Scientist Warns Alien Contact Will Be Like Montezuma And Cortez
And the biggest sign to aliens weâre not too bright and ready for conquest? We get our science knowledge from late night talk shows.
By Paul Seaburn | Mysterious Universe
In the 21st century, we get a lot of our Earth political news on late night talk shows, and now we can get our space news there as well. Renowned physicist, string theorist and popular TV scientist Michio Kaku has been making the rounds lately talking about the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to be launched in the fall of 2021. Like a good scientist, heâs in favour of using new and better technology, but heâs also cautious about how some of his colleagues will use this particular tool for exploring the cosmos. He told The Guardian this week:
âSoon weâll have the Webb telescope up in orbit and weâll have thousands of planets to look at, and thatâs why I think the chances are quite high that we may make contact with an alien civilization. There are some colleagues of mine that believe we should reach out to them. I think thatâs a terrible idea. We all know what happened to Montezuma when he met CortĂ©s in Mexico so many hundreds of years ago.â
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For those who only know of Montezuma from the bad joke about gastric problems, Moctezuma II (Montezuma) welcomed the alien known as conquistador HernĂĄn CortĂ©s to the Aztec empire, and both he and the empire died as a result. Montezuma reached out in peace, just as many of our SETI messages say âWe come in peace,â and Kaku thinks this is a bad idea too because it implies weâre unarmed and could convince extraterrestrials to âcome and rule us.â Or, as he said in 2018, come and âdevelopâ our planet â building their own structures, planting their own plants and installing their own government. Gee, thatâs never happened on Earth, has it?
âTo be honest, Iâve get emails from people that say: âYouâre wrong professor, the aliens are already here. Theyâve been in the flying saucers, they have been kidnapped.â
Kaku followed up his Guardian interview with an appearance on âThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert.â He anticipated and addressed the blowback from many people who believe UFOs are alien spaceships and Earth is already populated with extraterrestrials, both camouflaged and out in the open, abducting humans but returning them seemingly unharmed. How come they havenât conquistadored us like CortĂ©s?
âI tell them the next time you are kidnapped by an alien flying saucer, for Godâs sake, steal something. I donât care whether itâs a pen or a chip, steal something! Because there is no law against stealing from an extraterrestrial civilization.â
Obviously, Michio Kaku is a scientist who values facts and proofs over speculations. Of course, stealing a writing quill from CortĂ©s wouldnât have saved Montezuma â he still had hundreds of troops, dreams of gold, superior weapons and infectious diseases. Kaku says he hopes aliens are friendly but letâs let them show it â donât reveal our cards to them right up front.
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Is he right? There are many who believe weâve already alerted alien civilizations weâre here and not too bright by our industrial pollution and growing numbers of satellites doing nothing but orbiting â at least from their perspective.
And the biggest sign to aliens weâre not too bright and ready for conquest? We get our science knowledge from late night talk shows.
About the Author
Paul Seaburn is the editor at Mysterious Universe and its most prolific writer. Heâs written for TV shows such as âThe Tonight Showâ, âPolitically Incorrectâ and an award-winning childrenâs program. Heâs been published in âThe New York Timesâ and âHuffington Postâ and has co-authored numerous collections of trivia, puzzles and humour. His âWhat in the World!â podcast is a fun look at the latest weird and paranormal news, strange sports stories and odd trivia. Paul likes to add a bit of humour to each MU post he crafts. After all, the mysterious doesnât always have to be serious.