Stephen Hawking hates the Combines

[MJ12]

Aliens may exist but mankind should avoid contact with them as the consequences could be devastating, British scientist Stephen Hawking warned Sunday.
"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," said the astrophysicist in a new television series, according to British media reports.
The programmes depict an imagined universe featuring alien life forms in huge spaceships on the hunt for resources after draining their own planet dry.

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach," warned Hawking.

On the probability of alien life existing, he says: "To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational.
"The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."
Glowing squid-like creatures, herds of herbivores that can hang onto a cliff face and bright yellow predators that kill their prey with stinging tails are among the creatures that stalk the scientist's fantastical cosmos.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100425/sc_afp/scienceastronomyextraterrestrialhawking

 

[DEATHMASTER]

"To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational."

I like this guy. Before having read that even.

 

[VirusType2]

i think alians are just serching for frends.

 

[Higlac]

I could have sworn that I just saw this thread. But either way, I thought it was interesting.

 

[Bob_Marley]

i think alians are just serching for frends.

Possibly, but if they're not we'd be pretty boned.

IIRC current conventional thinking is that any aliens we come into contact with would be at least 5,000 years in advance of us in technology terms. Which means if they were hostile it'd be the equivelant of a spears against nuclear weapons.

To be honest, I hope we don't have contact with aliens for a good, long time.

 

[Krynn72]

I hope we have contact with them this week. Why put off the inevitable?

 

[Remus]

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach," warned Hawking.

Nothing to worry about. What he's describing is actually the future Terran Empire.

 

[VirusType2]

The Galaxy.

Looks awesome enough, right? Our Sun is a tiny spec that you can't even see in this image, and about 1,000,000 Earths would fit inside the Sun. Incredible things must be everywhere.

Over there on the left - that's where the purple aliens live.

 

[15357]

Nothing to worry about. What he's describing is actually the future Terran Empire.

My man, you and I see the same future.

Have you ever played a space strategy thing and sat in your own homeworld the entire game?, not very interesting or useful is it?, nononono!, you expand, you keep expanding, you expand while building up colonies to help further expansion, you keep sending more and more colony pods/ships out and you build more, and when you come across aliens you ****ing burn their colonies to ashes and then drop yours right ontop of the ruins, and you keep doing it till that race is extinct and you claim all their worlds. You risk countless human lives to push the boundaries of humanity, you lose colony ships and all sorts in the effort just to reach the next glimmering gem in the heavens just so you can eventually send a ship from there to the next furthest, you take risks with human lives, you don't ****ing shut your operations down and sit around in a ****ing mopey miserable inaction just because one ****ing shuttle explodes and kills the greatest humans ever, those who were willing to lose it all for one small tiny little advancement that pushes humanity that one little step closer to our rightful goddamn domination of all creation, no, you praise their sacrifice as an act in the service of the ONLY human endeavour worthy of praise.

Millions upon millions of human beings shall die, and they shall die gladly, they shall die willingly, so that mankind may conquer and expand and live happy happy lives till the end of time where there shall be no aliens but only Man and His colonies. If we have to rain hellfire upon a sentient race to expand, we'll unleash nuclear Armageddon on them.

Until peace everlasting, through the death of the Alien, is achieved, in eternal vigilance we must stand, for the glory of all mankind.

 

[99.vikram]

Millions upon millions of human beings shall die, and they shall die gladly, they shall die willingly, so that mankind may conquer and expand and live happy happy lives till the end of time where there shall be no aliens but only Man and His colonies.

There will be wars, sure, but I bet that capitalists will happily cut deals with aliens to build crazy new products and services for both human and alien consumption. Money > Patriotism.

Most likely we will find a way to mate with them (or invent one if we can't, Rule 34) and the entire universe will abound with our interracial freak children.

 

[Gargantou]

Numbers, when I am the God-Emperor of the human empire, your descendants shall be the first to be sacrificed for the greater good.

 

[VirusType2]

I think there is a very high chance we can EMP these ****ers out of the sky and render their ship disabled. And they will probably be incapacitated and off life support (which they will surely require), if not killed from the crash.

Then we can study and understand their space traveling technology and use it for our own purposes, all while learning vital information about this alien species. What they eat, what they breathe, all kinds of crucial intelligence.

 

[Gargantou]

As far as I know there is actually proper EMP shielding technologies in development(or do they exist already? Not sure) so I don't really buy that we can EMP them out of the sky, if they are as stated earlier in the thread, 5,000 years more advanced than us then it's very probable they have good shielding against EMPs and most of our tools for warfare.

 

[VirusType2]

Well, maybe. You got me thinking. A force shield may be possible as well. Because as you know, the Earth has a powerful electromagnetic field, but did you know that it deflects most of the energy from the Sun? It's called the magnetosphere.

Check out the illustration: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Magnetosphere_rendition.jpg


While I don't know that the force shield would protect them from ordinance striking their craft (they may have other measures to deal with that), I believe a powerful enough one would shield them from nuclear radiation and, I expect, energy beams like lasers:

Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (LASER or laser) is a mechanism for emitting electromagnetic radiation


However, I think we still have one secret weapon. We may be able to destroy them entirely by playing Britney Spears really loud.

Unfortunately, it might take us out with it. A sinister weapon that should not exist.

 

[15357]

Most likely we will find a way to mate with them (or invent one if we can't, Rule 34) and the entire universe will abound with our interracial freak children.

Oh Jesus Christ. When I see some pervert trying to get it on with some xenos freak I'm going to blow his head off. Bestiality should be illegal, unless it's really, really hot.

Numbers, when I am the God-Emperor of the human empire, your descendants shall be the first to be sacrificed for the greater good.

For the greater good, my liege. Just make a monument of us or something.


Anyway, do you guys seriously think that any alien craft would be able to survive a direct hit from a 100-megaton thermonuclear warhead? Unless it's huge of course, and we'll have to proceed Project XK-PLUTO style: nuke them some more until it reaches 300+ megatons of thermonuclear glory.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

There's more than 10 Hitlers there. And I'm JUST talking about earth.

 

[nurizeko]

My man, you and I see the same future.



Millions upon millions of human beings shall die, and they shall die gladly, they shall die willingly, so that mankind may conquer and expand and live happy happy lives till the end of time where there shall be no aliens but only Man and His colonies. If we have to rain hellfire upon a sentient race to expand, we'll unleash nuclear Armageddon on them.

Until peace everlasting, through the death of the Alien, is achieved, in eternal vigilance we must stand, for the glory of all mankind.

So say we all!

Terra eternus victoria , clementia super totus.

 

[Lucid]

Stephen Hawking knows whats up.

He shall be our savior when the shit goes down.

 

[Remus]

Anyway, do you guys seriously think that any alien craft would be able to survive a direct hit from a 100-megaton thermonuclear warhead? Unless it's huge of course, and we'll have to proceed Project XK-PLUTO style: nuke them some more until it reaches 300+ megatons of thermonuclear glory.

Well from all the documentaries I've seen on the subject of "force-fields", according to our current understanding movie style force fields that can protect ships from almost anything, are not possible.

To be fully protected you would need a combination of multiple "shields": countermeasures/interceptors against projectiles, armor plating with high heat tolerance against lasers, magnetic shields against particle beams/plasma projectiles.

So against a nuclear missile an alien ship that didn't have Hollywood force-fields, would have to do one of the following: intercept/destroy the missile, teleport the missile elsewhere, hack the on board guidance system and send it back to home base (my favorite).

 

[nurizeko]

Well from all the documentaries I've seen on the subject of "force-fields", according to our current understanding movie style force fields that can protect ships from almost anything, are not possible.

To be fully protected you would need a combination of multiple "shields": countermeasures/interceptors against projectiles, armor plating with high heat tolerance against lasers, magnetic shields against particle beams/plasma projectiles.

So against a nuclear missile an alien ship that didn't have Hollywood force-fields, would have to do one of the following: intercept/destroy the missile, teleport the missile elsewhere, hack the on board guidance system and send it back to home base (my favorite).

The good thing about space is that it is big and empty so you could probably see a nuke coming at you, aim your hull full of PDG's in its general direction and open up until it is shot down.

Think the new BSG.

 

[flamingdts]

Meh, why do we care so much.

It's not like civilization will survive long enough to develop space travel. And I highly doubt we will see aliens in the next 100 years (jinx in progress).

 

[Tyguy]

IIRC current conventional thinking is that any aliens we come into contact with would be at least 5,000 years in advance of us in technology terms. Which means if they were hostile it'd be the equivelant of a spears against nuclear weapons.

Five thousand years is an embarrassingly naive assumption. We have species on our own planet who differ by MILLIONS of years of existence. To assume there are other forms of intelligent life out there is to assume that they are far more likely to be much more advanced then us. Granted it took time for enough supernovae to produce the necessary metals needed for life, odds are that the difference between any two static life forms on separate planets is in the realm of millions of years.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Meh, why do we care so much.

It's not like civilization will survive long enough to develop space travel.

The only piece of data available to us contradicts your statement.

 

[Apocalypse89]

Trying to hit a spacecraft belonging to a civilization advanced enough to invent practical interstellar travel with a 100 megaton nuke, would probably be a bit like trying to destroy a modern aircraft carrier(with a full air wing and escort ships) by ramming it with a medieval wooden ship filled with gunpowder.

 

[Ennui]

I saw this on Reddit a few days ago. I'm really looking forward to the Discovery series that's coming in May that Hawking produced which is what this article is about. I've been saying for years that if we ever contact aliens it's gonna be bad ****ing news for us - I've even made the same comparison to Europeans and the New World. I have to say it's quite esteem boosting to see my argument backed up by someone like Stephen Hawking.

 

[Warped]

We're not ready to meet them yet, thats my opinion. This world is too far divided

 

[Remus]

Is that form Supreme Commander?

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Whatever happened to energy-mass converters, would an alien race need to be nomadic?

 

[The Monkey]

How could a civilization possibly have depleted their resources while still having the ability of cross-galactic travel? I think every civilization that has made the effort of getting here will have friendly intentions.

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

The only piece of data available to us contradicts your statement.

Piece of data about what? Your response is too vague; your argument is invalid. And besides, my hair is a bird.

Trying to hit a spacecraft belonging to a civilization advanced enough to invent practical interstellar travel with a 100 megaton nuke, would probably be a bit like trying to destroy a modern aircraft carrier(with a full air wing and escort ships) by ramming it with a medieval wooden ship filled with gunpowder.

Which is precisely why it's going to *work*! Also it should be mentioned that your analogy seems to be off by a few orders of magnitude. Perhaps it could be more like sending a child with a squeaky hammer out swimming after it.

 

[99.vikram]

How could a civilization possibly have depleted their resources while still having the ability of cross-galactic travel? I think every civilization that has made the effort of getting here will have friendly intentions.

It's possible that new energy sources may give near unlimited power, but if that isn't true we're f*cked. All of our current theories suggest that wormhole and warp drives will be extremely energy-expensive (see the Alcubierre drive.)

Aliens may not want our planetary resources, they may simply use up our solar system as matter-fuel.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Piece of data about what? Your response is too vague; your argument is invalid. And besides, my hair is a bird.

The only example of a sentient civilization is us, and we've developed space flight. So, all available data says that civilizations can survive long enough to develop space flight.

 

[<RJMC>]

movies already told me that,do something more usefull like longer lasting batteries

 

[fishdbaz]

Is anyone else reminded of Independence Day? Guys, we could just disable their advanced defenses with a computer virus, duh.

 

[<RJMC>]

Is anyone else reminded of Independence Day? Guys, we could just disable their advanced defenses with a computer virus, duh.

alien invader zrjhukak: what is this a message from the earthlings?*click*message*

message:+++***free stream gamez from stream free 100 legal! halflife3,modern warfare 3,crysys4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***+++ hhtpp\\lolfreesteam***.

alien invader zrjhukak: oh nice free steam games!

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

The only example of a sentient civilization is us, and we've developed space flight. So, all available data says that civilizations can survive long enough to develop space flight.

Ha, he said space travel. I'm wise to your sheeny game! Unless you don't think "space travel" implies extrasolar space travel, which is certainly what flamingdts was implying. Hell, it's hard enough to imagine us going to Mars but I'm sure we possess the technology to get there. The question is really how long does a civilization have to maintain itself in order to achieve the technology to visit from somewhere inhabitable and populated to us, I guess.

 

[kupocake]

Am I right in thinking we've got three pages into a Half-Life 2 dot net space discussion without a single mention of a space-elevator? Didn't we do well.

There's nothing to suggest that alien life is out there, but it's one of the few leaps of 'faith' I would take. I just think that the rather sad likelihood is that contact between races is essentially impossible, and the best we can hope for is the far off glimmer of 'hello' from places we could never hope to reach. Just because all this other stuff is out there, doesn't mean we can ever do any more than dream about being there.

 

[AKIRA]

I'm going to say that Aliens will contact us before we contact them.

Here's why:

If any alien race is around us that means there technology as said before in this thread at least 5,000 years ahead of us. This means that they could or have already been here and are just observing us. Our dated technology is far less advanced then theirs to even have the faintest idea that they're around.

Our signals that we send out are probably as effective as trying to contact someone on pluto with a laser pen.

My belief is that Aliens are already here and observing us and they may or may not choose to show themselves at any moment.

Whether they destroy us or enlighten us is another story.

In any extent, getting into contact with Aliens will spell disaster for religion

 

[Remus]

Am I right in thinking we've got three pages into a Half-Life 2 dot net space discussion without a single mention of a space-elevator? Didn't we do well.

It wasn't mentioned because it's not relevant to this discussion. If it was relevant you can be sure I would've brought it up.

Also, so much pessimism in this thread... I don't remember who said this but anyway: "If the laws of physics don't forbid something, we will end up doing it".

 

[VirusType2]

Hell, it's hard enough to imagine us going to Mars but I'm sure we possess the technology to get there.

If I am remembering this right - NASA had full plans to visit Mars since the 1960's - what I mean is they expected to be able to do it soon.

As you said though, yeah it is well within the realm of possibility that we can go to Mars.

This might be of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_of_Mars


Anyway, I believe that WE will be the alien race. We will be discovering other planets with life. Whether the life there has the intelligence to even realize they themselves exist is ... (drawing a blank)

Our planet and solar system is quite special. I believe that in the seemingly unlimited vastness of space, there are unlimited 'other' special planets, but I think they are likely to be very distant from each other. Sure, maybe planetary life is not as rare or special as I think, but as far as we've seen, it currently has proven itself to be.


If life on planets is indeed rare, then I would expect a space traveling alien race that discovers us to treat life here with tremendous value. With an ability to travel unimaginable distances quickly, life may prove to be common, relatively speaking. However, we will still be unique life forms, and I believe that will be of great interest to an alien visitor. You can get resources on just about any rock out there.

Lets just hope their ship doesn't run on water or carbon (or stars).