Physicist Michio Kaku Says Humans Will Come into Contact with Aliens within This Century

Human beings will make contact with aliens by the end of the century, but communication can run the range between hostile to pacifist, according to theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku.

It is also not known if we will be able to communicate directly with this extraterrestrial society, he said recently in a Reddit AMA.

Questions about hyperspace, the physics of the impossible, or THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY? Ask Me Anything on @reddit_AMA at https://t.co/u0wkNy7l9b, today @ 4:30 pm ET. #reddit #AskMichioKakuAnything pic.twitter.com/ACMAjv4ncL

— Dr. Michio Kaku (@michiokaku) February 21, 2018

Kaku said we would make contact with an alien civilization by listening in on their radio communications.

But actually talking to them will be difficult, he added, since they could be tens of light years away. “So, in the meantime, we must decipher their language to understand their level of technology. Are they Type I, II, or III??? [These represent three categories in the Kardashev scale, measuring technological achievement in civilizations based on their level of energy use for communication.] And what are their intentions. Are they expansive and aggressive, or peaceful?" he said.

"Another possibility is that they land on the White House lawn and announce their existence. But I think that is unlikely, since we would be like forest animals to them, i.e. not worth communicating with."

"Another possibility is that they land on the White House lawn and announce their existence. But I think that is unlikely, since we would be like forest animals to them, i.e. not worth communicating with."

Futurists and theoretical physicists have so far come up with different ideas for when and how humans could make contact with extraterrestrials. One astronomer has calculated that it would happen within 1,500 years, with another predicting we will find intelligent alien life by 2040.

Many scientists and thinkers have so far warned about the risks involved in terms of interacting with aliens. Famous physicist Stephen Hawking has said that intelligent aliens would not shy away from getting rid of the human race. However, a recent survey suggests humans would not be harmed by alien interlopers.

Aliens are likely to have 3 main traits

By radio communications, Kaku is probably talking about what space hunters call narrow-band signals, or those that are spread over only a very small part of the radio extent of the electromagnetic spectrum.

A Reddit user asked Kaku how much more advanced an alien society might be morally and philosophically.

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In his response, he emphasized the fact we could be insignificant for them, “I get asked if the aliens are evil and want to destroy us. Maybe, but I think in the main they will be peaceful because they have had thousands of years to resolve sectarian, fundamentalist, nationalist questions. However, they still might be dangerous if they simply don’t care about us and we get in the way. In War of the Worlds, the aliens did not hate us. We were simply in the way. In the same way that a developer is a threat to forest animals because he can pave the first, the danger there is from someone who sees that we are just in the way. But for the most part, I think they will be peaceful, but view us like we view forest animals.”

In his new book "The Future of Humanity", Kaku describes what these aliens might be like, based on interviews with experts in exobiology. According to this description, they are likely to have three traits: stereovision, which is needed to hunt, grasping appendages like opposable thumbs, and their own language.