The great astrophysicist thinks we should avoid aliens if at all possible:
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.
And:
I have the utmost respect for Hawking, and I certainly appreciate the depth of his misanthropy (we can be an ugly species, to be sure, and our collective history in terms of how we treat each other isn't exactly a barrel of laughs) -- and, who knows, he may very well be right -- but I'm just not sure we should allow such fear to get the better of us.
We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
I have the utmost respect for Hawking, and I certainly appreciate the depth of his misanthropy (we can be an ugly species, to be sure, and our collective history in terms of how we treat each other isn't exactly a barrel of laughs) -- and, who knows, he may very well be right -- but I'm just not sure we should allow such fear to get the better of us.
Sure, there may be Klingons out there, but what's wrong with Vulcans? And didn't we meet them first? Those creatures from Independence Day were nasty, true, but the ones in Close Encounters seemed fine.
So who really knows?
Alright... I'm making light of this. But who, even Hawking, is to say that a more advanced specied wouldn't be more, well, civilized, more humane, than we've ever been? Shouldn't we be open to that possibility?
No comments:
Post a Comment