Is Stephen Hawking ****ing with us?
 

Hawking: Aliens may pose risks to Earth - Space- msnbc.com

In a nutshell, he says aliens are almost certainly out there but interacting with them would be dangerous....cuz they're probably smarter then us and they'll kill us all for our land.

Is he fucking with us? I guess I believe him, but why do they want our planet? Its already kinda damaged and they haven't used any of the planets around us.....to the extent of my knoweledge. Unless these aliens are the space equivelant of a kid taking out ants with a magnifying glass, I figure they wouldn't bother with us.

whether aliens are around or not and whether they'll show up in my lifetime, my guess is as good as anyone's, but his view seems pretty reasonable. that it'd be like columbus discovering the americas, i mean

Regardless, he's freaking out a lot of people. Initial reaction reading that is OMG!!!11 ALIENS IZ GOING TA KILL MEH!!!!111 Does he think we're about to interact with aliens and he's gotta stop us or is he doing for shiits and giggles (shiggles)?
Or maybe they don't care.

I'm hoping for the eventual annihilation of the human race. I figure we had a good run, but we pretty much suck.

I'd say any civilization that advanced would be capable of reasonable thought and wouldn't resort to barbarity. I mean we're screwed as a race but most people in this country recognize what happened to the Native Americans was wrong.

You know you don't meant that.

I know I often refer to myself as a misantrhopist, but I don't take it to that extreme.

Guys, this is going to be the best movie ever.

Knowing Stephen Hawking and his sense of humor he's just taking the piss.

there is no sound reason to believe a technologically advanced species is also one which features a moral system in which our existence as a species is respected

perhaps they would find it morally preferential to destroy us to protect our planet (assuming they have morals at all)

that said, if they do have morals, chances are they are not global. look at our species - there is no single moral system. there is really no way to guess how aliens would treat us upon contact. the safest option therefore is to try and be alone as long as possible. which we've not had a problem with so far

Believing another intelligent civilization millions upon millions of light-years away would come all the way to our planet simply to destroy us is completely ludicrous to me. A civilization that intelligent and advance would have no need for violence and would almost certainly not have someone so reckless and barbarian represent their existence. Instead I imagine they are looking for other intelligent life to learn from one another. Acknowledging that we are not alone in this vast and seemingly endless universe seems much more important that conquering at this point.

Just because aliens have no use for violence among themselves doesn't mean they would have mercy on those they deem inferior.

But I wouldn't worry, the odds of an alien civilization coming into contact with us during any of our lifetimes is extremely dim.