News the United Nations is poised to appoint an alien ambassador spread like wildfire on the internet Sunday. The job was expected to go to Mazlan Othman. Othman is head of the U.N. Office for Space Affairs. He is also a Malaysian astrophysicist. Othman said on record that it would only happen if it were in reaction to extraterrestrial visitors already come. Rapidly growing discoveries of planets outside the solar system make the possibility of extraterrestrial contact less outrageous than in the recent past. The debate about extraterrestrial life even has Stephan Hawking warning Earth to be wary. But the alien ambassador story turned out to be nothing however the latest Web-spawned wildfire, when Othman doused the flames with a denial via e-mail to a British newspaper.
Why would aliens get to hear from the United Nations?
The story that Mazlan Othman would be appointed the U.N. alien ambassador “broke” within the Sunday Times and spread like a super bug around the world. Othman was quoted by the Sunday Times talking about the search for transmission from aliens. Othman said Earth should have a coordinated response and the U.N. will be the best organization for the job. Othman was said by the Australian to be in Britain in the near future for a scientific conference sponsored by the Royal Society. It said she would be speaking on contacting the aliens at that time.
The quest for alien life
The first extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, was confirmed to exist in 1992. Hundreds of exoplanets were found in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration outer space observatory launched in 2009 called the Kepler Mission. As the odds seem more likely that intelligent alien life may exist, British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking sounded a warning last spring. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Hawking said that instead of seeking the aliens out, mankind should be trying to keep away from getting noticed. A planet with more resources would look like heaven to most aliens. This is probably what would happen. He knows that this is something we all can imagine. Just looking within the mirror can show us the consequences. “We only have to check out ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.”
Ambassadors from space actively playing on earth currently
Othman was the one who started the U.N. extraterrestrial ambassador story. The Guardian was likely tempted to just throw out some articles like else’s. Instead, it looked for facts of the story. The Royal Society got a call from the British newspaper that asked about the speech on alien contact made by Othman. No one there knew anything about it. The Office for Outer Space Affairs questions were all referred someplace else by the U.N. A switchboard in Vienna is where they went. Finally, Othman responded to a Guardian e-mail and burst the U.N. alien ambassador bubble. All she had to say was, “It sounds really cool, but I have to deny it.” There is a real problem that needs to be solved in her speech at the Royal Society. Earth may be colliding with some objects in its rotation soon which can be discussed.
The Australian
theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-un-is-to-appoint-an-astrophysicist-to-be-the-first-contact-for-any-aliens/story-e6frg6so-1225929540635
Sunday Times
timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece
The Guardian
guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/sep/27/un-alien-ambassador-mazlan-othman
