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?
Maybe we can parallel it like this…
You’re out in your backyard playing with your dog. You’re both running around in the grass, rolling around, the dog digs for a moment at a spot in the yard. You think nothing of it.
But in those few minutes, you both stomped on and destroyed a couple ant mounds, squashed some other bugs and insects in the grass (their habitat) and the dog dug up and obliterated another creatures nest in the grass.
The problem here is that it wants to talk to the whales but it is also destroying the ocean. That doesn’t really match your scenario.
It’s just an overgeneralization. It’s doing something it thinks is harmless and possibly considering humans to be lesser beings like the insects
It’s doing something it thinks is harmless that would directly harm the thing it’s wants to talk to?
Are its programmers morons?