Amid the ongoing efforts by NASA and ESA to locate potential extra-terrestrial life on distant planets, a new theory has suggested that aliens that could probably reach Earth in the future could be robotic and not biological.
It is presumed that the extra-terrestrials reaching Earth are more likely to be robots powered with artificial intelligence that appears in the Terminator movie series.
Currently, scientists are focusing on research on planets to establish biological life and to ensure the presence of other biological factors.
According to boffins, efforts should be developed to root out extra-terrestrials from places that are useful for robots where abundant solar energy and minerals like silicon.
In order to conduct deep space alien-hunting missions, humans should also focus on developing capable AI astronauts, they believe.
Former NASA astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch said: "As with all new technologies AI has its pluses and minuses. But for space exploration - meaning exploration beyond our immediate cosmic neighbourhood - it is probably essential. In fact, an advanced space program without AI is difficult to envision. That goes not just for us but for anyone 'out there' who is likely to visit us."
"Even though most movies about aliens depict biological creatures arriving on Earth this is unlikely to happen. Crossing interstellar space would take them a very long time — so much time that it makes little sense to send short-lived, perishable organic bodies. Life expectancy for nearly all species on our planet is under 100 years," he added, Daily Star reports.
According to Schulze-Makuch, deep space journeys are often accompanied with dangers including asteroids and deadly radiation, and as a result, humans may not encounter biological aliens in the future.
Schulze-Makuch said while the growth of AI in 'all aspects of human activity appears to be unstoppable' alien civilisations 'farther ahead of us on the evolutionary curve' may be more advanced.
Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, which leads the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, believes humans should be looking for 'other Mercurys' instead of 'other Earths' to find AI aliens.
According to Shostak, aliens are present in the galaxy, but none of them are hanging out in airspace.
According to Seth Shostak, aliens that trek to the planet are unlikely to be carbon-based life forms, either hirsute or hairless. He also believes that their cognitive abilities are not powered by a spongy mass of cells, called brain.
