Following NASA’s recent announcement about the discovery of seven exoplanets, three of which could potentially support life, homeowners have began to wonder whether their homes and possessions would be protected should damage be caused by life entering our planet.
David King, product expert at home, motor and life insurance firm Budget Insurance commented, “Our standard terms and conditions cover a wide range of eventualities, but don’t currently stretch to damage caused by alien life forms travelling to Earth. However, who knows what may happen in the future? To be on the safe side, we’re opening a waiting list for customers who’d be keen to take out anti-alien damage cover should the need arise”.
Insurance cover is just one of many “what would we do?” type questions posed by humans in the event of receiving visitors from another planet. How would we communicate with them? How would the governments around the world react?
This year’s Oscar-winning film Arrival (on Blu-ray and DVD from 20th March) touches upon how humans would respond to an alien visit; when 12 spacecrafts land around the world, each country brings in a team of experts in a bid to be the first to learn of the new race and communicate with those on board. The U.S. pairs expert linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) with Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) – a theoretical physicist and mathematician – to try and decipher the alien language.
But is this how we would deal with an alien visit in real life? Nick Pope – who used to run the British Government’s UFO Project and is one of the world’s leading experts on UFOs, the unexplained and conspiracy theories – seems to think so.
“If aliens arrived on Earth the government would immediately put together a group of experts to decide what to do next: scientists, academics, and – in case things get unpleasant – senior military personnel” Pope commented. “We’d be interested in their science and technology, but also in the more abstract things: their art, literature, philosophy, and perhaps even their poetry. The government would be particularly interested in the spacecraft: the propulsion system, the energy source and, sad to say, the weapons – assuming they have any.”
Pope also sheds light on why each country notably wanted to be the “first” to crack the language in Arrival: “Governments all around the world would scramble to be the first to acquire extraterrestrial technology, because the first nation to get hold of it would be the dominant power on Earth for the foreseeable future, making this the ultimate high-stakes game”.
Intrigue in the new species put aside, would the UK government be concerned with humanity’s welfare should aliens decide to pay us a visit? “The government would be petrified about an alien arrival” Pope said. “One moment you’re top dog, then there’s a new kid on the block: bigger than you, twice as strong and ten times as smart. History shows us that when a more technologically advanced civilisation encounters a less technologically advanced one, it doesn’t end well for the latter. If we’re visited by aliens, humanity could be in big trouble.”
With this in mind – insuring our assets may be the least of our worries, but let’s hope an alien visit provides a friendlier outcome so an insurance add-on could be a sensible way to go forth!
For further informaiton on Arrival please contact:
Stephen Hart
Stephen.Hart@organic-publicity.co.uk
0203 372 0989
Gemma Sharp
Gemma.Sharp@organic-publicity.co.uk
0203 435 9633
For further information on Budget Insurance please contact:
Notes to Editors
About Entertainment One
Entertainment One Ltd. (LSE:ETO) is a leading international entertainment company that specializes in the acquisition, production and distribution of film and television content. The company’s comprehensive network extends around the globe including Canada, the U.S., the UK, Ireland, Spain, Benelux, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South Korea. Through established Film and Television divisions, the company provides extensive expertise in film distribution, television and music production, family programming, merchandising and licensing, and digital content. Its current rights library is exploited across all media formats and includes more than 40,000 film and television titles, 4,500 hours of television programming and 45,000 music tracks.
About Budget Insurance:
To date, Budget Insurance has helped almost 3 million customers across the country find great value home, car, van and life insurance products. For motor and home insurance policies Budget works with a UK network of leading insurers and for Life Insurance policies with a selected insurer so customers can be sure they’re getting great cover, at a great price. Budget Insurance’s comprehensive car and van insurance has been awarded a 5 Star Rating by Defaqto
About BGL Group:
BGL Group is a leading digital distributor of household finance products to more than 8.5 million customers. The Group is organised in two divisions: Price Comparison and Insurance Distribution and Outsourcing (IDO).
The Price Comparison division offers customers access to a growing range of Car, Home insurance and breadth products (including Life, Travel, Energy and Pet insurance as well as Utilities and Money products). comparethemarket.com is one of the UK’s largest and most popular price comparison sites and LesFurets.com is a leading player in the French market.
In IDO, our partnerships business, Junction, provides car and home insurance through some of the UK’s most well-known brands including M&S Bank, O2, Lloyds Bank and the Post Office; BeagleStreet.com offers life insurance through its simple, fast, online process; and our own insurance brands, Budget and Dial Direct offer tailored Car, Home, Life and Van insurance products all supported by our state of the art contact centres.
comparethemarket.com, Dial Direct and Budget are trading names of BISL Limited and BeagleStreet.com is a trading name of BGL Direct Life Limited. BISL Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. BGL Direct Life Limited is an Appointed Representative of BISL Limited. Both entities are subsidiaries of BGL Group Limited. Registered Address: Pegasus House, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, PE2 6YS. Registered in England no 02593690. More details are available on www.bglgroup.co.uk.