Thursday, October 19, 2006

More symposium coverage:

Symposium asks: What if Earth is a penal colony for aliens?

"We have to look at things in the right way," [Friedman] said, adding that since humans had achieved success in technologies such as nuclear fission, advanced civilizations could have harnessed the power of nuclear fusion, an energy that could get their ships to Earth, since it can be found in any star.

But Friedman also speculated that this planet could be some extra-terrestrial society's version of Australia, or a dumping ground for prisoners, as he considered human civilization to be caught up in "tribal warfare." If that were the case, he said, aliens are probably hanging around to make sure we don’t leave the solar system.

"If there's a galactic federation out there, it's probably thumbs down to Earth," he said.

2 comments:

Danieru said...

All a bit too Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for my liking...

Mac said...

I don't buy it either. At least, not literally. But the idea of a galactic quarantine is compelling. Maybe "presingular" intelligences are put on the equivalent of "suicide watch."