The dream of contacting representatives of other planets arose with the beginning of space exploration. It is difficult to assume that we are the only reasonable civilization in the universe. But then why do not the mind brothers come with us? Alas, not so simple.
Theory of the "Galactic Club"
Back in the mid-1970s, the famous astrophysicist Ronald Bracewell advanced the idea of the "Galactic Zoo", or "Galactic Club." Its essence is that there is a certain community of civilizations (for example, within the framework of our Galaxy), whose members maintain relations among themselves.
But they do not come into contact with us, because we are still too "backward" for them. Or our civilization is not sufficiently developed in scientific and technological terms, or our morals and ethics have not yet "matured" to their standards.
There is nothing surprising in this. Closed elite clubs and communities have always existed in a variety of spheres.And, as a rule, membership is available there only if certain conditions are met - for example, if the candidate has a certain status, receives recommendations from other participants, or successfully passes the tests or tests.
After the Bracewell theory was widely publicized, it had its supporters and opponents. The latter argue that the creation of the "Galactic Club" is completely impossible, since it is extremely difficult to establish communications between different civilizations, as well as to keep all developed worlds from contacting "barbarians" like us.
But what about the signals?
And yet there is hope! Not long ago, a group of Canadian astrophysicists recorded as many as 234 cases of "unusual periodic spectral modulations in a small fraction of solar-type stars." According to scientists, the reason for such "non-standard behavior" of distant luminaries may be the existence of highly developed civilizations near them.
The authors of the study, using the SDSS (Sloan Digital Sky Survey) survey, analyzed the spectral characteristics of about 2.5 million celestial bodies. In particular, they were interested in the change in the intensity of light as a function of the wavelength. Thus, 234 stars had light "signals" with the same period - 1.65 picoseconds (one picosecond equals a trillionth of a second).
As experts believe, this periodicity can not be explained by technical errors or natural features of the luminaries.Most likely, the signals have an artificial origin. The only alternative version is the special chemical composition of some stars in the galactic halo. But this is unlikely.
It is curious that all "anomalous" signals emit stars of the near-solar type of the spectral classes F2-K1.
Researchers believe that the planets near these stars are inhabited by intelligent civilizations that consciously change the intensity of light radiation to be noticed by neighbors in the Galaxy. This is done, for example, with the help of lasers. By the way, the parameters of the signal, which could be artificially modulated by our brothers for reason for communication, were described back in 2012.
Caution: danger!
Meanwhile, many researchers put forward the hypothesis that contact with aliens will not bring us anything good.After all, if they seek to communicate with us, then, consequently, they need our resources. And they will certainly try to colonize the Earth.
What will happen if by means of the emission of signals "neighbors" come to us? Most likely, they will try to collect as much information about us as possible, then to understand how to use it. And already on the basis of the analysis of this information they will make a decision - either leave it as it is, or take some action. And not the fact that friendly .
Earth - a threat to the universe?
On the Internet, a scientific report was produced, prepared jointly by NASA and the University of Pennsylvania. It follows that the development of our civilization may not meet the interests of our "neighbors" and they are able to take measures to protect themselves and other space civilizations.
In particular, our economic activities resulted in disastrous consequences for the environment. Over time, this can be a threat to the space environment. In addition, extraterrestrial civilizations in general can be afraid of rapidly developing "neighbors", perceiving this as a factor of aggression.
Sooner or later such civilizations will want to go beyond the limits of their planet and, probably, will engage in the extermination of alien life forms, if not consciously, then simply doing their activities outside their native planet.
Do not forget that on Earth there are traces of civilizations that existed thousands of years before us. And all of them either died as a result of their own aggressive activities, or were destroyed by someone from outside.
Are they among us?
What if the invasion already happened? Recently NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao made a statement that we do not notice the presence of representatives of extraterrestrial intelligence on Earth, as they are in a state of suspended animation.
But sooner or later they will leave it, and then we will see them. It will be connected with the apocalypse, which will come about after 200 years ... Gloomy forecast, is not it?
Language methods
But even if we imagine that we met with aliens, not the fact that we really can contact them, says James Carney of the University of Lancaster. Brothers on reason can communicate with each other in a completely different way - not through ordinary language, but through gestures, facial expressions or even telepathically.
NASA experts are currently engaged in the development of several methods at once, which allegedly will help to establish contact with aliens. In particular, they are trying to create a device that will analyze the actions of the aliens and interpret them.
A well-known Scottish astronomer Duncan Forgan even developed a whole protocol of actions that must be taken in case of finding intelligent life in space.
According to NASA employees, people of other planets, like people, are able to communicate with each other with sounds, but their hearing organs can perceive sounds in a completely different range than we do. So we can not understand each other through speech.
In addition, our linguistic thinking is limited to the usual grammatical and semantic constructions that aliens may find themselves simply inaccessible. Just as we will not be able to use their language constructs. Although there is a possibility that we will be able to go beyond the form, using, for example, semantic images. The more similar is our structure of thinking with the "alien", the more chances for successful communication.
Science can become a universal language of communication with other intelligent beings, James Carney suggests.But this is only provided that the laws of physics on Earth and in the homeland of aliens work the same way.
Do not forget that the goal of aliens can be the colonization of the Earth. And in this case it will be even more difficult to achieve some kind of mutual understanding.