Hackers from outer space ate my brain
• UFOs & Bogus Science
It has been an uncommonly slow time for crank news.
I remember seeing at least one Z grade movie that exploited this fear. The article itself is only mildly silly but will surely inspire zany items that will find their way here. I'm reminded of Independence Day: wasn't it handy that the mean aliens had a compatible operating system and hardware with the hero's computer. Just imagine, earth might have died if they'd been using Linux and Goldblum Windows 98.
Add one more worry to the computerized world of the 21st century. Could a signal from the stars broadcast by an alien intelligence also carry harmful information, in the spirit of a computer virus? Could star folk launch a "disinformation" campaign -- one that covers up aspects of their culture? Perhaps they might even mask the "real" intent of dispatching a message to other civilizations scattered throughout the Cosmos.
These are concerns that deserve attention explains Richard Carrigan, Jr., a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Those engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), he contends, should think about decontaminating potential SETI signals.
The so-called "SETI Hacker" hypothesis, Carrigan argues, is an issue of interstellar discourse that should be taken seriously. We should exercise caution when handling SETI downloads, he said.
Keeping Watch for Interstellar Computer Viruses
Via MeriBlog