A scientist has revealed how humanity’s first encounter with aliens will unfold and it is probably not what anyone expected.
While the images of grey intelligent beings zapping down to Earth from their flying saucers might be a popular depiction of aliens in pop culture, it isn’t reality according to experts.
Instead, it will be nothing like the stuff of Hollywood movies and instead is likely to be very different.
This is according to Dr David Kipping from Columbia University who has cited the ‘Eschatian Hypothesis’ which argues that the first alien civilization that humanity will encounter will probably be in its final moments.
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Kipping has said that this is because they will likely be ‘unusually loud’.
As reported by the Daily Mail, the scientist stated: “Hollywood has preconditioned us to expect one of two types of alien contact, either a hostile invasion force or a benevolent species bestowing wisdom to humanity. But the Eschatian hypothesis is neither.
“Here, first contact is with a civilization in its death throes, one that is violently flailing before the end.”
Kipping argued in a new paper that the first examples of alien life we might encounter may not be typical but instead ‘rare, extreme cases’.
This is much like catching a dying star in the night sky, which is easier to spot as they are much brighter than normal stars.
He continued: “So, by extension, we should expect that the first detection of an alien civilization will be someone who is being unusually loud.
“Their behavior will probably be atypical, but their enormous volume makes them the most likely candidate for discovery.”
The expert also believes that the famous ‘Wow! Signal’, from 1977 could have been a close encounter with extraterrestrials.
The signal was a powerful, narrowband radio burst detected nearly 50 years ago by Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope, causing the leading astronomer, Jerry R. Ehman, to write ‘wow!’ next to the printout.
According to Kipping, this signal could have been an alien civilization broadcasting a final scream into the void in an act of desperation.
So, what could cause an alien species to get ‘loud’? It turns out that things like nuclear war can cause a planet to light up brighter, making it easier to detect on sensitive telescopes.
Meanwhile, aliens in distress might signal out to the universe in the hopes of getting a response from other lifeforms who may be able to help them.