Stephen Hawking: Humans Should Fear Aliens

World renowned scientist Stephen Hawking believes extraterrestrial life almost certainly exists -- and humans should be extremely cautious about interacting with it.

"To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational," Hawking says in a new Discovery Channel series called Stephen Hawking's Universe. "The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on: "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet. 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 colonise whatever planets they can reach."

He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is "a little too risky". He said: "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."

Previously, Hawking has argued that humans must colonize space in order to survive and thrive. "Sooner or later disasters such as an asteroid collision or a nuclear war could wipe us all out," he told Britain's Royal Society in a 2006 speech. "But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe."

Read more about the Discovery special in the UK Times Online, watch video here, or browse through other Hawking videos below.

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Despite being almost completely paralyzed by ALS, Hawking remains one of the world's foremost theoretical physicists and has contributed greatly to our understanding of the universe. The full interview airs Friday , March 7, 2008.

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Despite being almost completely paralyzed by ALS, Hawking remains one of the world's foremost theoretical physicists and has contributed greatly to our understanding of the universe. The full interview airs Friday , March 7, 2008.

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[missygoose]

02:37 PM on 06/10/2010

The concept of there being "aliens" anywhere in the universe - other than humans, 'cause really, how much more alien can you get? - living on massive shps is about the looniest thing I've ever heard a brilliant man like Stephen Hawking say.

[theobsoleteman]

04:00 PM on 05/28/2010

This is one of my favorite stories of this year so far. Who knew that in my lifetime one of the worlds most brilliant scientists would tell me that all those 50's creature feature and alien invasion films I loved so much on TV when I was a kid had the right idea? If I have to pick a death wish, it would be to go out during a full scale alien invasion.

[jgarma]

03:10 PM on 05/07/2010

What I got out of this is that we better hope if aliens find us, they have more empathy for lower creatures than humans do.

Was thinking of this when I decided to help a struggling bug, rather than squash it. Someday, we may be the bug.

More on this story here: http://www.garmaonhealth.com/2010/05/moth-empath/

[Phranquenstew]

03:02 PM on 05/04/2010

How is this newsworthy? In the War of the Worlds, for instance, it was not military might or advanced science that determined the "winner" of the interplanetary conflict. If you remember, the aliens were wiped out by their inability to exist in Earth's environment. Of course, only the life forms on Earth that can evolve as quickly as that environment changes will survive, either. If and when alien life forms and terrestrial beings come into contact, the environment where that contact takes place will be the determining factor unless one species or the other becomes a master of self-evolution. We're not doing ourselves any favors by altering our own environment into something where earth's own native species are going extinct... but then again, maybe we're just cleansing agents, "put" here on Earth to prepare the planet for some species of space nomads with the foresight to invent and cultivate us... an intergalactic sterilization treatment.
To Dr. Hawking: "Meet ya at Milliway's. The first round's on me."

[Alan Lanell]

04:43 AM on 05/01/2010

Hey Dr Hawking...

We already know.... "To Serve Man".... it's a cookbook!

[The Source]

01:20 AM on 05/01/2010

I don't care what the question is....the answer is Jesus! Heaven is just advanced civilizations. There are aliens out there that would love to harm us. They are held back by the hand of God. Ultimately they will be destroyed by God and his Angels. In the begining, our first ancestors gave dominion of this planet over to Satan. They had a choice amd made the wromg one. But, God had to honor that choice. This cosmic conflict goes on today. Soon, very soon, God will have His day, and the universe, and the heavens will be changed radically.

[Cole 33]

01:10 PM on 05/04/2010

Ha!, I love old christian mythology

[Phranquenstew]

03:13 PM on 05/04/2010

Aesop's good, too... and a lot more succinct.

[JohnStClair]

11:10 PM on 04/30/2010

I recommend that people who make comments should make reference to their sources, something that I am doing now. This will give us points of reference so that we can make a better judgment of the information. It is important to see a wide range of perspectives so that we can comprehend better these complex situations. Hawking has a mathematical viewpoint, others have had contact with the aliens or have been abducted, and still others are working on new technologies to contact the aliens and communicate with them with methods other than radio transmissions. A low-cost subscription to earthfiles.com will increase a person's insight into how these alien projects have been kept a military secret all these years. Timothy Good's book entitled Alien Base is a good example of alien contact, as are Linda Moulton Howe's books such as An Alien Harvest. The front cover of her book shows a time-lapse photograph of a Marsian pilot flying a MJ-12 operative to the underground MEPI (Mars Experimental Planetary Institute) base on Mars. I was not completely certain of this remote viewing until Andy Basiago mentioned in a radio interview that he had teleported to Mars. Enormous 4-mile diameter alien spacecraft have been seen just below the ocean's surface by Puerto Rican police flying around the edge in a Cessna aircraft. So there is important investigative reporting that we should apprise ourselves of in order to understand what is really going on. I mean, they are here.

[Daddybriteside]

01:03 PM on 04/30/2010

Who's to say that if aliens do come to planet earth that they would even have the same concept of war, danger, or fear. They may only know love. Way to think outside the box for a someone that is thought to be brilliant. Very narrow minded if you ask me.

[admrob]

03:01 PM on 04/30/2010

it's called being cautious

[kirbang]

03:02 PM on 04/30/2010

While I agree this may be the case, global warming may be a positive force as well.

But can we assume this is the only case, and be wrong?

It seems they may have evolved under the same pressures we have. If so, our history does not bode well for peaceful contact.

[cherod]

09:29 AM on 04/30/2010

Just know that if there is life on other planets, Jesus probably died to save them as well.

[bugjackblue]

12:43 AM on 05/01/2010

Ha. Unfortunately, I suspect there will be people who read such a comment and don't get the sarcasm.

Actually, on another world they would have progressed through their own primitive mythologies and if there remained some who still were into religious ritual they would worship specimens of their own species or other species native to their environment; they wouldn't know any more of earth legends then we would know the folktales of their world. So they may well have had a savior figure to play a key role in their mythos but he/she/it would be a giant insect or jellyfish or something, and even if the climax species were humanoids their hero would have green skin or a prehensile tail like those who worship him/her/it.

Which makes me wonder-- do dolphins have a savior myth they retell through the generations?

[Thaigold]

08:43 AM on 04/30/2010

Many say that the greatest danger to homo sapiens is ourselves.

[Czar of Logic]

08:21 AM on 04/30/2010

As bright of a mind as Dr. Hawking is, it is a forgone conclusion that his opinion is nothing more than a guess as he knows nothing of aliens or other galaxies outside of our own.

His statement, that if aliens built spacecraft that traveled billions of miles quickly means that they could dominate all of us, I would have to say, where does it state that intellegence means that you are physically dominating? If this were the case then countries like India would be world leaders instead of impoverished.

Just goes to show that even super geniuses lack logic on occasion.

[mojobucko]

02:26 PM on 04/30/2010

What's your logic behind the people of India being so intelligent, obviously if the were so smart then they would not be so impoverished. I know we see a lot of brilliant Indian emigrants her in the U.S., they are the ones who are smart enough to get there selves through school and out of India, the cream of the crop if you will. The less intelligent folks stay behind and loathe in filth and poverty. Just the same ass most poor people in the U.S. or other places in the world.

[deusXmchna]

03:26 PM on 04/30/2010

When an invasive species (one not in equilibrium with the ecosystem) hits an ecosystem, there is a power struggle for resources. The strong survive, always at the expense of the weak. If the weak are lucky, they just get relocated. Usually they get subjugated or killed. When they are killed, they are often used as a resource themselves, fuel, food, structural material.
Life and nature are cruel and unyielding. We are not the only species that kill each other, nor are we the only species that kill for sport. Dolphins & chimps kill for sport. Chimps cannibalize their young (and eat human babies), as do a number of higher mammals. Ants subjugate other ants... There are countless examples of animal behavior that until recently we though were only the domain of the human and our capacity for senseless violence and cruelty. Turns out it's simply not true.

[SteveBrown]

02:31 AM on 04/30/2010

Aliens would likely see the human species as a blight on the planet, and rightly so.

[WebForce1]

04:22 AM on 04/30/2010

I don't beleive that. Life is rare, intelligent life rarer still. I think aliens wouldn't necessarily view us as evil or menacing. Bumbling perhaps.

[CrabbyGolightly]

05:39 PM on 04/29/2010

Who knew that Hawking was such a closed-minded pessimist, capable of stereotyping hypothetical aliens with one broad stroke? Who suspected his view would be so stereotypically male? http://crabbygolightly.com/mt/2010/04/stephen_hawking_is_guilty_of_alien_profiling.html

[ebanks84]

08:50 AM on 04/29/2010

Now this subject is right down my alley. I love this stuff and love proving that extraterrestrials are the "good guys"!

Make my day and ask an "unintelligent" question so I can have the pleasure of "schooling" you the way Obama does :)

I'm only joking so get your butt off your back and relax :).

[James Ballard]

01:03 AM on 04/29/2010

12:00 AM CST

...Uh...On that last note, perhaps it's time to let Stephen Hawking speak again :

Charlie Rose : "Thinking about the universe that you think about, what worries you the most about the future of the universe ?"

Stephen Hawking : "I am not worried about the future of the universe. The universe will continue whatever happens. But the future of the human race and of life on earth is much less certain. We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity...The only long term survival plan that works is to spread out into space. The sooner we start, the better."

Charlie Rose : "You think we will survive ?"

Stephen Hawking : "Maybe."

Thank you, Stephen Hawking.

J.B.
4/29/10

[Chopin]

09:58 PM on 04/29/2010

I agree that we all should thank Stephen Hawking the brilliant scientist, for being refreshingly brutally honest on the human prospects for survival as a species. Anything less would not be worthy of such an active mind trapped by his physical limitations.

[James Ballard]

11:35 PM on 04/29/2010

@ "Chopin"
10:35 PM CST

Quote :

..."I agree that we all should thank Stephen Hawking the brilliant scientist, for being refreshingly brutally honest on the human prospects for survival as a species. Anything less would not be worthy of such an active mind trapped by his physical limitations.

...Oh yeah...now...how do you reconcile your above posturing with your statement about him below (re : p.13) :

Quote :

..."Dr. Hawking's suggestion of a future human destiny in the stars is a feeble reminder of the total absurdity and bankruptcy of the present human scale of values.

Just feeling more generous today are we ?

J.B.
4/29/10