Extraterrestrial

What would be the most terrifying message we could receive from ET ?

By T.K. Randall
April 28, 2024 ·  45 comments

What if we received a message from aliens that wasn't benign ? Nobody knows quite how the world would react if we really did receive a message from an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization, but assuming we were actually able to translate such a message, the reaction would likely have a lot to do with exactly what it was that the message actually said.

Most of us would hope to receive a peaceful greeting or perhaps an exchange of knowledge, but it's also possible that a message from ET could be a lot more sinister.

So what would be the scariest possible message we could receive from aliens ?

Obviously some sort of threat or warning would be particularly troublesome - as Twitter user @FibNewtonian suggested recently, "we're coming" would be particular ominous, as would some sort of countdown not dissimilar to that picked up before the attack in the movie Independence Day.Another terrifying possibility would be some sort of demand for surrender, or even a message implying that we are being watched or that our planet has been infiltrated.

Reddit user OddFeature suggested that it would be disconcerting if the message - whatever it was - arrived in one of our own languages because it implied that the aliens had been watching us for a long time.

Arguably, anything that isn't a benign greeting might be considered quite worrisome.

Finally, Reddit user AresLeviathan suggested what could be the most terrifying message of all:

"You are the last. Be better than us."

Source: IFL Science | Comments (45)

Tags: Alien, Extraterrestrial