As space agencies like NASA are busy searching for alien life, a top physicist has warned that this quest may not be that favorable for humanity. Physicist Mark Buchanan claimed that humanity's first contact with an advanced alien civilization could mark the end of all life on earth.
Alien first contact: Should we need to worry?
In a recent op-ed on The Washington Post titled 'Contacting Aliens Could End All Life on Earth, Let's Top Trying', Buchanan claimed that searching for extraterrestrials is a bad idea for humanity. He also talked about the unidentified flying objects (UFO) encountered by several US Navy officers.
"We should all be grateful that we don't yet have any evidence of contact with alien civilizations. Attempting to communicate with extraterrestrials, if they do exist, could be extremely dangerous for us. We need to figure out whether it's wise — or safe — and how to handle such attempts in an organized manner," wrote Buchanan on The Washington Post.
Comparison between alien first contact and Columbus' arrival in North America
In the op-ed, Buchanan compared an alien first contact with the arrival of Christopher Columbus on North America, where the indigenous civilization faced threats from Europeans who were highly advanced. According to Buchanan, the Milky Way galaxy and the solar system where earth resides is very young compared to other galaxies, which means an extraterrestrial civilization that might be thriving elsewhere in the universe could be much more advanced than humans.
"Aliens we ultimately encounter will likely be far more technologically advanced than we are, for a simple reason: Most stars in our galaxy are much older than the sun. If civilizations arise fairly frequently on some planets, then there ought to be many civilizations in our galaxy millions of years more advanced than our own. Many of these would likely have taken significant steps to begin exploring and possibly colonizing the galaxy," added Buchanan.
Buchanan is not the only expert who have talked about aliens invading earth post the first contact. Legendary physicist Stephen Hawking had also shared similar thoughts in the past. According to Hawking, if an alien civilization succeeds in finding humans, it suggests that they are more advanced than earthlings. In such a scenario, these advanced beings could wipe out life from the surface of the earth.
