As a child I often stared up at the stars wondering about what was going on up there. My parents had a summer house on the south shore of Long Island, and at night sitting on the beach, I could see more stars than I ever knew were possibly there back at home in New York City. As they glistened in the night, instead of wishing on one, I hoped to visit one in the future, no doubt encouraged by my love of the television series Star Trek, with its depiction of a world of warp speed, easy planet hopping, and most friendly aliens wanting to form a federation of planets.
Now British scientist Stephen Hawking, featured in a new series Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking on the Discovery Channel, is warning us that we should not be too eager for close encounters with aliens from other worlds. He says, “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.”
Hawking goes on to describe alien beings who would be “nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach.” No doubt leaving their own dying planets, these space explorers would not be like the sweetly depicted E.T. from the famous Spielberg film, but probably a lot more like the ones we have come to know in films like Predator or Alien. These are not guys we would invite to the family picnic.
Which brings us back to my naïve childhood fantasy of wanting to reach out to those stars I saw twinkling above me. Is the dream of a peaceable universe so far-fetched? Perhaps as inconceivable as a peaceful world right here on Earth?
Some people may argue that there is no proof that aliens even exist. How can we be so certain that they are out there somewhere? Well, I remember watching the stars with my father when I was a boy. He told me that every star was a sun, and so that means they probably have planets just like our sun does.
Article comments
1 - duane
I had a similar reaction. It seems a little silly to come all this way just to exploit us, wiping us out in the process. Earth is a modest little place from the point of view of an alien civilization that could mount an interstellar expedition.
I figure (although it's hard to think like an alien) that we would be of value as subjects for study -- an example of a developing technological civilization. As you suggest, maybe they're already doing just that. I'm hoping that doesn't involve abduction and vivisection.
2 - Victor Lana
Duane, I think you've got it right. If you are a Star Trek fan, you know about the "prime directive." If not, basically it meant that there was a no interference rule for civilizatons. I think (and hope) any intelligent lifeforms would adhere to such a policy when dealing with Earth.
3 - a geek girl
Victor, I feel the same way, but my perspective is slightly different.
Our sun is on its way out. Our planet is going to start dying--and when it does disasters are going to grow exponentially. My first thought when all of the tsunamis and earthquakes started to hit this year was.. has it begun?
When this rock starts to heat up and fall apart we're the ones who are going to be looking for new digs... Planets that can sustain life. We'll be the aliens.
All of those stories of terrifying aliens were spawned in the minds of humans, that's how we think. I feel sorry for them already, those whose planet we'll choose to claim. We'll put up a flag and they'll go the way of the Native Americans.
Have to admit though, I get a little nostalgic watching Alien. Reminds me so much of my stepmother :P
4 - lucasbonz
a geek girl, I think so disaster going to grow but this wouldn't dying the planet. The earth will save with great and powerful source.
5 - Wal Heinrich
Hawking's books are amongst my favorites but I disagree with him a little here. In rejecting all ET's we might also be rejecting those beneficial ones with the pointy ears who say "live long and prosper". Scientists, like Hawking, are often heard to say that they can't watch shows like Star Trek (because the science is too far from their reality). A pity. Maybe if he did he would have a different point of view.
6 - Ruvy
I have only one comment to make on this entire article - The Twelfth Planet, by Zechariah Sitchin. I used to be very reluctant to bring up his theories because the central element of his theories - that giant "12th planet" with an orbit around Sol of 3,600 years, was missing. But apparently it is not missing. NASA is trying to cover up its discovery, and it is getting closer to Earth, the former Tiamat, a larger planet knocked out of its orbit between Mars and Jupiter billions of years ago when Nibiru, the "12th" planet, passed through the solar system, nearly colliding with Tiamat.
No, I'm not making this up out of whole cloth or a fevered imagination. This story was part of the records of the Sumerians, a people aware of advanced technology at a level at least as high as the technology we know today.
In other words, Sitchin, who is now at least 95, may yet live to see himself proven right. Of course, seeing himself proven right may be a disastrous (if not fatal) experience for many of us....
7 - Victor Lana
Ruvy, I have not heard about that 12th planet scenario, but will look into it.
Geek, I think you're right that one day we will indeed be the seekers of another world, which is why I have been advocating the plan to travel to Mars. We have to start somewhere.
8 - Dr Dreadful
There's a third scenario, depicted by Douglas Adams in The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is that aliens are perfectly well aware of Earth and its inhabitants but regard it as primitive, utterly insignificant and not worth bothering about. The entry for Earth in the galaxy's most highly-regarded reference work - the eponymous Guide - is a curt "Harmless"*.
* A later edition of the Guide expanded this to "Mostly harmless".
9 - John Wilson
This is a really silly statement, Victor: "#7 -
Geek, I think you're right that one day we will indeed be the seekers of another world, which is why I have been advocating the plan to travel to Mars. We have to start somewhere."
Human travel to Mars is so expensive and unproductive that it will actually slow exploration of the universe. We need to start with unmanned exploration, and it may take many generations to accomplish anything. Wasting money, time and resource on human travel is stupid. All it can do is deter useful unmanned exploration.
10 - Toby B.
I have a problem with the argument that alien life will be inherently hostile and in search of resources. If an alien race is capable of transporting enough of their species to another planet to inhabit it, why wouldn't they be capable of finding unoccupied planets to inhabit? I mean, if they can reach Earth certainly they could reach Mars, where they would encounter no resistance? Another thing, other than space, what possible resources could they need? Again, we as humans have already made great strides in recycling and conservation efforts. I have to believe any alien race capable of great distance space travel would be able to make much better use of their limited resources than us.
11 - Dr Dreadful
Human travel to Mars is so expensive and unproductive that it will actually slow exploration of the universe. We need to start with unmanned exploration, and it may take many generations to accomplish anything.
John, have you been locked in a box for the past 45 years?
Unmanned exploration of Mars has been going on since 1965, and has accomplished a tremendous amount.
12 - Glenn Contrarian
He knows, Doc.
I think we should do as Buzz Aldrin suggested - bulk up the ISS and use it as a small shipyard to build an actual honest-to-goodness spaceship capable of cruising to Mars and back ('cause then we don't need to worry about going in and out of the full gravity well of Earth).
Why? Because there is something about having human feet (well, boots, even) clomping the soil of another planet that means something to the human race as a whole that unmanned probes can't do.
13 - Dr Dreadful
He knows, Doc.
Then what's his deal? His argument is akin to saying that we shouldn't give penicillin to humans until thorough research has been conducted.
bulk up the ISS and use it as a small shipyard to build an actual honest-to-goodness spaceship capable of cruising to Mars and back
There is an even cheaper option.
Bolt a set of rockets and a lander onto the ISS and use it as the Mars spacecraft.
I doubt the ISS is sufficiently spaceworthy, though. It wasn't designed to operate above the Van Allen Belts.
14 - Victor Lana
Glenn, I think you're right. The ship that will ultimately take us to Mars will have to be built in space, maybe even on the moon.
I also think they must develop smaller ships that will take off like planes from earth and be able to go into space.
The robot idea is what I find odd. We can send ships with robots all we want, but they will not be able to provide the inner satisfaction that comes with "boots" on the ground.
I doubt anyone would look at a mountain, send a robot up to the top, and feel as if he/she had climbed it. The situation with space is the same.
15 - John Wilson
The ongoing problem with Science-Fiction is it's anthropomorphism. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.
Unmanned exploration of Mars has obviated the need to send humans there. Cheaply, too.
16 - Dr Dreadful
John, I don't think anthropomorphism is the right word. The word means to attribute human characteristics to non-human things. There's plenty of sci-fi which succeeds by doing exactly the opposite: the Alien movies being a prime example.
Anthropocentrism is a better word for what you're trying to argue here - the tendency to view everything from the human perspective. And let's face it, a science fiction novel free of any trace of that would probably be unreadable.
17 - Dr Dreadful
And John, if you can honestly look at some of the breathtaking images of Mars sent back by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and not feel any desire to go and plant your boots in those landscapes, you're, frankly, weird.
18 - John Wilson
I can watch the gorgeous videos of people diving and watching undersea life in HDTV and feel good that the videos bring that to me so I don't have to go there and do it myself. Same with Snow Leopards, etc. Spare disturbing the animals.
19 - Victor Lana
Just today I was looking at pictures sent back to Earth from Cassini, which is currently orbiting Saturn. These are beautiful images to be sure and do a great deal for our understanding of this planet.
However, great pictures are not enough. When I saw films and pictures of the great places on Earth, all that made me do is want to go visit those sites more. If and when the technology is in place for humans to visit these other planets, I don't think anything will stop their quest for adventure and the excitement of being there.
20 - Dr Dreadful
I can watch the gorgeous videos of people diving and watching undersea life in HDTV and feel good that the videos bring that to me so I don't have to go there and do it myself.
But there are people in those videos, John.
21 - David Davis
It seems to me that if we found aliens or if they came here it would all come down to how much alike or unalike we were, and the who had the power us or them, if we cannot even live in peace with other races and have killed of so many animal that live on earth how could we live in peace with a a alien species
22 - Victor Lana
You make an excellent point, David. Thank you.