Aliens Quote by Carl Sagan
““Occasionally, I get a letter from someone who is in “contact” with extraterrestrials. I am invited to “ask them anything.” And so over the years I’ve prepared a little list of questions. The extraterrestrials are very advanced, remember. So I ask things like, “Please provide a short proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.” Or the Goldbach Conjecture. And then I have to explain what these are, because extraterrestrials will not call it Fermat’s Last Theorem. So I write out the simple equation with the exponents. I never get an answer. On the other hand, if I ask something like “Should we be good?” I almost always get an answer.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, Carl Sagan, 1995
The speaker notes that extraterrestrials respond to moral questions but not to complex mathematical problems, highlighting a gap between ethical and technical communication.
In simple terms: Aliens answer moral queries, not math problems.
Key Takeaway
Focus on ethical dialogue with unknown intelligences.
Themes
communication
ethics
unknown intelligence
science
humor
Mood
curious
playful
thoughtful
Type
anecdotal
philosophical
humorous
When to use this quote
- asking moral questions
- science outreach
- public speaking
- writing speculative fiction
Key Concepts
philosophy of mind
epistemology
SETI
Questions to Reflect On
- What does this suggest about the nature of intelligence?
- How should we frame questions to unknown beings?
A Different Perspective
Extraterrestrials may lack interest or context for human mathematical constructs.
![“A reply to Olbers' attempt in 1816 to entice him to work on Fermat's Theorem. I confess that Fermat's Theorem as an isolated proposition has very little interest for me, because I could easily lay down a multitude of such propositions, which one could neither prove nor dispose of. []” quote by Carl Friedrich Gauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/026/carl-friedrich-gauss-9412_fermat_a-reply-to-olbers-attempt-in-1816-to-ent_2675593.jpg)
![“Before beginning [to try to prove Fermat's Last Theorem] I should have to put in three years of intensive study, and I haven't that much time to squander on a probable failure.” quote by David Hilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b4f/david-hilbert-12585_education_before-beginning-to-try-to-prove-fermat_2395986.jpg)
![“[ When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 :] If ‘fulfilled prophecy’ is your criterion, why do you not believe in materialistic science, which has an unparalleled record of fulfilled prophecy? Consider, for example, eclipses.” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/875/carl-sagan-160_belief_when-a-religious-couple-wrote-to-sagan-a_25095.jpg)
