Alien Cyberattack: Send-Up?

"While it has been argued that sustainable ETI [extraterrestrial invasion intelligence] is unlikely to be harmful, we cannot exclude this possibility."
"After all, it is cheaper for ETI to send a malicious message to eradicate humans compared to sending battleships."
"[A cyber threat for example]: We will make your sun go supernova tomorrow."
"True or not, it could cause widespread panic, [or have a] demoralizing cultural influence."
"[A gaining-trust message, for example to read]: We are friends. The galactic library is attached. It is in the form of an artificial intelligence which quickly learns your language and will answer your questions. You may execute the code following these instructions ..."
"Current research indicates that even well-designed boxes [AI box] are useless, and a sufficiently intelligent AI will be able to persuade or trick its human keepers into releasing it."
"[Nonetheless] The potential benefits from joining a galactic network might be considerable. 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."
Michael Hippke, Sonnenberg Observatory, Germany -- John Learned, University of Hawaii

The common alien-doomsday scenario paints the picture of hostile invasion, with looming motherships and a firefight for the fate of Earth and all of humanity. But, according to new research, the reality could be far more sinister. A still from Countdown Alien Invasion is shown

Got that? Humanity is being forewarned. Two presumably knowledgeable scientists in the field of astronomy and astrophysics giving fair warning of the potential for an alien message arriving from that great unknowable horizon beyond or possibly within our galaxy prepared to do humankind great harm. Their considerable knowledge has led them to speculate and to prophesy an event that could conceivably solve the problem of humankind's inability to live together in peace. We could die together in infamy.

They're a trifle confused, perhaps a little paranoia in there, and certainly polarized in their might-be's, comparing the body of their work with the conclusion that we've nothing to lose but everything, so might as well join them. Despite that, should extraterrestrials decide a malevolent approach would suit them in contacting humanity any effort on our part to "decontaminate with certainty" might be negligible, in the face of such an "existential threat". Proceed, they warn, with caution.

Anyone recall Carl Sagan's optimism in 1977 when contact with extraterrestrials was hoped for when the Voyageur Interstellar Mission was launched? Carl Sagan, American cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer was excited at the prospect of intelligent life existing somewhere out in the universe on a planet like Earth, peopled by beings with whom earthlings could communicate. The prospect of such a contact between humans and other beings which vast distances separated did not come at that time with stated fears of miscommunication and hostility.

More recently, however, we have the world's foremost theoretical astrophysicist of great international renown whose brilliant mind is trapped in an enfeebled body, and whose outlook on the possibility of Earth's intelligent creatures coming in contact with another planet's far more advanced and presumably more advanced intelligent agents not particularly liking what they observe of humanity and turning out to be a threat to humankind's continued existence...and so, Stephen Hawking has warned of a looming -- perhaps -- disaster.

These two world-renowned scientists whose focus has been on the worlds within the universe have had plenty of company in their musings; other scientists, academics, futurists have joined this endless debate discussing the possibility of humans taking benefit from contact with other life forms existing elsewhere. This was the purpose and function of The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, (SETI), the group that endlessly scans the sky for signs of radio-signals from an outside source, emitting signals of our own to entice any intelligent beings to make contact. Nada.


Messrs. Hippke and Learned explore in their paper various malicious scenarios and have focused on a coded message with hidden threats, compressed and holding an algorithm shielding a code which could execute billions of instructions unleashing deadly malware. Expert computing intelligence could hope to isolate the artificial intelligence and in so doing rigging it with "remote-controlled fusion bombs" to execute its destruction in an emergency scenario, they muse.

Should, however, the artificial intelligence fail to be destroyed expeditiously as required, the issue is that innumerable types of damage could ensue, one of which is that the artificial intelligence could persuade a human agency that nanobots should be built to serve humankind. In reality, those nanobots would represent the destructive foot-in-the-door instructed to destroy humans and dominate the world to hand it to the possession of their masters. Sleep well tonight!

According to the researchers, a threat from aliens could come in several forms. These could be signals received by our radio telescopes, or even probes sent directly to our planet. According to the researchers, aliens could also transmit complex messages that embed viruses