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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday February 27 2018, @12:05AM   Printer-friendly
from the ET-phone-home dept.

Two astrophysicists warn that passive SETI could be dangerous due to malicious code, blueprints, or ultimatums sent to Earth by aliens or alien AIs:

With all the news stories these days about computer hacking, it probably comes as no surprise that someone is worried about hackers from outer space. Yes, there are now scientists who fret that space aliens might send messages that worm their way into human society — not to steal our passwords but to bring down our culture.

How exactly would they do that? Astrophysicists Michael Hippke and John Learned argue in a recent paper that our telescopes might pick up hazardous messages sent our way — a virus that shuts down our computers, for example, or something a bit like cosmic blackmail: "Do this for us, or we'll make your sun go supernova and destroy Earth." Or perhaps the cosmic hackers could trick us into building self-replicating nanobots, and then arrange for them to be let loose to chew up our planet or its inhabitants.

But don't worry?

Although it may be rational for us to engage trade with this alien AI, the researchers ponder the consequences if the cure for cancer involves, say, building an army of nanobots from blueprints provided by the AI. In a sort of reverse-Contact scenario, the researchers imagine a scenario in which the machine blueprints turn out to be malicious. Perhaps humans build these cancer-curing nanobots and they are actually programmed to deplete Earth of certain vital resources.

The scenarios offered by the researchers are pretty far out, but are worth taking seriously in the event we ever establish contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence. Still, that's not necessarily a reason to refrain from opening the message. "Our main argument is that a message from ETI cannot be decontaminated with certainty," Hippke and Learned conclude in their paper. "Overall, we believe that the risk is very small (but not zero), and the potential benefit very large, so that we strongly encourage to read an incoming message."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:47AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @01:47AM (#644371)

    I know it's fiction, but in the Movie "Contact", the aliens sent plans for a gigantic machine that both proved that god does not exist, and that science is a matter of faith based on experience. They probly were just trolling Matty McCounaughty and Merril Streep.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @08:49AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 27 2018, @08:49AM (#644534)

    They probly were just trolling Matty McCounaughty and Merril Streep.

    And by Merril Streep you mean Jodi Foster?

  • (Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Tuesday February 27 2018, @06:58PM (1 child)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Tuesday February 27 2018, @06:58PM (#644722)

    The signal in Contact didn't prove God didn't exist. There was a bit of faith vs Science discussion about how they relate to Human understanding of the Universe.

      The story mentioned an incredibly ancient alien civilization that had the understanding and tech to create a galaxy (possibly universe) spanning network of wormholes. It also mentions that this First Race was long gone, no one knew what happened to them, and all the recent star faring civilizations where just using the left over tech while trying to figure out what had happened to the First race. The ignored the point that it would not be hard to think that the first race might have been "God". It just depends on your concept of "God".

    Also, if you haven't I would suggest you read Contact rather than go by what was in the movie.

    You might also try reading Asimove's "The Last Question", it has an interesting twist on what "God" might be.

    --
    "Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
    • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Wednesday February 28 2018, @04:53AM

      by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Wednesday February 28 2018, @04:53AM (#644974) Homepage Journal

      Also, if you haven't I would suggest you read Contact rather than go by what was in the movie.

      You might also try reading Asimove's "The Last Question", it has an interesting twist on what "God" might be.

      Agreed. The novel was *far* superior (as they usually are) to the movie.

      Arthur C. Clarke's Rama [wikipedia.org] series also has an interesting discussion about that. Perhaps that's where Sagan got the idea, just as Clarke may have gotten the idea from Asimov.

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr