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National
Sounak Mukhopadhyay

Elon Musk says we’re in big trouble if aliens visit Earth; he explains why

Elon Musk speaks during a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas. (Photo by JIM WATSON / AFP) (AFP)

According to Musk, if there are no aliens, then what humans have on Earth is extremely rare. He referred to the Fermi Paradox, named after Nobel Prize-winning Physicist Enrico Fermi. ‘Where are the aliens?’ is a question that the Fermi Paradox attempts to address.

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According to the theory, aliens should have previously visited Earth given that our solar system is relatively young compared to the rest of the universe (13.8 billion years vs. 4.5 billion) and that interstellar travel would be possible given enough time.

The aforementioned statements were reportedly uttered by Fermi in 1950 during a casual lunch talk. And, ever since then, astrobiologists and other scientists have been baffled by the implications.

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Elon Musk went on to say in the interview that he had never seen any hard evidence on aliens. On that, he was asked about his take on Unidentified flying objects (UFOs). He explained that those could be related to classified military programmes. Even if someone who belongs to the army happens to catch such an UFO, they won’t be briefed about it - he added.

If aliens visited Earth, humans would be in real trouble - Musk said. He explained why. If they manage to visit Earth, it means they are in possession of much greater technology. Then, “we’re at their mercy," he said.

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“If they got spaceships that can get from other star systems to here, we don’t have anything like that. Basically, we’re hopeless. We’d just be like children or somethin," Musk added.

The world’s richest man was then asked about an odd assertion earlier made by a former American government adviser, who claimed that former US President Dwight Eisenhower had encountered aliens at least three times in 1954 at a distant air base in New Mexico. The adviser also claimed that there were “many witnesses" of the said encounters.

“Eisenhower did not have meetings with aliens," Musk seemingly rubbished the claim as saying.

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