“Stephen Hawking Wants to Find Aliens Before They Find Us”

September 22nd, 2016

Via: Cnet:

In his new half-hour program “Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places” on science-themed subscription service CuriosityStream, the world’s most famous theoretical physicist flies by the potentially habitable exoplanet Gliese 832c in a CGI spaceship as part of his hypothetical dream itinerary for a tour of the universe.

The super-Earth is only 16 light-years away and just the sort of world the Hawking-supported Breakthrough: Listen initiative hopes to scan for signs of alien signals using our most sensitive radio telescopes.

“If intelligent life has evolved (on Gliese 832c), we should be able to hear it,” he says while hovering over the exoplanet in the animated “U.S.S. Hawking.” “One day we might receive a signal from a planet like this, but we should be wary of answering back. Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well.”

3 Responses to ““Stephen Hawking Wants to Find Aliens Before They Find Us””

  1. Duros says:

    One of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes quotes:

    “The surest sign of intelligent life in the Universe, is that none of it has tried to contact us”

  2. rotger says:

    Hawking is stuck in a 1800′ mindset when we killed any first nation we encountered. The world have already evolved past that in less then 200 years (For exemple, we stopped contacting uncontacted tribes in the amazonian rain forest). Now imagine an advanced civilisation with 10 000 years advance on us.
    If they wanted us death we would all already be dead.
    What we should fear is for us to completly reject our own culture once an official public contact is established. We should also be careful not to become technology dependent on them to retain our sovereignty. We should fear our reaction to the contact more then fear them.

    Hawking is a genius but he also can’t imagine that he might not be the brightest guy in the universe. If we can find another civilisation, you can be sure we have been found first milleniums ago.

  3. MBerger47 says:

    The Greater Community of intelligent life is well aware of our planet and its vital resources. The problem is that many different races of intelligent life forms have been preparing for us, but we are not prepared for them. Many on Earth still believe the universe is a vast empty place, just waiting for our colonization. That is totally inaccurate. According to the Allies of Humanity Briefings, we live in a very well populated and busy part of the galaxy that has intricate rules of engagement established to facilitate the trade of vital resources. We’re like Kindergarteners entering high school. Aliens will never invade militarily – that’s not allowed. They will simply try to convince us that we need them and if that succeeds, it will be the end of human freedom and sovereignty.

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