Aliens that get in touch with earth are more likely to be MACHINES than bug-eyed creatures, expert claims
Extraterrestrials that are intelligent enough to reach us 'would have become mechanised beings' to beat disease and hunger
ALIENS are more likely to be MACHINES than biological creatures, an expert has claimed.
Any extraterrestrial civilisations intelligent enough to make contact with earth will probably have turned themselves into mechanised creatures to defeat disease and hunger, veteran alien hunter Seth Shostak said.
It means our classic interpretation of aliens with round heads and human-like bodies could be way off.
Shostak pointed to the way humanity has advanced from the invention of the radio at around the turn of the last century to now, where computers are being developed that can outsmart people.
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"Any society that invents radio so we can hear them, within a few centuries they've invented their successors", he told a space conference in San Francisco.
"I think that's important, because the successors are machines."
And he predicted that the same thing will happen to HUMANS in the next few hundred years,reports.
The astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in California said scientists will soon be able to create human life in machine form.
"Once you invent a thinking machine, you say, 'Invent something better than you are,' and you build that.
"'Design something better than you are,' and you build that, and so forth," he said.
His theory means that alien lifeforms getting in touch with Earth would most likely be machines -- because they do not need food or other chemicals to survive long journeys across space.
"This is my message to you: We're looking for analogues of ourselves, but I don't know that that's the majority of the intelligence in the universe", he said.
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