A Harvard professor of astronomy theorized that extraterrestrials are more likely to make contact with artificial intelligence before humans.
Avi Loeb made the remarks during an appearance in the documentary "God Vs. Aliens" suggesting that extraterrestrials would send AI drones to Earth instead of "crewed" vehicles, according to the Daily Mail.
"My expectation from interstellar travel is that it's best done with electronic gadgets and devices rather than with biological creatures because the journey takes a long time," Loeb said.
"Even to the nearest star, it will take us 50,000 years to get there with chemical rockets. And artificial intelligence systems have that patience — and then they can remain dormant ... so that they survive the journey."
International space agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency have been employing AI technology for years to map galaxies and stars and send robots to other planets.
"If they visit us, of course, we can use our AI systems to interpret their AI systems," Loeb remarked. "And they might feel a kinship to them."
Mark Christopher Lee, the film's director, shared further insight into Loeb's speculation.
"Loeb proposes that it's likely to be some form of AI because why would you send flesh and blood creatures?" Lee said.
"That means there's a possibility that their AI could just connect with AI and bypass humans, which is a bit scary to think about. Loeb suggests that the alien AI may feel a kinship with ours — or our AI may imitate the alien AI and become like them."
Loeb is currently on an expedition to the Pacific Ocean in search of an object that crashed near Papua New Guinea from outside the Earth's solar system in 2014.
"He's on his way now. He's about to do the first part of the expedition this summer to see if the object is manufactured," Lee said.
"We're hoping that he is going to find something rather than wait around for the American government to hand over stuff which might or might not exist," he added.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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