The aliens are gonna kill us all aka Go Green or else!

[jimsmegos]

Just saw this and thought, "Wow, someone got paid to do this research? I think Gene Rodenberry needs to get a cut."

Aliens may destroy humanity to protect other civilisations, say scientists | Science | The Guardian

[Brazoo]

Sounds like they're sensationalizing a paper that was not a joke, but not taking itself super seriously either.

EDIT: To clarify, it's not a research paper, it's a "scenario analysis". They're just gathering all kinds of theories and thinking about each one.

Here's a quote from the opening of the actual paper:

"...many discussions of this question assume that contact will follow a particular scenario that derives from the hopes and fears of the author."

So they're admitting right off the top in a kinda humorous way that they're going to be looking at the hopes and fears that interest them personally.

[Brazoo]

Actually this is a pretty awesome paper! They're comparing a lot of sci-fi references to real world science and figuring out what scenarios are plausible. It's fun stuff!

UFO and Sci-Fi fans will probably really dig it:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1104.4462v2

[Brazoo]

"I think Gene Rodenberry needs to get a cut."

Page 3:

Indeed, an advanced ETI civilization could easily colonize the galaxy to form a Galactic Club among intelligent societies, a concept popular in science fiction (such as the “United Federation of Planets” of Star Trek fame) that in the nonfiction literature dates back at least to Ronald Bracewell [9]

It's awesome - these scientists are just totally nerding out. I love it!

[Brazoo]

Okay - I've scanned through the whole paper - it's hardly focusing on the "green" issue. I know we're not suppose to discuss politics, but no matter which side of that issue you stand on it's pretty hard to say this paper's focus is well represented by that article and it's headline and it implies a fair amount of political bias on the part of The Guardian - in my opinion.

Here's another cool quote as it goes through all the different speculative scenarios:

Alternatively, the ETI could be intentionally invisible. The intentional form of this solution is sometimes known as the Zoo Hypothesis [22] because it implies that ETI are treating Earth like a wildlife preserve to be observed but not fully incorporated into the Galactic Club. This idea has been popularized through the Star Trek series as the “prime directive” for non-interference with a primitive culture.