I realize you can just answer, “mysterious aliens beyond our understanding,” but why would a space probe have a mandate of either talk to a whale for 30 seconds or destroy Earth and disable everything in its path on the way to Earth?
Why? What does that achieve?
What good did the last russian lunar probe do when it cratered into the surface a few months back?
If the builders didn’t know it would do that and weren’t in real-time control then it may have just been an oopsie-daisy. They’re contact with us has been via an IRC chatroom, hanging out with with a bunch of flipper dogs. How were they supposed to know?
Their communication signals are able to reach and retrieve thousands of light-years instantly. When they get to earth and aim directly at the oceans of course that massive signal would have adverse effects. It’s if you’re trying to talk to someone from across a crowded room you’re screaming, but they can hear you. If you walk up right next to the and scream directly in their ear from an inch away it’d hurt their ears