Humans should be extremely wary about answering any signals from an aliens civilization.
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In Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places, released on the online platform Curiosity Stream, he brings viewers to the planet Gliese 832c, located about 16 light years away from our own planet in the constellation Grus. They will be listening to signals from the planet Proxima B, which is four light years from Earth and is thought to have the right conditions for life much like our very own Earth.
But while Hawking, who claims to be increasingly convinced that “we are not alone”, believes that “we should be wary” of responding to an alien signal, there are others who disagree. “Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus – that didn’t turn out so well”.
Contacting aliens, especially those more technologically advanced than humans could be risky for humanity, warned British physicist Stephen Hawking in a new online film.
While passing the “super-Earth”, Hawking gives his take on alien life on the planet. The 26-minute documentary shows the scientist zooming through the cosmos on a souped-up CGI spaceship called the “S.S. Hawking”, making five separate stops.
Professor Stephen Hawking has always been certain alien life is out there. Especially if people on other planets are more technologically advanced than us, warns cosmologist Stephen Hawking.
Finally, Hawking returns to Earth to Santa Barbara where he talks nostalgically of his early career at Cal Tech and times spent on the sunny California coast with his young family.
While any civilization spotted could be thousands of years ahead of humans, in terms of technology and understanding, and therefore risky, Hawking is nevertheless interested in seeing just how much humanity can discover. He has long supported the search for life outside the Earth, but that doesn’t keep him from warning about how awful it could be for us to contact outer space civilizations.
According to Hawking, the discovery of intelligent life would be the greatest scientific discovery in history. In fact, he launched a 10-year effort in 2015, funded by the Royal Society in London, to listen for broadcast signals from stars near Earth using powerful telescopes.
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“If intelligent life has evolved (on Gliese 832c), we should be able to hear it”, he says while hovering over the exoplanet in the animated “U.S.S. Hawking”. “Or do our lights wander a lifeless cosmos – unseen beacons, announcing that here, on one rock, the Universe discovered its existence”. That planet, he believes could be an option for life outside Earth. Either way, there is no bigger question.
