Don't Talk To Aliens, Warns Stephen Hawking

Megaport writes "Promoting his new series on the Discovery channel, Stephen Hawking has given an interview to the Times in which 'he has suggested that extraterrestrials are almost certain to exist but that instead of seeking them out, humanity should be doing all that it can to avoid any contact.' He says, '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. ... 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.' Personally, I've always thought that the indigenous people of the world really had no chance to avoid contact here on such a small planet, but is hiding under our collective bed an option for humanity in the wider galaxy?"

Comments

Security through obscurity?

[jolyonr]

Hiding will never work :)

Re:Security through obscurity?

[dotancohen]

Hiding will never work :)

But it might buy us the time to develop technology to defend ourselves. Having them nuke us from orbit (it's the only way to be sure) would not be so good for humanity.

Re:Security through obscurity?

[Teancum]

We can simply pass a United Nations resolution and sign a treaty to keep nukes or for that matter all weapons from space. Doesn't that work? Won't all spacefaring civilizations have such a similar attitude?

Re:Security through obscurity?

[Kjella]

Don't worry, there'll be this man in a blue box calling them up to tell them we're protected under the Shadow Proclamation.

Re:Security through obscurity?

[CarpetShark]

Hiding will never work :)

OMG, who said that?

Re:Security through obscurity?

[Nadaka]

Do you know what other species gets hopped up on fast food, nasty drugs and a sedentary lifestyle leading to obesity?

Cows. And they taste pretty damn good.

Re:Security through obscurity?

[0xdeadbeef]

Pop quiz, hotshot. Garry Kasparov is coming to kill you, and the only way to change his mind is for you to beat him at chess. What do you do, what do you?

Re:Security through obscurity?

[jeremyp]

Name one thing that you can get on Earth that a species capable of interstellar flight can't get elsewhere much more easily (even within our own solar system) or synthesise.

The final episode of Single Female Lawyer.

Re:Security through obscurity?

[discord5]

Nuking and terraforming a planet with intelligent life is genocide.

I believe after the nukes drop, the first step in terraforming would be the aliens demanding us to "cry them a river"

Re:Security through obscurity?

[DESADE]

Don't worry fellas. I got this. I saved my Powerbook 5300c from years back. When they come, I'll be ready.

Re:Security through obscurity?

[socceroos]

Call IBM.

Obligatory

[PlasmaEye]

I, for one, welcome our new aliens-in-massive-ships overlord.

I'm not worried.

[sizzzzlerz]

I've got my towel.

But we have Powerbooks, right?

[droopus]

Jeez, come on the technology for defeating them came out in 1997! Didn't any of you see Independence Day? We already know from this fine documentary that all we need is a Wall Street G3 and we can easily penetrate their puny firewalls. Sure they have intergalactic travel capabilities, and ships that can hover over entire cities (without char-broiling them with hover-exhaust, mind you...) but WE have 14.4 modems, Mac OS and the Fresh Prince of BelAir.

What's to worry about?