Stephen Hawking - Aliens are like Christopher Columbus, Bad.

[applecorped]

"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.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece

 

[Ron_Tomkins]

Why "bad"? It's his opinion. Besides, if we ever meet the opportunity to meet extraterrestrial life, I don't think we're gonna be able to resist the temptation. So whatever's bound to happen, will happen.

 

[barrymore]

You forgot to include this quote, which comes right before it:

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.”

As smart as Steven Hawking is, he knows nothing more about ET life than any other person on Earth, so I do not see why we should necessarily take his normative prescriptions over anyone else's. The prediction seems especially dubious when it comes to apocalyptic and doomsday scenarios that Hawking seems to be pushing. The default position of someone who wishes to make a prediction but does not have the knowledge to do so is pretty much always a doomsday scenario--it's easy and sensational. It would be wise just to not get involved in such precise predictions.

It is fun to think about--and I am sure Hawking has thought a lot about it, so I am interested to hear what he has to say--but let's not be presumptuous enough to say whether we should or should not contact ET life.

 

[Bikewer]

In Greg Bear's two-volume Forge Of God and Anvil Of Stars, he speculates that the lack of communication between intelligent races in the galaxy is because they have learned that it's dangerous.
He posits a civilization that feels that any sufficiently-advanced race could be a threat...Best to destroy them before they cause trouble. They send out Von Neumann probes with planet-destroying capabilities to do just that....

 

[bluesjnr]

Why "bad"? It's his opinion. Besides, if we ever meet the opportunity to meet extraterrestrial life, I don't think we're gonna be able to resist the temptation. So whatever's bound to happen, will happen.

I read it as; aliens might be like Columbus who turned out to be bad for the Native Americans after landing.

 

[Jungle Jim]

I certainly don't want technologically advanced aliens visiting Earth unannounced and uninvited.

 

[Nosi]

Maybe we already HAVE been colonized. We just don't know it or know what to look for. Chances are something is looking at us too...

 

[TragicMonkey]

My prediction? We'll contact aliens and bug the hell out of them.

Hivelord X'zz: "Phone for you. It's the humans again. With more messages of peace, etc, etc."
Hivequeen Z'xx: "Again? Sheesh, can't they take a hint? We pulled all of our colonies out of their entire galaxy to get away, and still they call!"
Hivelord X'zz: "They want to know if we have plans for this weekend. I said we did, then they asked what they were and could they come along."
Hivequeen Z'xx: "That does it! Begin working on a way to convert our population to beings of pure energy, that we might ascend to another plane of existence! Maybe that will give us some damn peace and quiet."
Hivelord X'zz: "Knowing the humans, they'd find a way to tag along and ask us 'What's it like being energy beings? Can we be energy beings, too? Is Hivelord Bernie having a birthday party? When is it, and where?'"
Hivequeen Z'xx: "You're right. Let's just wipe them out. We are a peaceful people, but everyone's got limits. They tried to invite themselves to my daughter's wedding! The nerve! Prep the blasto-cannons and start exploding suns."

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I love it when the people who scold us for thinking aliens will look like us turn then and say aliens will act like us. What did they miss there?

 

[TragicMonkey]

I love it when the people who scold us for thinking aliens will look like us turn then and say aliens will act like us. What did they miss there?

It's because we only have experience of our own species, which has some minor differences in appearance but always acts exactly the same way despite them.

 

[Giz]

You forgot to include this quote, which comes right before it:



As smart as Steven Hawking is, he knows nothing more about ET life than any other person on Earth, so I do not see why we should necessarily take his normative prescriptions over anyone else's. The prediction seems especially dubious when it comes to apocalyptic and doomsday scenarios that Hawking seems to be pushing. The default position of someone who wishes to make a prediction but does not have the knowledge to do so is pretty much always a doomsday scenario--it's easy and sensational. It would be wise just to not get involved in such precise predictions.

The thinking behind it is probably based on what we know of evolution:

Successful space-faring species are likely to be:

Expansionist,
Carnivorous (or at least omnivorous),
Aggressive (point to any expansionist carnivore that isn't)

Of course by the time they have developed that much technology they might have calmed down a bit and become responsible users of power, much like humanity is nowadays. Oh, wait...

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It's because we only have experience of our own species, which has some minor differences in appearance but always acts exactly the same way despite them.

Agreed (except that humans usually act like you'd expect them to). But we get all kinds of grief from "exobiologists" who seem to swear that aliens won't be anything like us physically. I'm quite on board with that, btw. But then we get "they'll act just like we do" in the next breath?

 

[Vic Vega]

As smart as Steven Hawking is, he knows nothing more about ET life than any other person on Earth, so I do not see why we should necessarily take his normative prescriptions over anyone else's.

I bet Hawking would agree with you.

 

[I Ratant]

Agreed (except that humans usually act like you'd expect them to). But we get all kinds of grief from "exobiologists" who seem to swear that aliens won't be anything like us physically. I'm quite on board with that, btw. But then we get "they'll act just like we do" in the next breath?

.
They'll "act just like we do" when the first evangelist tells them they're sinners and condemned to hell unless they accept JC as their lord and savior.
What they'll do is pull out their anti-stupid spray and spray the planet.
Or nuke it, one.

 

[The Man]

You forgot to include this quote, which comes right before it:

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.”

Say, maybe someone could use that as a plot for a movie…..oh wait….

In Greg Bear's two-volume Forge Of God and Anvil Of Stars, he speculates that the lack of communication between intelligent races in the galaxy is because they have learned that it's dangerous.
He posits a civilization that feels that any sufficiently-advanced race could be a threat...Best to destroy them before they cause trouble. They send out Von Neumann probes with planet-destroying capabilities to do just that....

The Emperor Ming (1980 movie "Flash Gordon")

Pathetic earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void, without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe, anything at all, you would've hidden from it in terror.

Every thousand years, I test each life system in the Universe. I visit it with mysteries, earthquakes, unpredicted eclipses, strange craters in the wilderness... If these are taken as natural, I judge that system ignorant and harmless - I spare it. But if the Hand of Ming is recognized in these events, I judge that system dangerous to us. I call upon the great god Dyzan, and for his greater glory... [leans forward, smiling] and for our mutual pleasure... [leans back again] I destroy it utterly.

 

[Policenaut]

Aliens don't even need to have more evolutionary time than us to wipe us all out. If all things were equal except they had no religion holding back science they would be at least hundreds (if not thousands) of years more technologically advanced than us. And if you assume they have been around hundreds of thousands or millions of years longer than humans we are screwed if they decide to come here and take our resources or colonize.

 

[Ducky]

You forgot to include this quote, which comes right before it:

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.”

As smart as Steven Hawking is, he knows nothing more about ET life than any other person on Earth, so I do not see why we should necessarily take his normative prescriptions over anyone else's. The prediction seems especially dubious when it comes to apocalyptic and doomsday scenarios that Hawking seems to be pushing. The default position of someone who wishes to make a prediction but does not have the knowledge to do so is pretty much always a doomsday scenario--it's easy and sensational. It would be wise just to not get involved in such precise predictions.

It is fun to think about--and I am sure Hawking has thought a lot about it, so I am interested to hear what he has to say--but let's not be presumptuous enough to say whether we should or should not contact ET life.

Awesome! He should write that down and make a movie about how the meeting happens with Earth. It could have Jeff Goldblum in it! And may be Will Smith!

 

[Ernie M]

Who's to say if extraterrestrials will ever visit planet Earth?

Suppose their spaceship experiences a stuck accelerator- they could breeze right past us faster than a Toyota Prius on a California highway. And never knew we existed at all.

 

[Mojo]

The thinking behind it is probably based on what we know of evolution:

Successful space-faring species are likely to be:

Expansionist,
Carnivorous (or at least omnivorous),
Aggressive (point to any expansionist carnivore that isn't)

Mechanical?

 

[kedo1981]

It’s a fun topic at least
It depends on how much more advanced they would be.
A race that is at the same level of technology as Europe was to the Meso-Americans would give an entirely different result than aliens that are a million years ahead.
Race 1: 500 years advanced, may have traveled for centuries using some kind of atomic “push kick” (riding the blast wave of nuclear bombs) propulsion and they are on a one way ride.
Race 2: one million years advanced, might be able to come and go as they choose (like star trek) and maybe less ham handed but would also be able to just flat out take over.
Remember that Columbus didn’t come to conquer, he explored to find trading routes.