There have been 20-30 major Hollywood alien apocalypse movies released in the last year or so, and more are on the way. They’re unavoidable. Some of them are cataloged here, but there are almost too many to count. As such, it’s no wonder that scientists have hostile aliens on the brain. Several researchers have released a study that says there is a good chance aliens will come and wipe us out if they think we’re irresponsible, expanding too quickly, or a number of other reasons, reports the IB Times. The researchers point to humanity’s own history of hostility toward unfamiliar humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas as evidence.  

“Just as we did to those beings, the extraterrestrials might proceed to kill, infect, dissect, conquer, displace or enslave us, stuff us as specimens for their museums or pickle our skulls and use us for medical research,” says the study, published in the journal Acta Astronautica.

Another argument is that, by nature, if we contact aliens through programs like SETI, which will be relaunching in September, the aliens we contact will have to be more technologically advanced than us to even communicate properly. And if they have more advanced technology than us, they could come to harm us. 

“A core concern is that ETI will learn of our presence and quickly travel to Earth to eat or enslave us,” says the study.

But what has really changed since programs like SETI began? Well there are more of us, but that’s about it. There will always be remote danger in discovering something (or someone) you don’t know. That’s science. Honestly, we think the only real danger here is in how much time scientists are spending watching the trailer for Battleship. Perhaps Hollywood is taking its toll. 

(P.S. If you meet an alien, please don’t tell it that we’re planning on leaving earth anytime soon. Also, show it that you are compassionate and recycle. And whatever you do, don’t show it Avatar. Maybe then it won’t kill us all.)