Hawking: avoid aliens

By Julius Goldthorpe

Stephen Hawking has shocked the scientific community by announcing that alien life is not only entirely plausible, but that attempting to make contact with extra-terrestrials could be detrimental to the human species.

In a Discovery Channel documentary, the internationally-renowned theoretical physicist admitted that the majority of alien life will simply exist as microbes and very basic animals. He also suggested that there is a very real danger of intelligent life which could have the capacity to invade and strip the earth of its resources. He explained by drawing an analogy to the effects of Christopher Columbus on the Native Americans.

“To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational,” said Hawking before highlighting that “the real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like.”

In speculating on what aliens may have evolved to become, Hawking refused to get drawn into the complexities. Understanding such complexities has often proved difficult for followers of his elaborations of Einstein’s theories and pioneering investigations into black holes.

“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.”

Hawking is certainly not alone in his theories that significant life may exist outside the realms of current technological detection. His Hollywood approach to alien invasion may seem cavalier to some, but he can claim considerable support in his views from other physicist authorities.

Prof. Brian Cox of the University of Manchester has also speculated that primitive life may exist closer than we think, although he stops short of describing their preferred mode of transport.

Other Elements articles in which you might be interested:

1. Shedding light on black holes