--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is pointless to worry about the…" description: "\"“It is pointless to worry about the possible malevolent intentions of an advanced civilization with whom we might make contact. It is more likely that ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/carl-sagan-160_earth_it-is-pointless-to-worry-about-the-possi_665132.jpg" --- # It is pointless to worry about the possible malevolent… ![“It is pointless to worry about the possible malevolent intentions of an advanced civilization with whom we might make contact. It is more likely that the mere fact they have survived so long means they have learned to live with themselves and others. Perhaps our fears about extraterrestrial…” quote by Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/carl-sagan-160_earth_it-is-pointless-to-worry-about-the-possi_665132.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/carl-sagan-160_earth_it-is-pointless-to-worry-about-the-possi_665132.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3eb/carl-sagan-160_earth_it-is-pointless-to-worry-about-the-possi_665132.jpg) > ““It is pointless to worry about the possible malevolent intentions of an advanced civilization with whom we might make contact. It is more likely that the mere fact they have survived so long means they have learned to live with themselves and others. Perhaps our fears about extraterrestrial contact are merely a projection of our own backwardness, an expression of our guilty conscience about our past history: the ravages that have been visited on civilizations only slightly more backward than we.”” [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Our fear of alien motives reflects our own historical guilt and backwardness. **In simple terms:** Fear of aliens mirrors human guilt. Key Takeaway Reflect on humanity’s past actions. Themes fear humility history Mood thoughtful cautious Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - space diplomacy - education - policy making Key Concepts anthropology cosmology psychology Questions to Reflect On - What does our fear reveal about ourselves? - How can we prepare for contact responsibly? A Different Perspective Human bias may distort alien intentions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Advanced civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advanced-civilization/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Extraterrestrial Contact](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extraterrestrial-contact-5292972/) [Extraterrestrials](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extraterrestrials/) [Fear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fear/) [Fears Extraterrestrial](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fears-extraterrestrial-5292971/) [Guilty conscience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guilty-conscience/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Malevolent Intentions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/malevolent-intentions-5292974/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Possible Malevolent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possible-malevolent-5292973/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ## Related quotes > [Extraterrestrial contact is a real phenomenon. The Vatican is receiving much information about extraterrestrials and their contacts with humans from its Nuncios (embassies) in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corrado-balducci/extraterrestrial-contact-is-a-real-phenomenon-the-vatican-is/) [Corrado Balducci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corrado-balducci/) > [“Or perhaps they are here, but in hiding because of some Lex Galactica , some ethic of noninterference with emerging civilizations. We can imagine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/or-perhaps-they-are-here-but-in-hiding-because-of-some-lex-galactica/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Another of Mack’s patients says that the aliens have been taking eggs from her since she was sexually mature, and that her reproductive system…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/another-of-mack-s-patients-says-that-the-aliens-have-been-taking-eggs/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Just as there are those who accept every UFO report at face value, there are also those who dismiss the idea of alien visitation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/just-as-there-are-those-who-accept-every-ufo-report-at-face-value/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/occasionally-i-get-a-letter-from-someone-who-is-in-contact-with/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Perhaps, in retrospect, there would be little motivation even for malevolent extraterrestrials to attack the Earth; perhaps, after a preliminary survey, they might decide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/perhaps-in-retrospect-there-would-be-little-motivation-even-for/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Even if the aliens are short, dour, and sexually obsessed—if they’re here, I want to know about them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/even-if-the-aliens-are-short-dour-and-sexually-obsessed-if-they-re/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [What can we expect from nations still less advanced in civilization than the Greeks?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-say/what-can-we-expect-from-nations-still-less-advanced-in-civilization/) [Jean-Baptiste Say](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-say/) > [Several days in a row we sighted groups of metallic, saucer-shaped vehicles at great altitudes over the base Germany, 1951 and we tried to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-cooper/several-days-in-a-row-we-sighted-groups-of-metallic-saucer-shaped/) [Gordon Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-cooper/) > [It's worth remembering that all technology leaves a footprint. For example, our own technology is leaving a footprint in terms of global warming, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-davies/it-s-worth-remembering-that-all-technology-leaves-a-footprint-for/) [Paul Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-davies/) > [Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/without-books-history-is-silent-literature-dumb-science-crippled/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [For such an advanced civilization as ours to be without images that are adequate to it is as serious a defect as being without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/for-such-an-advanced-civilization-as-ours-to-be-without-images-that/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [We will never be an advanced civilization as long as rain showers can delay the launching of a space rocket.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/we-will-never-be-an-advanced-civilization-as-long-as-rain-showers-can/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [The tendency of an advanced civilization is in truth monarchy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/the-tendency-of-an-advanced-civilization-is-in-truth-monarchy/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Life on earth is hard. Competition for the necessities of life is fierce. How ridiculous to believe that the law of harsh survival would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-bear/life-on-earth-is-hard-competition-for-the-necessities-of-life-is/) [Greg Bear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-bear/) ## More by Carl Sagan > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The prediction of nuclear winter is drawn not, of course, from any direct experience with the consequences of global nuclear war, but rather from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-prediction-of-nuclear-winter-is-drawn-not-of-course-from-any/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-suppression-of-uncomfortable-ideas-may-be-common-in-religion-or/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Telepathy’ literally means to feel at a distance, just as ‘telephone’ is to hear at a distance and ‘television’ is to see at a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/telepathy-literally-means-to-feel-at-a-distance-just-as-telephone-is/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“On the scale of worlds—to say nothing of stars or galaxies—humans are inconsequential, a thin film of life on an obscure and solitary lump…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/on-the-scale-of-worlds-to-say-nothing-of-stars-or-galaxies-humans-are/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/every-one-of-us-is-in-the-cosmic-perspective-precious-if-a-human/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [In our time, we have sifted the sands of Mars, we have established a presence there, we have fulfilled a century of dreams!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/in-our-time-we-have-sifted-the-sands-of-mars-we-have-established-a/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [ “\[ When a religious couple wrote to Sagan about fulfilled prophecies, he wrote back in May 1996 :\] If ‘fulfilled prophecy’ is your criterion,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/when-a-religious-couple-wrote-to-sagan-about-fulfilled-prophecies-he/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Don't judge everyone else by your own limited experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/don-t-judge-everyone-else-by-your-own-limited-experience/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors. The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/books-permit-us-to-voyage-through-time-to-tap-the-wisdom-of-our/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [We live on a hunk of rock and metal that circles a humdrum star that is one of 400 billion other stars that make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/we-live-on-a-hunk-of-rock-and-metal-that-circles-a-humdrum-star-that/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [A tiny blue dot set in a sunbeam. Here it is. That's where we live. That's home. We humans are one species and this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/a-tiny-blue-dot-set-in-a-sunbeam-here-it-is-that-s-where-we-live-that/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Any sufficiently crisp question can be answered by a single binary digit-0 or 1, yes or no.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/any-sufficiently-crisp-question-can-be-answered-by-a-single-binary/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Humans — who enslave, castrate, experiment on, and fillet other animals — have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/humans-who-enslave-castrate-experiment-on-and-fillet-other-animals/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [Every star may be a sun to someone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/every-star-may-be-a-sun-to-someone/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) [Explore all 1,043 Carl Sagan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) ## More Advanced civilization quotes > [Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/without-books-history-is-silent-literature-dumb-science-crippled/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [Life on earth is hard. Competition for the necessities of life is fierce. How ridiculous to believe that the law of harsh survival would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-bear/life-on-earth-is-hard-competition-for-the-necessities-of-life-is/) [Greg Bear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-bear/) > [The tendency of an advanced civilization is in truth monarchy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/the-tendency-of-an-advanced-civilization-is-in-truth-monarchy/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [We will never be an advanced civilization as long as rain showers can delay the launching of a space rocket.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-carlin/we-will-never-be-an-advanced-civilization-as-long-as-rain-showers-can/) [George Carlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-carlin/) > [For such an advanced civilization as ours to be without images that are adequate to it is as serious a defect as being without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/werner-herzog/for-such-an-advanced-civilization-as-ours-to-be-without-images-that/) [Werner Herzog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/werner-herzog/) > [It's worth remembering that all technology leaves a footprint. For example, our own technology is leaving a footprint in terms of global warming, which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-davies/it-s-worth-remembering-that-all-technology-leaves-a-footprint-for/) [Paul Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-davies/) > [Several days in a row we sighted groups of metallic, saucer-shaped vehicles at great altitudes over the base Germany, 1951 and we tried to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gordon-cooper/several-days-in-a-row-we-sighted-groups-of-metallic-saucer-shaped/) [Gordon Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gordon-cooper/) > [What can we expect from nations still less advanced in civilization than the Greeks?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-say/what-can-we-expect-from-nations-still-less-advanced-in-civilization/) [Jean-Baptiste Say](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-baptiste-say/) > [Cardinal Arithmetics is much older than Number Theory. People used to exchange things way before there were numbers. Expressing numbers like 762 is already…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saharon-shelah/cardinal-arithmetics-is-much-older-than-number-theory-people-used-to/) [Saharon Shelah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saharon-shelah/) > [Lying under an acacia tree with the sound of the dawn around me, I realized more clearly the facts that man should never overlook:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lindbergh/lying-under-an-acacia-tree-with-the-sound-of-the-dawn-around-me-i/) [Charles Lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lindbergh/) > [“Being a noninvasive advanced civilization was the biggest mistake of Batak Kingdom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/being-a-noninvasive-advanced-civilization-was-the-biggest-mistake-of/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [The statistics of life out there and the statistics of intelligent beings and advanced civilization is a certainty, the way I look at it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/story-musgrave/the-statistics-of-life-out-there-and-the-statistics-of-intelligent/) [Story Musgrave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/story-musgrave/) > [It seems to me far more likely that an advanced civilization would communicate inter dimensionally and telepathically.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/it-seems-to-me-far-more-likely-that-an-advanced-civilization-would/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [“it could be accurately stated that one purpose of our lives, when taken in total, is to generate possible solutions to obstacles and problems,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-j-solomon/it-could-be-accurately-stated-that-one-purpose-of-our-lives-when/) [Mark J. Solomon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-j-solomon/) > [“Review history, visionaries advanced our civilization. Without them, we'd have been still in a barbaric and chaotic world. Thank you!!!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/assegid-habtewold/review-history-visionaries-advanced-our-civilization-without-them-we/) [Assegid Habtewold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/assegid-habtewold/) [Browse all 20 Advanced civilization quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/advanced-civilization/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It is pointless to worry about the possible malevolent intentions of an advanced civilization with whom we might make contact. It is more likely that the mere fact they have survived so long means they have learned to live with themselves and others. 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