CNN that the report’s findings will be somewhat troubling even if the flying objects don’t come from aliens.
“But it’s disturbing either way, you know, is this alien life or do adversaries or someone else have capabilities that far exceed anything we have the ability to understand track or counter? Either way it’s really bad,” he said.