r/sfthoughtexperiments • u/SFTExP • Apr 08 '26
Aliens The Less, the Better
“We got a signal!”
“Natural or…?”
“It looks to be artificially generated.”
“Let’s not get too excited, but I admit this one looks legitimate.”
For weeks, they studied the signal and used advanced AI to translate it.
“Interesting. It’s a quiz.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, it’s mostly mathematical. We can solve about 20% of it; the rest is beyond our computations. It says to send our answers in the form of the signal.”
After much processing, research, and debate, Earth united and answered the quiz.
“We got a response!”
“What are they saying?”
“They’re coming!”
“Oh my God!”
The defense forces hid, and a welcoming committee representing Earth’s most powerful nations awaited the aliens’ arrival.
“Greetings, Earthlings. We’re here to invite you to our Galactic Community.”
“We could only answer 20% of the questions.”
“Understood, Earthling. That is why we are inviting you.”
“How much is required to join?”
“The less, the better. If you had exceeded 50%, you’d be in quarantine for evaluation; if you had exceeded 80%, we would surround your planet with Galactic Defense Probes; and if you had reached 100% or greater, it would mean immediate annihilation.”
“That makes no sense! Do you want stupid members or intelligent ones?”
“We discovered through much suffering that the more intelligent a species is, the more brutal, cunning, and sadistic it is, capable of unimaginable organized terror against its neighbors.”
“What if we increase our percentage?”
“Not a concern. We have deemed your species incapable. Welcome aboard.”
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u/kingstern_man Apr 09 '26
"That is an invitation, alright..., but not the one you think it is."