If Aliens Come Calling, Stephen Hawking Isn’t Sure We Should Answer

World famous physicist Stephen Hawking is convinced alien life exists somewhere in the universe, but he’s not sure it’s safe for humans to make contact with them because they might prove to be deadly.

Hawking details his quest for extraterrestrial life and his reservations on talking to aliens in his new 25-minute documentary series from Curiosity Stream: Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places.

In the film, Stephen takes viewers on a ride aboard his virtual starship, the SS Hawking, in the voyage of a lifetime exploring thousands of exoplanets outside our solar system, according to the USA Today.

“Some are burning hells, gates of fire and lava, others are solid diamond made in deadly x-rays from a dying star, but some are more like home.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7JZtsHi5Rc

Aboard the virtual starship, Hawking and crew visit Gliese 823c, possibly the closest habitable planet to Earth. The famous physicist says there’s currently no way of knowing if the exoplanet is home to aliens, but if extraterrestrials are found there, we should be cautious in approaching them, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.”

Hawking is repeating statements he made in 2010 when he famously warned humanity about making contact with space aliens saying it might not turn out the way we hope, according to Space.com.

“One day, we might receive a signal from a planet like this. But we should be wary of answering back. Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well.”

Hawking fears Earth’s first contact with an alien species could go badly if the extraterrestrials want to use Earth’s resources for themselves and not for the benefit of mankind, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

“I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach.”

The fear of invading aliens hasn’t stopped Stephen Hawking from endorsing the billionaire Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Starshot project that aims to send a fleet of tiny wafer thin nanocraft on a mission to explore the galaxy.

The tiny spaceships would be outfitted with a solar sail capable of catching laser light beamed from Earth and use it to accelerate to 30 percent the speed of light. Using the still developing technology, the fleet of nanocraft could pass Mars in three days and reach the newly discovered Earth-like world of Proxima b in about 15 years. For comparison, it would take today’s spacecraft about 30,000 years to cover the same distance.

Not every astronomer is afraid of violent space aliens wiping out humanity. Some argue that any civilization technologically advanced enough to make it to Earth must be peaceful and friendly; they would have been studying us for years using the radio and TV signals we’ve been beaming out into space since the 1950s.

These and other thoughts make up Hawking’s new documentary series. Viewers are invited to witness the creation of the universe in the Big Bang, visit the monster black hole at the center of the Milky Way and journey to Gliese 832c.

Hawking launched the docuseries, in part, to educate mankind on the need to become a multiplanet species. The physicist notes that Earth is vulnerable to a meteor strike and liable to be damaged by massive solar storms that could send civilization back to the stone age.

The only way to guarantee the survival of humanity is to spread out into space and colonize the stars.

[Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images]