19-08-2011, 04:45 AM
When I saw this story, I had to ask "Who is this?" after Googling to see who else was carrying the story. At this late hour (11:20+ PM GMT -5), the answer was "No one." So then I asked "Who is this NewsCore?" Ah, I said... Rupert Murdoch's internal shotgun blaster, er, I mean "feed wire"... Aha!, that explains a lot...
Experts Release ET Invasion Scenarios
Updated: Thursday, 18 Aug 2011, 4:03 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 18 Aug 2011, 4:03 PM CDT
(NewsCore) - We've all heard of the ravaged rain forests and the plight of the polar bear. But as far as reasons for saving the planet go, the one offered by scientists Thursday is truly out of this world.
A team of American researchers have produced a range of scenarios in which aliens could attack the earth, and curiously, one revolves around climate change.
They speculate that extraterrestrial environmentalists could be so appalled by our planet-polluting ways that they view us as a threat to the intergalactic ecosystem and decide to destroy us.
The thought-provoking scenario is one of many envisaged in a joint study by Penn State and the NASA Planetary Science Division, entitled "Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis."
It divides projected close encounters into "neutral," those that cause mankind "unintentional harm" and, more worryingly, those in which aliens do us "intentional harm."
"ETI could attack and kill us, enslave us, or potentially even eat us. ETI could attack us out of selfishness or out of a more altruistic desire to protect the galaxy from us. We might be a threat to the galaxy just as we are a threat to our home planet," it warns.
One such scenario is the stuff of many a Hollywood blockbuster, a "standard fight-to-win conflict: a war of the worlds." But another might resonate more with fans of Al Gore's documentary film "An Inconvenient truth."
It speculates that aliens, worried we might inflict the damage done to our own planet on others, might "seek to preemptively destroy our civilization in order to protect other civilizations from us." [We had to destroy the planet in order to knock some sense into the local residents.]
"Humanity may just now be entering the period in which its rapid civilizational expansion could be detected by an ETI because our expansion is changing the composition of Earth's atmosphere (e.g. via greenhouse gas emissions), which therefore changes the spectral signature of Earth," the study says. [I'd have thought it was the recent over-heating of the ionosphere, the radical recent increase in radiation, the increased inter-galactic signature from depleted uranium, or perhaps the exudate from having over-militarized the place.]
"While it is difficult to estimate the likelihood of this scenario, it should at a minimum give us pause as we evaluate our expansive tendencies."
But before we brace ourselves for alien annihilation, the report suggests things could turn in humanity's favor.
"As we continue the search for extraterrestrials into the future, perhaps our thinking about the different modes of contact will help human civilization to avoid collapse and achieve long-term survival," it suggests. ["Humungousaur, we apologize for not having dusted and scrubbed the floors before you came, but we've put all our unemployed to work on the project and hope to have it cleared up soon. Meanwhile, we have collected vast quantities of carbon taxes for you; perhaps you can bring some of those spongifrom fungi the next time you come."]
Experts Release ET Invasion Scenarios
Updated: Thursday, 18 Aug 2011, 4:03 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 18 Aug 2011, 4:03 PM CDT
(NewsCore) - We've all heard of the ravaged rain forests and the plight of the polar bear. But as far as reasons for saving the planet go, the one offered by scientists Thursday is truly out of this world.
A team of American researchers have produced a range of scenarios in which aliens could attack the earth, and curiously, one revolves around climate change.
They speculate that extraterrestrial environmentalists could be so appalled by our planet-polluting ways that they view us as a threat to the intergalactic ecosystem and decide to destroy us.
The thought-provoking scenario is one of many envisaged in a joint study by Penn State and the NASA Planetary Science Division, entitled "Would Contact with Extraterrestrials Benefit or Harm Humanity? A Scenario Analysis."
It divides projected close encounters into "neutral," those that cause mankind "unintentional harm" and, more worryingly, those in which aliens do us "intentional harm."
"ETI could attack and kill us, enslave us, or potentially even eat us. ETI could attack us out of selfishness or out of a more altruistic desire to protect the galaxy from us. We might be a threat to the galaxy just as we are a threat to our home planet," it warns.
One such scenario is the stuff of many a Hollywood blockbuster, a "standard fight-to-win conflict: a war of the worlds." But another might resonate more with fans of Al Gore's documentary film "An Inconvenient truth."
It speculates that aliens, worried we might inflict the damage done to our own planet on others, might "seek to preemptively destroy our civilization in order to protect other civilizations from us." [We had to destroy the planet in order to knock some sense into the local residents.]
"Humanity may just now be entering the period in which its rapid civilizational expansion could be detected by an ETI because our expansion is changing the composition of Earth's atmosphere (e.g. via greenhouse gas emissions), which therefore changes the spectral signature of Earth," the study says. [I'd have thought it was the recent over-heating of the ionosphere, the radical recent increase in radiation, the increased inter-galactic signature from depleted uranium, or perhaps the exudate from having over-militarized the place.]
"While it is difficult to estimate the likelihood of this scenario, it should at a minimum give us pause as we evaluate our expansive tendencies."
But before we brace ourselves for alien annihilation, the report suggests things could turn in humanity's favor.
"As we continue the search for extraterrestrials into the future, perhaps our thinking about the different modes of contact will help human civilization to avoid collapse and achieve long-term survival," it suggests. ["Humungousaur, we apologize for not having dusted and scrubbed the floors before you came, but we've put all our unemployed to work on the project and hope to have it cleared up soon. Meanwhile, we have collected vast quantities of carbon taxes for you; perhaps you can bring some of those spongifrom fungi the next time you come."]
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"