http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Stephen-Hawking/ss/events/sc/042610stephenhawking

Quote :

"Aliens may exist but contact would hurt humans: Hawking Sun Apr 25, 6:56 pm ET LONDON (AFP) – Aliens may exist but mankind should avoid contact with them as the consequences could be devastating, British scientist Stephen Hawking warned Sunday. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," said the astrophysicist in a new television series, according to British media reports. The programmes depict an imagined universe featuring alien life forms in huge spaceships on the hunt for resources after draining their own planet dry. "Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach," warned Hawking. The doomsday scenario is suggested in the series "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" on the Discovery Channel, which began airing in the United States on Sunday. On the probability of alien life existing, he says: "To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. "The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like." Glowing squid-like creatures, herds of herbivores that can hang onto a cliff face and bright yellow predators that kill their prey with stinging tails are among the creatures that stalk the scientist's fantastical cosmos. Mankind has already made a number of attempts to contact extraterrestrial civilisations. In 2008, American space agency NASA beamed the Beatles song "Across the Universe" into deep space to send a message of peace to any alien that happens to be in the region of Polaris -- also known as the North Star -- in 2439. But the history of humanity's efforts to contact aliens stretches back some years. The US probes Pioneer 10 and 11 were launched in 1972 and 1973 bearing plaques of a naked man and woman and symbols seeking to convey the positions of the Earth and the Sun. Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977, each carry a gold-plated copper phonogram disk with recordings of sounds and images on Earth."

seriously.

4/26/2010 8:55:37 AM

FUCK YOU SON.

4/26/2010 8:56:10 AM

Quote :

"Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day! "

4/26/2010 9:03:51 AM

Hawking can say some goofy shit but if he starts typing then you shut the fuck up

4/26/2010 9:07:36 AM

^ truth

4/26/2010 9:11:58 AM

He doesn't realize that our common diseases will kill the aliens.

4/26/2010 9:15:36 AM

will tom cruise save us this time?

4/26/2010 9:20:11 AM

He has said something like this before for a show I saw on the Science Channel. Basically, if visited by an advanced race they'd see how immature humans are as a species after witnessing how we treat each other and the world around us.

4/26/2010 9:21:08 AM

Funny thing is he probably has some equations that can back this up.

4/26/2010 9:23:31 AM

man, senor hawking needs to watch Signs

we'd bust their asses with some super soakers

4/26/2010 9:24:05 AM

Quote :

"Hawking can say some goofy shit but if he starts typing then you shut the fuck up "

4/26/2010 9:27:39 AM

4/26/2010 9:45:10 AM

lol

4/26/2010 9:46:28 AM

That is fucking awesome.

4/26/2010 10:00:32 AM

The assumption that aliens will be "more mature" than humans is totally bogus. Humanity is the best evidence we have that technological advancement has nothing to do with maturity. All you need to go to another planet is a really awesome spaceship.

4/26/2010 10:11:26 AM

Quote :

"The assumption that aliens will be "more mature" than humans is totally bogus. Humanity is the best evidence we have that technological advancement has nothing to do with maturity."

I, too, feel this way.

4/26/2010 10:16:27 AM

Quote :

""The assumption that aliens will be "more mature" than humans is totally bogus. Humanity is the best evidence we have that technological advancement has nothing to do with maturity.""

True, however if they are sufficiently technologically advanced to travel from one solar system to another at a base level, or across galaxies at a higher level, then they've have millions if not billions of years more than we have had for their society to progress. That's not to say that progress necessarily means more ethical and benevolent, but I'd like to hope it does.

4/26/2010 10:29:49 AM

Hawking simply utilized Murphy's law in regards to aliens...

4/26/2010 10:41:09 AM

in other news i have a real problem with my mouth saying stephen baldwin when i mean stephen hawking

4/26/2010 10:46:01 AM

Quote :

"True, however if they are sufficiently technologically advanced to travel from one solar system to another at a base level, or across galaxies at a higher level, then they've have millions if not billions of years more than we have had for their society to progress. "

You've assumed many things here.

4/26/2010 10:49:09 AM

i liked how they kept showing his eye with that ominous camera angle

4/26/2010 10:54:37 AM

Quote :

"True, however if they are sufficiently technologically advanced to travel from one solar system to another at a base level, or across galaxies at a higher level, then they've have millions if not billions of years more than we have had for their society to progress. That's not to say that progress necessarily means more ethical and benevolent, but I'd like to hope it does."

They could be a space-faring society ruled by ruthless corporations

4/26/2010 10:55:13 AM

True. They could be Ferengi.

[Edited on April 26, 2010 at 10:57 AM. Reason : *]

4/26/2010 10:57:47 AM

Quote :

"The assumption that aliens will be "more mature" than humans is totally bogus. Humanity is the best evidence we have that technological advancement has nothing to do with maturity. All you need to go to another planet is a really awesome spaceship."

4/26/2010 11:01:44 AM

clearly we need to make sure we make an alliance with the vulcan's first

4/26/2010 11:02:39 AM

Quote :

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans"

I, too, watch The Twilight Zone.

Respectfully submitted for your perusal: a Kanamit. Height: a little over nine feet. Weight: in the neighborhood of three hundred and fifty pounds. Origin: unknown. Motives? Therein hangs the tale, for in just a moment we're going to ask you to shake hands, figuratively, with a Christopher Columbus from another galaxy and another time. This is the Twilight Zone.


IT'S A COOKBOOK!

4/26/2010 11:07:21 AM

IT'S A COCKBOOK

4/26/2010 11:12:15 AM

^^Working title and screenplay for You Got Served

4/26/2010 11:52:51 AM

Quote :

"True, however if they are sufficiently technologically advanced to travel from one solar system to another at a base level, or across galaxies at a higher level, then they've have millions if not billions of years more than we have had for their society to progress. That's not to say that progress necessarily means more ethical and benevolent, but I'd like to hope it does. "

If they solve the problem of scarce resources (replicators) then its all good. If they haven't, then they're probably exactly like us.

4/26/2010 12:01:44 PM

like i'm going to listen to a guy that can't walk OR talk

4/26/2010 12:30:16 PM

Quote :

"like i'm going to listen to a guy that can't walk OR talk"

He's more valuable than your entire bloodline up until the point where his and yours converge

[Edited on April 26, 2010 at 12:33 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2010 12:33:40 PM

LMAO! at Lego Stephen Hawking!

4/26/2010 12:37:20 PM

he makes some good points, the best part about alien contact is that I think several of the petty things that we fight over here will simmer down quite a bit.

4/26/2010 12:45:49 PM

LMAO again!

4/26/2010 12:46:46 PM

People always assume it's going to be aliens vs us, or whatever

I bet aliens are in the paper chase just like humans are. Whenever we come across aliens, humans and aliens will probably team up to stack their cheddar to even higher proportions.

4/26/2010 12:47:06 PM

Quote :

"He's more valuable than your entire bloodline up until the point where his and yours converge"

And my entire bloodline is more valuable than your entire bloodline. I would say up until the point that they converge, but I didn't come about from the union of a monkey having butt sex with a retarded fish-frog.

4/26/2010 12:48:48 PM

^^or they'll just give everyone an anal probe.

[Edited on April 26, 2010 at 12:50 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2010 12:49:47 PM

I have a feeling class camaraderie will transcend even species barriers

4/26/2010 12:57:41 PM

Quote :

"but I didn't come about from the union of a monkey having butt sex with a retarded fish-frog."

lolwut?

4/26/2010 12:58:52 PM

Ugh, you're one of those blue aliens. You're lazy and drain Intergalactic Social Security.

4/26/2010 12:59:17 PM

Humans are fucking lazy. Bob is "one of the good ones".

4/26/2010 1:03:09 PM

Quote :

"like i'm going to listen to a guy that can't walk OR talk"

never doubt a man that no matter what he does, can't get his d wet. He has nothing but time to think about this shit.

4/26/2010 2:26:13 PM

Quote :

"will tom cruise save us this time?"

Nah, Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum will.

4/26/2010 3:04:52 PM

Quote :

"never doubt a man that no matter what he does, can't get his d wet."

DON'T BE SO SURE...IT MIGHT HAPPEN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgTtHI_T7sw

4/26/2010 3:06:18 PM

^x11

hawking can smile????

4/26/2010 3:41:20 PM

Quote :

"Funny thing is he probably has some equations that can back this up."

there is, in fact, an equation for this



N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible;

and

R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fl = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

4/26/2010 5:30:35 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmicism

4/26/2010 5:35:19 PM

^^ That's a well-known equation.

1) He didn't come up with it.
2) It has nothing to do with the main story in the article, i.e., aliens are probably more advanced than us and will annihilate/enslave us.

4/26/2010 5:42:41 PM

...

I never said he came up with it. and it could be easily modified to accommodate Hawking's idea, all you have to do is replace a few variables. fh = fraction of alien species that are hostile, N = number of alien species that are likely to annihilate us, etc

4/26/2010 5:50:58 PM

set em up

4/26/2010 8:23:08 PM