Monday, September 27, 2010
United Nations Appoints "Space Ambassador" ... or not
News broke today that the United Nations will be appointing a Malaysian astrophysicist as Earth's "ambassador" to alien worlds.
Mazlan Othman is head of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
The appointment is being made because of "the recent discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other starts, which is thought to make the discovery of extraterrestrial life more probable than ever before."
Othman is quoted as saying:
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8025832/UN-to-appoint-space-ambassador-to-greet-alien-visitors.html
Well, this isn't surprising at all, of course, since I noted the United Nations' Outer Space Treaty in a recent blog post: http://uforum.blogspot.com/2010/04/man-who-would-know-about-alien-contact.html
It's interesting that the discovery of more and more planets outside our Solar System is finally making the scientific community think seriously about preparing for what seems to be the inevitable contact with extraterrestrials.
But, when the discovery of a habitable world is announced...
... then what?
BUT... BREAKING NEWS:
It's all a hoax.
A story released today essentially retracted everything!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/sep/27/un-alien-ambassador-mazlan-othman
Of course!
Mazlan Othman is head of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
The appointment is being made because of "the recent discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other starts, which is thought to make the discovery of extraterrestrial life more probable than ever before."
Othman is quoted as saying:
“The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that some day human kind will received signals from extraterrestrials.
“When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination.”
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8025832/UN-to-appoint-space-ambassador-to-greet-alien-visitors.html
Well, this isn't surprising at all, of course, since I noted the United Nations' Outer Space Treaty in a recent blog post: http://uforum.blogspot.com/2010/04/man-who-would-know-about-alien-contact.html
It's interesting that the discovery of more and more planets outside our Solar System is finally making the scientific community think seriously about preparing for what seems to be the inevitable contact with extraterrestrials.
But, when the discovery of a habitable world is announced...
... then what?
BUT... BREAKING NEWS:
It's all a hoax.
A story released today essentially retracted everything!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/sep/27/un-alien-ambassador-mazlan-othman
Of course!
Labels: aliens, astronomy, exibiology, planets, politics, United Nations
# posted by rutkows @ 10:32 AM 
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The story seems to have originated with Jonathan Leake, a reporter who has a history of inaccurately describing the activites of scientists.
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/global_warming/leakegate/
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