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[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Biological_universe.jpg|right|frame]]

[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Biological_universe.jpg|right|frame]]

[[Science fiction]] has envisaged the possibility of everything from kind, wise, and even cute [['''extraterrestrial''']]s, like ET, to utterly malicious, scheming monsters, like Giger's Alien. On [[balance]], ever since H. G. Wells unleashed his marauding Martians (see ''War of the Worlds'', [[novel]]), the fictional creatures from "out there" have tended to be of the usurping, death-ray variety - not surprisingly, since this makes for a more compelling plot. But if we do encounter other [[intelligences]] among the stars, will they in reality prove to be friendly or hostile?  

[[Science fiction]] has envisaged the possibility of everything from kind, wise, and even cute '''extraterrestrial'''s, like ET, to utterly malicious, scheming monsters, like Giger's Alien. On [[balance]], ever since H. G. Wells unleashed his marauding Martians (see ''War of the Worlds'', [[novel]]), the fictional creatures from "out there" have tended to be of the usurping, death-ray variety - not surprisingly, since this makes for a more compelling plot. But if we do encounter other [[intelligences]] among the stars, will they in reality prove to be friendly or hostile?  

==Sci-Fi & Sci==

==Sci-Fi & Sci==

A poll conducted for [http://www.planetary.org/home/ The Planetary Society] by the [http://maristpoll.marist.edu/ Marist Institute] in 1998 suggested that 86% of Americans who think there is life on other planets believe it will be friendly (see opinion polls, about extraterrestrials). Similar optimism has been expressed by many scientists who have figured prominently in the search for extraterrestrial life, including Frank Drake, Philip Morrison, Carl Sagan, and Ronald Bracewell. An argument in favor of alien beneficence is that any [[race]] which has managed to survive the kind of global crises currently facing [[humanity]] (and which presumably confront all technological species at some stage in their development) is likely to have resolved the sources of conflict we still have on Earth (see extraterrestrial civilizations, hazards to). Morrison, for instance, doubted that advanced societies "crush out any competitive form of intelligence, especially when there is clearly no danger." Similarly, Arthur C. Clarke has stated that:

A poll conducted for [http://www.planetary.org/home/ The Planetary Society] by the [http://maristpoll.marist.edu/ Marist Institute] in 1998 suggested that 86% of Americans who think there is life on other planets believe it will be friendly (see opinion polls, about extraterrestrials). Similar optimism has been expressed by many scientists who have figured prominently in the search for extraterrestrial life, including Frank Drake, Philip Morrison, Carl Sagan, and Ronald Bracewell. An argument in favor of alien beneficence is that any [[race]] which has managed to survive the kind of global crises currently facing [[humanity]] (and which presumably confront all technological species at some stage in their development) is likely to have resolved the sources of conflict we still have on Earth (see extraterrestrial civilizations, hazards to). Morrison, for instance, doubted that advanced societies "crush out any competitive form of intelligence, especially when there is clearly no danger." Similarly, Arthur C. Clarke has stated that: