--- title: "The Scariest Messages We Could Detect From Aliens, According to the Internet" description: "People are fantasizing about getting messages from aliens, as explored in a delightful new thread on the Space subreddit." date: "2022-03-30" modified: "2022-03-30" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/scariest-alien-messages" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Exobiology" - "Space" tags: - "aliens" - "extraterrestrials" - "reddit" --- # The Scariest Messages We Could Detect From Aliens, According to the Internet ![People are fantasizing about getting messages from aliens, as explored in a delightful new Reddit thread on the Space subreddit.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* 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]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()