Curious Kids: We have been trying to contact aliens – but do they want to contact us?

By Jacco van Loon, Astrophysicist and Director of Keele Observatory, Keele University

Humans have been trying to contact aliens for many years, but do the aliens want to contact us? – Sai, aged eight, London, UK

This is a great question – and the truth is that we don’t know the answer.

For starters, we haven’t found any aliens yet, so we haven’t been able to ask them and receive a reply. When we try to answer the question “do they want to contact us”, we have to put ourselves in their shoes – that is, if they have feet.

The question presumes that aliens do exist. And again, because we haven’t found any yet, we don’t know if they…

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