• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Scientists Warn Against Plan To Beam Earth’s Location To Outer Galaxy

Home> News

Updated 09:37 18 Apr 2022 GMT+1Published 09:30 18 Apr 2022 GMT+1

Scientists Warn Against Plan To Beam Earth’s Location To Outer Galaxy

Professor Anders Sandberg has warned that we have to take negative consequences of communicating with aliens seriously

Tom Sanders

Tom Sanders

Scientists have warned that NASA’s plan to broadcast a message containing Earth’s location into outer space could attract unwelcome attention from aliens.

Researchers at the US space agency have greenlit a new broadcast message, dubbed ‘Beacon in the Galaxy’ containing information about the Earth to be beamed into outer space, specifically to a part of the Milky Way identified as the most likely location to contain extraterrestrial lifeforms.

It is an updated version of the Arecibo message, which sent similar information into space in 1974 using a radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

But whereas the Arecibo message contained only basic information about the Earth and humanity, improvements in technology mean that more detailed info can now be broadcast.

Advert

Alamy

The proposed new message includes basic mathematical and physical concepts intended to establish a universal means of communication, followed by information about the Earth’s surface and the life forms that live here.

The message also includes the location of our solar system relative to other major clusters of stars, along with coordinates intended to help alien life forms find our planet and an invitation for extraterrestrial intelligences to respond.

It’s a bold move but not everyone is convinced by the plan, and Anders Sandberg, a senior research fellow at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute (FHI), has warned that sharing such information could be risky.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Sandberg said that even though the chances of the message reaching an alien civilization were low, the consequences of making contact 'has such a high impact that you actually need to take it rather seriously'.

Advert

Sandberg criticised the ‘giggle factor’ surrounding anything related to the search for extraterrestrial life, and claimed that 'many people just refuse to take anything related to it seriously, which is a shame because this is important stuff’.

Anders Sandberg.
Oxford University/Futures of Humanity

Toby Ord, Dr Sandberg’s colleague at the FHI, also made similar arguments in his 2020 book The Precipice, in which he analysed existential risks pertaining to the future of humanity.

Dr. Ord’s main argument centres on the fact that we have no idea of knowing how many peaceful civilisations are out there compared to hostile ones.

"We have very little evidence about whether this is high or low, and there is no scientific consensus,” he said.

Advert

"Given the downside could be much bigger than the upside, this doesn’t sound to me like a good situation in which to take active steps toward contact.

"These dangers are small, but poorly understood and not yet well managed."

Are we at risk of undesirable alien visitors?
Alamy

Scientists including Stephen Hawking have, in the past, warned that these messages could be risky.

In a documentary released in 2010, Professor Hawking pointed out that, on Earth, interactions between civilisations on different levels of technological advancement tend not to work out very well for the lesser-advanced group.

Advert

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet,” Professor Hawking said, citing the arrival of Europeans in the Americas

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Aliens, Science, Space

Tom Sanders
Tom Sanders

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Scientists are 'weeks away' from confirming alien life exists according to professor
  • Cause of mysterious pulse coming from space finally revealed by scientists after a year of investigating
  • Earth could be hit by extreme geomagnetic storm tomorrow following 600,000 mile-wide solar eruption, scientists warn
  • NASA scientists on alert after ‘dent’ in Earth’s magnetic field could risk our way of life as we know it

Choose your content:

10 hours ago
11 hours ago
12 hours ago
  • 10 hours ago

    Man had chilling vision 10 days in a row before plane crash that saw 273 people killed

    Despite multiple calls to the company, nothing could be done

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Heroic coast guard who saved nearly 200 children from camp in fatal Texas floods details rescue effort

    He called the kids the true heroes

    News
  • 11 hours ago

    Newlywed dies on honeymoon after being hit by lightning bolt while stood in sea during freak incident

    The incident happened at a picturesque Florida beach

    News
  • 12 hours ago

    What happens when you stop masturbating as doctor gives surprising answer to how often you should do it

    The more you know

    News