IF THERE IS LIFE OUT THERE - KEEP QUIET

May 20, 1996 / posted May 22, 1996
Source: Electronic Telegraph
By Adrian Berry, Science Correspondent

WHY DO the stars appear devoid of intelligent civilisations? Might they not exist, or is there a more terrible possibility: that civilisations are frightened into radio silence by the presence of a technically superior neighbouring race that would annihilate them if it knew of their existence? The latter hypothesis is proposed by two scientists in a new "factionalised" novel, The Killing Star, which contains both a story and a mass of serious science. The story is simple. One race alone in this region of the galaxy has developed the technology to build fast interstellar spaceships. But it also realises that they can be turned into deadly weapons. If it uses its spaceships, not as transport vehicles, but as missiles, it can destroy all other civilisations by crashing them into their planets at 92 per cent of the speed of light, 616 million mph, 440,000 times faster than Concorde. The vessel is thus called a "relativistic bomb" because its speed is close to the ultimate limit in relativity theory. The effect, when Earth is struck at this speed by a ship that weighs only 1,500 tons, is a firestorm that destroys all life on the planet. This must occur since, according to the kinetic energy equation, the violence unleashed by the impact equals the weight of the object multiplied by half the square of its speed. "All life was erased from the continents. Not a single tree stood, not a blade of grass grew, not even a scorched twig smouldered." The flattened shapes of the Egyptian pyramids are the only sign that mankind ever existed. And there is everywhere an "odour of sweet Chinese pork - the smell of hundreds of millions of carbonised people". Why should an alien civilisation behave in this murderous fashion? They wipe out humanity without provocation or hate. They are motivated only by caution. The two authors envisage a paranoid universe. Because starships can also be relativistic bombs, every civilisation that has reached interstellar capability must destroy any others who look like reaching it - in case they one day suffer the same fate themselves. Alien behaviour will thus be governed by three laws: 1. Their survival is more important than ours. 2. Wimps don't become top dogs. 3. They will assume that the first two laws apply to us. This picture of a universe ruled by fear and murder is very different from the friendly cosmos of Star Trek which is filled with mostly benevolent aliens. Our predicament is compared with that of a person lost in a park at night and surrounded by invisible potential murderers. The worst thing to do is to cry out: "I'm here!", or reply to someone who shouts: "I'm a friend!" It is difficult to find either a policeman or your way out without making yourself known. The safest option is to wait for daylight, then safely walk out. But there are of course a few obvious differences between a park and the universe. There is no policeman. There is no way out. And the night never ends." If this fearsome hypothesis is correct, humanity has already exposed itself to danger. For the last 50 years, we have made our presence known by radio and television broadcasts, so that out to a distance of 50 light-years - increasing by one light-year every year - man-made radiation is stronger in some parts of the spectrum even than the Sun's. In 1974, Prof Frank Drake, an astronomer eager to make contact with possible aliens, committed an act which many consider reckless. From the powerful radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, he sent out a "we are here" message to a star cluster 24,000 light-years away. This is of course much too great a distance for a relativistic civilisation to be a threat, but his signal could be intercepted and acted upon by something much closer to Earth. External Links Particle physicists are now trying to create antimatter, which would be the ideal fuel for Project Argus a starship. Antimatter would be the key to all-sky survey the universe. In the novel, an alien warns: (SETI League - "You never asked yourself if to use that key search for might be to open the gates to Hell." extra-terrestrial intelligence) * The Killing Star, by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski (Avon Books, New York). Discovering 4 April 1996: Alien bugs threat to Mars craft planets in the radio sky

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