Posted on 04/25/2010 11:08:20 PM PDT by nickcarraway
British physicist Stephen Hawking, the brilliant man who wrote "A Brief History of Time," says aliens probably exist and frets that if they discover Earth their intentions might be less like the film, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and more like the book, "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." In the book, alien bureaucrats determine the Earth should be demolished to make way for space highway and blow the Earth up. Sorry. Nothing personal. Prepare to die.
It's not such a crazy thought, says Hawking, in a Discovery Channel series. "To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational," he said.
Then, citing the example of Christopher Columbus' landing in the Americas and colonizing indigenous tribes, Hawking concluded efforts to contact alien races may well be "too risky."
"We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet," he said. "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 colonise whatever planets they can reach."
Sounds like the Vikings. Or Romans. Or, yes, Spaniards. [Read Hawking's biography.]
Meanwhile, enjoy this trailer from the "Hitchhiker's" film...
As to the failure of this administration in recognizing how a vital, properly funded and supported space program is to the future generations of this nation.... epic fail on their part.
You mean aliens could be even WORSE than Democrats?
Massive fail. I just hope the aliens find the government more tasty than the voting public.
This may be a double edge sword, both very good and very bad.
I've read articles about that. A lot of people are nervous about the prospects of artificial intelligence becoming a reality. I can't say that I blame them. Our machines could quickly become smarter than we are. Remember HAL from "2001: A Space Odyssey"?
Men will develop these machines, and it's up to them to program them in such a way that they're benign and beneficial intelligences.
But, we depend upon the morals and ethics of those people to protect mankind from a potentially deadly outcome. Who knows if it might grow beyond their capacity to control? The movie, "The Matrix" comes to mind.
I’ve been a consumer of sci-fy over the years.... with that in mind.... imagine... it just may be that an invading civilization may be much like the one coming across our southern border now. Undereducated, suppressed by their government, looking for greater riches than what they are “allowed” in their current environment. Who’s to say that such “invaders” will be technologically superior? They may have access to tools and instruments created by others at their disposal (i.e., guns/weaponry), yet be the worker ants and not the creators of said technology. Just saying that the invaders may not be the brainiacs... perhaps the brainiacs slaves.
An interesting premise. Much like China and Russia using Iran and North Korea as proxies. Or to a lesser extent, the Russians using conscripts in their armies.
I would even take it one step further. Perhaps the government knows that aliens exist and disclosure is imminent. This is a threat to the establishment. Now if I’m the government I’m generating fear and loathing of all things alien so when the aliens do show themselves, I’ll have the people so frightened they will run to me and keep me in power while I fight the ‘evil aliens’ /tinfoil off :)
bflr
No way of evaluating alien motives or capabilities until actual interaction is documented. Why wouldn’t an alien group be equivalent to human populations with regard to all subtleties of human frailty and strength? Lies, obfuscation, jealousy....loyalties, patriotism, faith?
First, like I said a technologically advanced race is not going to come here. And if they do come here, they are not going to smash into the desert. It defies logic.
The Roswell incident isn't the "be all - end all" of the UFO phenomenon, but it is the most famous. There have been hundreds of thousands of other incidents and reported sightings of these craft, many of them by reliable and competent witnesses. Lots of them are military pilots and aviation professionals. Over the last 60-odd years, too many of these credible reports have been compiled to easily dismiss.
The Roswell incident isn't even the best of the lot. There are lots more interesting, and better documented stories than Roswell. You don't hear about most of them, only because the Roswell thing exploded into the press, and grabbed the attention of the whole country before the military could put the brakes on it.
They learned a big lesson from that one incident, and subsequent military interaction with UFOs was done under much tighter control.
As to your opinion that "a technologically advanced race is not going to come here", well, that's just an assertion - an opinion. Who knows what reasons an advanced race would have for coming here? There are lots that I can think of, off the top of my head. An advanced extraterrestrial race could well have very good reasons for coming here.
You could say the same thing about explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries. They traveled long distances to places that they had zero knowledge of, and made contact with civilizations that were much less advanced than they were. We know what their motivations were. Perhaps an advanced race of aliens might have a similar motivation. Perhaps they're simply cataloging alien civilizations. A scientific mission. Who knows?
The point is, an advanced race might be compelled to visit this planet for their reasons of their own.
And, like I said in an earlier post, the craft that crashed in the desert outside Roswell could have been a surveillance craft that experienced a mechanical malfunction. Could have happened. It happens to all technical systems.
Anyway, it's stimulating conversation. I know that you feel strongly that logic defies the whole concept of alien visitation, but that's cool. I'm enjoying the conversation.
It’s all speculation. It could be that the only other ‘life’ in the universe exists as ionized gas. On the other hand it could be that at some point back in our ancient history some enterprising Atlanteans left earth and colonized Sirius. No way to know until we meet em.
“Anyway, it’s stimulating conversation. I know that you feel strongly that logic defies the whole concept of alien visitation, but that’s cool. I’m enjoying the conversation”
Me too. This is why I love Freerepublic. You can actually have intelligent, thought provoking conversation :)
They may have access to tools and instruments created by others at their disposal (i.e., guns/weaponry), yet be the worker ants and not the creators of said technology.
Just saying that the invaders may not be the brainiacs... perhaps the brainiacs slaves.
I've made the same point on the thread. I asked another poster whether third world, or muslim countries were any more "advanced" because they've gained access to our modern technology.
Of course, they're not. They've been suddenly catapulted into the space age, artificially. Look at how they use our technology to advance their barbarian societies and agendas. Our visitors could be them, and not the good guys with Old Glory emblazoned on their ships.
Hey ... we have the makings of a great screenplay in this thread!
Don’t get me wrong. I would love for it all to be true. A peaceful, advanced race coming to say hi. And please don’t mistake my skepticism for close mindedness. I willing to admit the possibility exists. I just don’t know. Of course I’m judging these hypothetical aliens by human standards. Right off the bat that throws a monkey wrench in the whole works. Like a previous poster said, we won’t know until they show up. Anything is possible.
These types of conversations are some of my favorites. Too often, we have to deal with a lot of racket and noise on threads that should go in an intelligent direction.
Still, it's the most thought-provoking site I know of. Enjoying threads like this one make dealing with the "racket" well worth it.
That's true. We could make the first thinking man's ET flick!
Okay... need to start a thread... construct the characters... could be a lot of fun!
Agreed. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Freepers are some of the most intelligent people on the internet.
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