A scientist from one of Russia's leading observatories said he believes that humanity's behavior has seriously damaged any potential relations with aliens, although he thinks the situation is not irreparable, Interfax reported Tuesday.
"Aliens look at us as if we are idiots, undeveloped people," said Sergei Smirnov, spokesman for the prestigious Pulkovo Observatory outside St. Petersburg. "Perhaps they have fenced us in with their own sort of screen for the whole galaxy and are sending warnings to hundreds of billions of stars that the civilization near the Dwarf star, which we call the Sun, is dangerous."
He speculated that any information aliens might give us would be used for destruction.
"It's better not to go near [Earth], because the knowledge you could give humans may be used to create a superbomb or superdrug for their own population," he said.
The scientist said he believes that earthlings exist on other planets and that we will one day meet them, as written about by science fiction novelist Ivan Yefremov, but he admitted that it is a "controversial idea."
"We believe that a few generations of earthlings were born on Mars. Our descendants will be different [to theirs]. Gravity on mars is 2.5 times weaker, which means that their limbs will be weaker and shoulders wider," he added.
Smironov said this could cause problems if the idea of a Milky Way football championship arises.
"The first solar system football championship will be complicated to arrange. Like Arshavin after his experience in Britain — it's harder to move over the earth's soil. And humans will keep kicking over the goal on mars," he predicted.
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