If you haven't noticed, things here on Earth have gotten pretty dicey lately.
It's no wonder, then, that people are fantasizing about getting messages from aliens, as explored in a delightful new Reddit thread on the Space subreddit — though, as many have noted, a missive from extraterrestrials could be either good news or bad.
Which would be worse? To hear a warlike call to arms, a warning not to resist, a cry for help, or a dirge?
Below are some of our favorite spooky ET message scenarios. Be very afraid.
Realistically Speaking
Realistically, any sort of distress message or epitaph/gravestone message left would be the most terrifying thing to hear. While we could [always] have a planetary disaster wipe us out, to find hard evidence of it happening [would] make the threat that much more real.
It's like yeah people get murdered everyday, but it changes when someone on your block dies.
This Redditor really took the cake. Existentially, few things are more horrific than imagining that an advanced civilization was annihilated — because in the face of a "great filter," what hope would we have?
Attention, Attention
I’d suggest, "People of Earth your attention please…"
Citing the Vogon destruction of Earth, which is the main conflict at the beginning of Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," this user paired the two worst thing in the Universe — warlike species and bureaucracy — to paint a hilariously grim picture.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Probably something to the effect of "quiet." Would indicate we’ve been spewing radio waves for centuries, and there’s something big and bad out there listening.
The only thing scarier than the knowledge that we've been heard would be knowing we were heard — and getting a reply suggesting that there's something horrible and dangerous listening.
Reddit Alien
Anything at all that we could comprehend.
Honestly, any alien communiqué is gonna freak us the hell out.
Or Nothing At All
I don't think any alien message could scare anyone now. People will be divided between being offended, not giving a shit or making memes of it.
Or, in the end, maybe this user has it right — we've dealt with so much at this point that nothing can scare us anymore.
More on aliens: Scientists Already Plotting How James Webb Could Detect Alien Civilizations
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