Harvard professor proposes to make a treaty with aliens.
Harvard professor proposes in Scientific American to avoid cosmic catastrophe by making a treaty with advanced alien civilization.
· archived 5/18/2026, 12:39:25 AMscreenshotcached html Harvard professor proposes to make a treaty with aliens. We use cookies to improve your experience on creation.com and related sites. Privacy PolicyUnderstood Explore ArticlesMagazinesStoreEventsMediaDonateOther Languages SEARCH Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit LinkedIn Gmail Email App Print Alien Treaty by Lucien Tuinstra To whom do we give the pen, to sign the treaty? I am a Dutchman living in the United Kingdom; an alien in a strange land (Exodus 18:3, KJV). However, this article is not about me, nor the UK. This is an extra-terrestrial matter. Harvard tenured (astro)physicist Prof Abraham Loeb has published an article in Scientific American called, “How to Avoid a Cosmic Catastrophe”.1 In it, he describes his proposal to sign an interstellar treaty with other advanced civilizations. The idea of an other-worldly threat is not new: former USA president Ronald Reagan addressing the United Nations said, “I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.”2 Former USA president Ronald Reagan. Why would another civilization pose a threat and plan to do us harm? Perhaps we know ourselves only too well and we are inclined to project our qualities (or shortcomings) on others. Can we ascribe any form of morality to an evolved (extra-terrestrial) race? If we evolved—and we are moral beings—then surely the same should apply to further advanced civilizations. Does that make sense though? CMI has written numerous times on the irrationality of matter producing metaphysical concepts, such as morality, consciousness, love, information, etc. The Scientific American article starts with the word ‘imagine’; let that sink in for a moment. A more pertinent question that should arise beforehand is this: Are we sure that we are not ‘alone’? His postulations are mainly full of appeals to unknowns or hypotheticals. Loeb states the treaty would be “similar to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, signed first in 1963 by the governments of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.”1 On the contrary, signing peace treaties with a civilization that we have not communicated with, much less are at war with, seems rather different. Why not first focus on establishing peace on earth? Or might this be a ploy to achieve just that; if we all have a common enemy, we might get along better ourselves (in line with what president Reagan said)? If we have to imagine something (unseen), is it then not part of faith? The Scientific American article starts with the word ‘imagine’; let that sink in for a moment. We are to imagine “a highly advanced civilization [that] could generate electron collisions at Planck energies within its home planetary system”. Loeb does not request the reader to imagine the Oort cloud—containing “a billion objects bigger than the size of Manhattan island”3—even though not a single observation has been made of this (not very scientific either). Ditto for ‘dark energy’, which is stated as fact. Lastly, we are to thank ‘kind Mother Nature’, as “accelerated cosmic expansion will carry away from us all the risky Planck colliders within distant galaxies”. This implies that ultimately the imagined evil-meaning civilizations (a contradiction in terms) will move away from us together with their threatening technologies. Only ‘local’ aliens would remain in the ‘neighbourhood’. Surely, after alleged millions of years, they would have obliterated us by now if they wanted to (and actually existed). It is good to be pro-active and prepared in life, but instead of worrying about alien enemies, people should be prepared for the inevitable arrival of the last enemy—death—by accepting the gift of everlasting life through Jesus. One should keep in mind that at the root of all this speculation is the belief that a big bang produced a billions-of-years-old universe that must have produced countless worlds and ‘older’, more evolved and technologically advanced civilizations than our own. In short, ET needed evolution. Is there even intelligent, sentient life on other worlds as part of God’s Creation? We don’t think so. See CMI’s position in our article Did God create life on other planets? Conclusion It is good to be pro-active and prepared in life, but instead of worrying about alien enemies, people should be prepared for the inevitable arrival of the last enemy—death (1 Corinthians 15:26)—by accepting the gift of everlasting life through Jesus. Now that is a treaty: Christians know that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)! Published: 27 July 2021References and notes Loeb, A., How to Avoid a Cosmic Catastrophe: An interstellar treaty with other advanced civilizations could stave off death by domain wall, scientificamerican.com, 23 May 2021. Return to text. Speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Forty-second session, “Provisional Verbatim Record of the Fourth Meeting”, September 21, 1987. Return to text. KTLA 5, Was Earth visited by intelligent life? Astrophysicist Avi Loeb believes it was, youtube.com (19:00), 22 March 2021. Return to text. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit LinkedIn Gmail Email App Print Related Articles Did God create life on other planets?Global warming might become an ‘alien agenda’ Out of this world!Prepare ye the way—the aliens are coming! Part twoFurther ReadingAliens (multiple articles)Related Media The War of the Worlds Comes Down to Earth What about UFOs and Aliens? Aliens and Life in 'Outer Space'! Alien Intrusion [Official Movie Trailer] #1 Alien Intrusion [Official Movie Trailer] #2 Preview of Alien Intrusion: Unmasking A Deception (Impact of UFOs on U.S. Presidents) Helpful Resources Alien Intrusion by Gary Bates US $16.00 Soft Cover Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a deception DVD US $12.00 DVD Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a Deception sleeved DVD US $5.00 Sleeved DVD Are we being visited by extra-terrestrials? by Dr Don Batten and Gary Bates US $0.75 Soft Cover UFOs and Aliens comic US $2.50 Soft Cover Readers’ comments Read more comments Comments are automatically closed 14 days after publication. Feedback Guidelines Be constructive & courteous. Don't attack individuals, denominations, or other organizations. Stay on-topic. We're not here to debate matters like eschatology, baptism, or Bible translation. Links to external sites and articles will be removed from your submission. Privacy & Content Ownership Comments become the property of Creation Ministries International upon submission and may be edited for brevity and clarity. CMI may choose not to publish your comment depending on how well it fits the guidelines outlined above. By submitting your comment you are agreeing to receive email updates from Creation Ministries International. You may unsubscribe at any time. CMI records your real name, email address, and country as a sign of good faith. Privacy Policy If your comment is published, your name will be displayed as "" Cancel Accept & Continue Close Close Events near Dallas 5 Mar 2023 Acton Baptist Church Granbury, TX 76049 9:00am More events Email Newsletter Email First Name Last Name Why? Providing your postcode enables us to let you know when a speaking event is in your area. Postcode Country -- Loading -- -- Loading -- Additionally, please send the creation.com article-of-the-day to my inbox each day (optional) Submit Privacy Policy Error Processing Submission It appears you've already subscribed! We've just sent you an email that will allow you to update your details. Thanks for subscribing Check your email! (If you haven’t received your first email within a few minutes, try checking your spam folder.) The Genesis Academy: A 12-part teaching series on Genesis 1–11 This excellent resource contains 12 DVDs (each 30-40 min. long) that explore the biblical and scientific truths of the Bible’s opening chapters. The series lays a vital foundation for understanding both the world around us, and the Gospel itself. A FREE downloadable study guide is available from creation.com/tga See Preview / Buy now Helpful Resources Alien Intrusion by Gary Bates US $16.00 Soft Cover Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a deception DVD US $12.00 DVD Alien Intrusion: Unmasking a Deception sleeved DVD US $5.00 Sleeved DVD Are we being visited by extra-terrestrials? by Dr Don Batten and Gary Bates US $0.75 Soft Cover UFOs and Aliens comic US $2.50 Soft Cover You are leaving CREATION.com We have supplied this link to an article on an external website in good faith. But we cannot assume responsibility for, nor be taken as endorsing in any way, any other content or links on any such site. Even the article we are directing you to could, in principle, change without notice on sites we do not control. I'm going I'll stay The Bible declares: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 200K+ INFObyters 10.6K+ FEEDERS 6k+ FOLLOWERS 84K+ FANS 17K+ FOLLOWERS 2M+ YOUTUBE VIEWS About What We BelieveWhat We AreWhat We DoWho We AreOur LogoContact Articles Latest ArticlesMagazine ArchiveJournal ArchiveFeedback ArchiveBook ReviewsStudy GuidesCreation for KidsOther LanguagesParent's Corner Events Request an EventMinistry ProgramsSpeaker BiosInternational EventsEvent Calendar Multimedia Media CenterMedia TopicsTrailersCreation.com TalkCreation Magazine LiveArticle PodcastRadio Spots Store BooksMediaMagazinesMiscellaneousClearancePacksSpecialsFree Resources Topics Q&A Creation TopicsHow old is the earth?Creation ScientistsArguments creationists should not useQuotable Quotes Affiliated Sites Alien IntrusionBiblical geology & earth scienceBiblical GeneticsCreation Book PublishersOther helpful sites Creation Ministries International (CMI) exists to support the effective proclamation of the Gospel by providing credible answers that affirm the reliability of the Bible, in particular its Genesis history. CMI has offices in Australia, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, United Kingdom, South Africa and United States of America. ©2023 Creation Ministries International. Privacy Policy 15281 Change Settings Change Country -- Loading -- -- Loading -- City / Postal Code Why? Change Language -- Loading -- -- Loading -- Loading...