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Researchers Warn of Extraterrestrial Hacks (vice.com)
dmoberhaus writes: An astronomer and astrophysicist have published a new paper to arXiv examining possible scenarios where an extraterrestrial message received on Earth is malicious. This ranges from unsubstantiated threats ('We'll supernova your sun!') to super advanced AI that promises the cure for cancer but takes over the world with microbots. The ideas are pretty far out there, but serve to underscore the inherent risk with SETI efforts. Nevertheless, the researchers argue that the benefits of establishing contact with ET far outweigh the risks .
Oh, yeah! Now I remember. It was on /. yesterday!
Do our editors actually, you know, edit? Or is that just soooo 20th Century?
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
That's why they're all being deported.
Which animal has a memory span of less than 6 hours?
The Slashdot Editor.
https://science.slashdot.org/s...
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Them aliens sure hacked Slashdot good!
Sometimes I think the editors intentionally posts dupes just to rile people up. This article was a hilariously good choice.
- greger
nt
AC comments get piped to
I don't entirely agree that the risks are outweighed by the potential benefits. They would likely see us as a crop, livestock or slave labor. Even if they were just like the friendly aliens that these researchers watched on TV as a children, they would likely expose us to alien viriuses and bacteria that would wipe us out. Sending beacons and signals into space to bring on the apolcaypse is the worst idea in the history of mankind.
It was clearly collusion between the Russians AND the Aliens with Trump who hacked msmash's alleged "brain" to post this full-retard non-story before the insults could even be completed for the first iteration.
With the scenarios given, how exactly does SETI increase the risk? Does the AI obey old school vampire rules where it can't come to our planet unless we invite it? Are the aliens, who are capable of inducing a supernova in our star, not advanced enough to know we're here unless we answer (which of course would take potentially 1000s of years for the response to reach them anyway)?
Entities powerful enough to do the things described don't need our permission. If they want to destroy us, we probably wouldn't even know until it was too late.
Research grant money is so scarce, it's sickening to think these idiots wasted it on something so stupid.
Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
What could we possibly offer aliens? The idea that they might want to eat us for mere food is ridiculous. If they exist, know about us and can reach us, and want something nefarious, we can probably do nothing about it. They may well have been civilized for over a million years and have technology, intelligence, philosophies, and understanding so far beyond us that we are mere insects to them.
Why should they want to simply harm us? Easy enough for an advanced, powerful, space faring civilization to exterminate us all if that's all they wanted. That would be about the same as an adult running around stepping on ants for fun. More likely they've solved all their urgent problems and are bored, and we are a source of entertainment that they absolutely do not want spoiled by revealing themselves to us. The games they may be playing with us might be nefarious, they might be trying to guide is in certain not so good directions, who can say? Maybe there's a Team Suicide who will be victorious in their games if they can get those life forms to kill themselves off, while other teams have other goals and victory conditions. There are so many possibilities.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
Security researchers are really in danger of becoming "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". Maybe I should go into business selling Alien Hack insurance. The odds of having to pay a claim would be astronomically small.
Greed is the root of all evil.
The aliens are coming here, they're bringing disease, they're rapists, but some, I'm sure, are good people. We need to build a wall around the Earth; a huge, tremendous, beautiful wall, and we're going to make the aliens pay for it.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.