Stephen Hawking may be right about marauding space aliens

Stephen Hawking may be right about marauding space aliens

www.washingtonpost.com

Aliens have been in the news this year. In April, cosmic oracle Stephen Hawking, the legendary theoretical physicist, proclaimed that extraterrestrial life is almost certain to exist. He also mentioned, by the way, that we should stay as far away from aliens as possible, since they're probably scavenging the universe for resources after destroying their own homes.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Hawking could be right - maybe there are fearsome extraterrestrials zipping around the universe at hyper-speed. Or maybe silicon-based life forms are riding across a distant galaxy on an asteroid as you read this. But most astrophysicists aren't betting on that.

You never know with the recent planet found in the habitable zone 20 light years away maybe this whole disclosure thing has some merit to it

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(visit the link for the full news article)

I'd have to agree with that. There really is no reason for an advanced alien to come here and say hello, we come in peace. More likely they would come for resources.

Technically I disagree with Mr. Hawking on one aspect of his premise... The assumption that our resources are rare and, therefore, are worth conquering the vastness of time and space to obtain them. The entire known universe is made up of the same building blocks as what we have on Earth. There's nothing unique or special here. Just because we lack the science to definitively find things like liquid water elsewhere doesn't mean that it isn't common.

I think if aliens ever did come it would for motives that we might refer to as curiosity.

or.. we are the resources..

meat. slaves, whatever

Hawking may be right: We may soon find a race of bullies scouring the galaxy for inferior life forms to exploit. Except maybe the bullies will be us. Chew on that for a while, sci-fi fans

That's the last bit of the article. It could be a case of classic media double-talk. Imagine first official contact, and somehow it is more humans. I think that would be the scariest ET of all.

(Don't mind me. I am thinking out the box and..........................)

Originally posted by Khaaaaaan!!

Hawking may be right: We may soon find a race of bullies scouring the galaxy for inferior life forms to exploit. Except maybe the bullies will be us. Chew on that for a while, sci-fi fans

That's the last bit of the article. It could be a case of classic media double-talk. Imagine first official contact, and somehow it is more humans. I think that would be the scariest ET of all.

(Don't mind me. I am thinking out the box and..........................)

Now THIS would be interesting!

reply to post by Hefficide


I have to agree with you here the same elements should be found allover the place(maybe not people) but they do say that curiosity killed the cat so maybe they have come here already and some waring tribes killed them all
?

I really hope aliens do not think we revere Stephen Hawking as our "cosmic oracle" LOL.. I have always felt that exopolitics would be best left to anthropologists or a similar field (that I don't know the name of), rather than theoretical physicists.

Originally posted by Freedom_is_Slavery

Stephen Hawking may be right about marauding space aliens

www.washingtonpost.com

Aliens have been in the news this year. In April, cosmic oracle Stephen Hawking, the legendary theoretical physicist, proclaimed that extraterrestrial life is almost certain to exist. He also mentioned, by the way, that we should stay as far away from aliens as possible, since they're probably scavenging the universe for resources after destroying their own homes.

(visit the link for the full news article)

According to some "others" have been here before mining gold in Africa. One thing is certain when speaking of space travel and that is that our solar system is way out in the booties galaxy wise. Even with super zip those saucer denizens could probably find other sources closer to their own homes.

I mean, who would travel this far just to do anal probes? If there is one thing in common with any other, all other, life forms it is that they all have buttholes. So, what's the deal? You seen one anus you seen 'em all.

Yeah we have flying saucers here and have for all of recorded history. I do not think these are from very far away. I doubt they are interstellar. But that's a different story.

Steven is right, I believe, about other folks in the universe but that they would be hostile doesn't make sense to me. There is no reason for any invasion of earth that I can imagine. We've used up just about everything we have and screwed up what is left. We fight each other over oil and tell big lies about the reasons. Religion drives ordinary people to do terrible things to each other and politics is a profession which exists only to enrich itself. So Mr. and Mrs. space alien if you think you can stand up to Monsanto, or Citibank or British Petro then have a go. Just tell me what channel it'll be on.

See guys, there ain't no reason for any alien with half a brain to even consider coming here. We don't even do good comedy and all of our forums are ruled by self appointed censors with lists of rules that would choke Nessie.

tt

and we as humans arnt destprying our own home? how many meds have you flushed down the toilet mr.hawkings? how much oil and electricity has your home sucked up, like al gores home did few years ago int he news? if they were wasitnig everything around them, like big buisness teaches us to do here on earth, wede have seen it already,..at least since the first recorded UFO's on stone walls. it hasnt* but i suppose planet killers could be a species out thier!

reply to post by Freedom_is_Slavery


While I get what he is saying, I dont know if I agree with him. If there is an alien race that has mastered technology to the point of being able to travel the universe. What would our planet have that they cant obtain from any number of the uninhabited planets? Or from some source that we have not tapped into.

A fuel source? If its a conventional fuel, ie hydrocarbon, there are planets that have oceans of hydrocarbons. Cant remember the name but i believe there is a planet or moon that has oceans of methane. And if its some unseen energy source that we have not found or been able to harness, why would it be unique to this planet?

If they need water, well that seems to be just about everywhere in the universe as well. Isnt pluto just a giant block of ice?

I just dont see what we could possibly have to offer a race of aliens as advanced as they would need to be to travel the universe. It would be as silly as humans harvesting ant eggs as a food source. Why would we bother eating ant eggs when there are thousands of better food sources.

reply to post by Freedom_is_Slavery


Hawking has been compromised. It does not seem like he is himself at this point.

I would not take his word at face value.

reply to post by Hefficide


iron may be everywhere but what if we were the rare and valuable resource? spooky...

reply to post by snusfanatic


Maybe there's something about consciousness that is valuable and able to be harnessed by alien life forms. Maybe diversity or rarity of other life form's consciousness can be treasured and exploited. Perhaps they came here because they have ways of detecting consciousness on the level of post-neolithic man. "Someone is thinking near the outside of the milky way. Lets go see if we can collect it."

reply to post by snusfanatic


But again, why would an advanced race need, "thought energy" or whatever you want to call it. Surely they have mastered cloning. I would assume, if there was something that humans specifically offered any alien that is able to travel the universe has most certainly mastered almost all of the sciences and could recreate whatever they need.

reply to post by iamcamouflage


I cant tell you why they would need it. But it's definitely our rarest resource and I agree with the assumption on this thread that rarity, as on earth, is what would drive alien conquest.

If we accept that our consciousness is valuable because we are a unique race with unique political and personal dramas and culture then cloning more of their own species, abducting and cloning a select few humans or altering the course of our history would probably disturb or not properly replicate what it was they were after in the first place.

Higher thought could be a crop. And different forms of higher thoughts that evolve naturally and separately scattered throughout the galaxy could represent diversity for that crop. Different consciousnesses could be valued for organic uniqueness as well as rarity, making it impossible or extremely difficult to recreate what is already available for 'farming' throughout the universe.

reply to post by snusfanatic


Even in the unlikely event that extraterrestrials were interested in what goes on in our heads ( ) then it would be much more frugal for them to just swing by, pick up a few specimens to establish a breeding stock, and then go back home. Keeping a presence here would be logistically irrational.

But, more to the point, this species would have evolved (or been created, to avoid religious argument) without benefit from, or need of whatever resource humans might offer. Thus it is unlikely they'd require any asset or resource, specific to humanity.

Thus there can be no implied symbiotic process between separate and independent entities.

Originally posted by Hefficide

Technically I disagree with Mr. Hawking on one aspect of his premise... The assumption that our resources are rare and, therefore, are worth conquering the vastness of time and space to obtain them. The entire known universe is made up of the same building blocks as what we have on Earth. There's nothing unique or special here. Just because we lack the science to definitively find things like liquid water elsewhere doesn't mean that it isn't common.

I think if aliens ever did come it would for motives that we might refer to as curiosity.

They don't have to be rare, they just have to be convenient. A species that is wandering around the universe for resources because they destroyed their home planet most likely have a fleet of HUGE ships which could STRIP a planet of resources rather quickly. They'd probably be quite content living not on a planet or planets, but in a huge mobile fleet.

Logical and rational thinking is that aliens will be neutral or generally beneviolent and curious.

you have to be pretty irrational and think that spacemen are cavemen that somehow figured out FTL travel while banking sticks on rocks in order to also conclude that they would be naturally hostile.

there is a whole host of reasons to support a neutral or positive alien race..and only paranoid rants to support a bloodthirsty version.

Hawkins is the product of far too many old sci-fi cowboy shows.

Now, we may differ on what a "good" alien is compared to their intentions...they may see us as a curiousity and run tests on some of our people from this curiousity...to them, this would be equal to tagging a animal, but to the person, it may be a horrifying experience (I imagine animals in the wild aren't overly keen about being hunted down, shot, and tagged by humans)...but its ultimately a neutral experience all together.

there is no resource, animal included, that with technology in the near future cannot be replicated and harvested in space in mass droves.

Slaves? pfft...our weak asses would be useless...we are almost useless on our own planet, much less one with different gravitational and atmospheric pressures to deal with...a robot can outpreform us already with our chimp tech...computers can outthink us, cows can outyum us, etc...humans are jack of all trades, master of none...