Hawking Warns Humanity to Avoid Dangerous Aliens
One of the world's brainiest men doesn't think aliens would be very fun to hang out with.
Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physicist that spends his time trying to figure out the things that nobody will ever figure out about the universe, has warned humanity to avoid alien contact at all costs. He believes that sending signals into space to let aliens know we're here is probably a huge mistake due to his vision of what an extraterrestrial space-faring species would actually be like.
In short, they would be powerful, and likely desperate enough to not give a what what about the human race. "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet," he said. "I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach."
To Hawking's mathematical mind, it's much more likely that aliens exist than don't, but figuring out if they would be noble or not is the real question. The bottom line is that he feels trying to contact them is "a little too risky."
"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans." Even though I've seen documentaries on aliens such as Explorers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suburban_Commando] that have made me believe aliens would be awesome to meet, I'm going to go with the theoretical physicist on this one that they'd probably be jerks.
Still, even he admits that the human brain probably can't conceive the kinds of life that exist in the universe. "Just as a chimpanzee can't understand quantum theory, it could be there are aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains," Hawking believes. We might not even be able to perceive the alien life forms that eventually destroy us. Stop with the signals already!
Hawking has a new documentary three years in the making coming to the Discovery Channel on May 9 where he explores the mysteries of the universe, such as those surrounding alien life and why ducks are so weird. It's presumed he will determine once and for all if Hulk Hogan is really a galactic mercenary, or if Suburban Commando was all a big lie perpetrated by the world's shadowy puppet masters.
Source: Slashdot [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece]
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One of the world's brainiest men doesn't think aliens would be very fun to hang out with.
Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physicist that spends his time trying to figure out the things that nobody will ever figure out about the universe, has warned humanity to avoid alien contact at all costs. He believes that sending signals into space to let aliens know we're here is probably a huge mistake due to his vision of what an extraterrestrial space-faring species would actually be like.
In short, they would be powerful, and likely desperate enough to not give a what what about the human race. "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet," he said. "I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach."
To Hawking's mathematical mind, it's much more likely that aliens exist than don't, but figuring out if they would be noble or not is the real question. The bottom line is that he feels trying to contact them is "a little too risky."
"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans." Even though I've seen documentaries on aliens such as Explorers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suburban_Commando] that have made me believe aliens would be awesome to meet, I'm going to go with the theoretical physicist on this one that they'd probably be jerks.
Still, even he admits that the human brain probably can't conceive the kinds of life that exist in the universe. "Just as a chimpanzee can't understand quantum theory, it could be there are aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains," Hawking believes. We might not even be able to perceive the alien life forms that eventually destroy us. Stop with the signals already!
Hawking has a new documentary three years in the making coming to the Discovery Channel on May 9 where he explores the mysteries of the universe, such as those surrounding alien life and why ducks are so weird. It's presumed he will determine once and for all if Hulk Hogan is really a galactic mercenary, or if Suburban Commando was all a big lie perpetrated by the world's shadowy puppet masters.
Source: Slashdot [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece]
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