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244 Dangers mass from uninhabited planets or stars, the intentional or accidental destruction of a biological society would be unlikely. Destruction is destruction, even if it is not intentional. Cade observed that mechanical superintelligences might show a great acquisitiveness for mass and energy and might migrate from planet to planet to fulfill their needs. In the event of a superintelligent machine deciding on a major change of environment, it might regard the biological society that had served it with no more consideration than a brewer gives to colonies of yeast when they have served their purpose in a brewery." There is no limit to the kinds of threats one can imagine given treachery on their part and gullibility on ours. Appropriate security measures and a healthy degree of suspicion are the only weapons. nn as 197912 Deep within the human psyche is a reservoir of fear about contact with other intelligent beings in outer space, Donald Tarter warned. Should the search succeed, it is likely to give plausibility to a topic that most now per- ceive as incredible."* It is not only paranoids who worry about the possible risks of contact. After a National Academy of Sciences report claimed that contact would be beneficial, an editorial in The New York Times warned that the astrono- mers were “boyishly defiant” of our inherited wisdom. Questioning the assumption of benign intent, the editorial observed that “in the days when saber-toothed tigers prowled the night, humans acquired a healthy instinct: fear of the dark.” Noting the fate of the American Indians, the newspaper cautioned that “astronomers should take care not to stir up extragalactic Alana tigers.” Others have issued similar warnings. “The civilization that blurts out its existence on interstellar beacons at the first opportunity,” declared Rood, “might be like some early hominid descending from the trees and calling ‘Here kitty’ to a saber-toothed tiger.”"* Bracewell foresaw a fearful reaction if we found an object of alien origin inside our solar system or heading our way. “I don’t see how you can avoid having a lot of apprehension. There would certainly be pressure to attack the thing... . But it might be dangerous to do that, because I don’t believe that we would find any space ship that had taken the trouble to come all this way and was not armed.” AUS. Congressional Research Service report had cautioned us 30 years ago: “Although it is tempting to hypothesize that any civilization advanced enough to have conquered the difficulties of interstellar flight would have overcome the petty differences that spawn wars, that civilization might not Yes, There Are Dangers —Project Cyclops, 1972”