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  Life   More Features  17 Feb 2018  Humans will be happy if aliens come to Earth, finds study

Humans will be happy if aliens come to Earth, finds study

THE ASIAN AGE
Published : Feb 17, 2018, 10:40 am IST
Updated : Feb 17, 2018, 10:40 am IST

Research shows that people are far more positive in their thoughts about meeting extraterrestrials than previously thought.

To explore how people might react, scientists had them read news reports about a number of potential alien discoveries. (Photo: Pixabay)
 To explore how people might react, scientists had them read news reports about a number of potential alien discoveries. (Photo: Pixabay)

A new study now finds that humans will actually be very happy if their home planet is invaded by aliens.

While Hollywood might have created this idea that an alien invasion would be greeted with guns and ammunition by earth, but serious research proves something completely contradictory. In fact the results indicate that ‘earthlings’ are far more positive in their thoughts about meeting extraterrestrials.

Speaking about it, Arizona State University Assistant professor of Psychology Michael Varnum said that people would be pretty upbeat if they came face to face with life outside Earth. He added, “So far, there's been a lot of speculation about how we might respond to this kind of news, but until now, almost no systematic empirical research.”

To explore how people might react, scientists had them read news reports about a number of potential alien discoveries.

Their reactions were very positive, the researchers found.

Subjects said they would be excited even if the life was primitive or happening elsewhere – as any encounter with extraterrestrials is likely to actually be.

Further work had people describe how they thought microbial life would be found on another planet, and how they would react.

Again, the software found that people were more positive about that news than negative.

And additional research looked at one of the most famous pieces of news about the potential of alien life in recent weeks. Scientists had people read about the suggestion that a a rock flying past Earth – known as Oumuamua – could in fact be an alien spacecraft, in news that sounded like something out of science fiction.

It found that people were very excited about that possibility, despite the fact it could mean aliens were headed towards Earth.

Tags: alien life, proof, human reaction, oumuamua, mars, earth, viral and trending