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Apprentice comments on Extraterrestrial paperclip maximizers - Less Wrong
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If communication is practical and travel is not then that may be in argument in favor of attempting contact. Friendly aliens could potentially be very helpful to us simply by communicating some information. It's harder (but by no means impossible) to see how unfriendly aliens could cause us harm by communicating with us.
I don't think it's even that hard. Presumably an arbitrarily stronger intelligence could build arbitrarily subtle disaster-making flaws into whatever "helpful" technology/science it gives us. They could even have a generalized harmful sensation, as was discussed in another thread recently.
See the first chapter of Vinge's "A Fire Upon the Deep" for an example of arbitrarily subtle disaster-making flaws.
It's difficult to see how contact with aliens will not cause harm for some. Regardless of the content, mere knowledge of aliens will presumably cause many individuals to abandon their world-views. Not that the net result will be negative, but there will be world-wide societal consequences.