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Since at least 2010, Hawking has spoken publicly about his fears that an advanced alien civilization would have no problem wiping out the human race the way a human might wipe out a colony of ants. At the media event announcing the new project, he noted that human beings have a terrible history of mistreating, and even massacring, other human cultures that are less technologically advanced — why would an alien civilization be any different?
And yet, it seems Hawking's desire to know if there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe trumps his fears. Today (July 20), he was part of a public announcement for a new initiative called Breakthrough Listen, which organizers said will be the most powerful search ever initiated for signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
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Jill Tarter, former director of the Center for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) also has expressed opinions about alien civilizations that are in stark contrast to Hawking's."While Sir Stephen Hawking warned that alien life might try to conquer or colonize Earth, I respectfully disagree," Tarter said in a statement in 2012. "If aliens were to come here, it would be simply to explore. Considering the age of the universe, we probably wouldn't be their first extraterrestrial encounter, either.
"If aliens were able to visit Earth, that would mean they would have technological capabilities sophisticated enough not to need slaves, food or other planets," she added.
So, who's right, Jill Tarter, or Stephen Hawking? Will advanced aliens have no need of human popplers, or will survivors of the Centauran Human Harvest & BBQ of 2057 call this moment, "Pulling a Hawking?"
See also our earlier stories: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100 Million "Breakthrough Listen" SETI Project and More Warnings of an AI Doomsday — This Time From Stephen Hawking.
Original Submission
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 24 2015, @01:25PM
As I said the last time we discussed this. Relativity is a bitch and so is SNR. At this point in time it is a waste of resources to 'search for aliens'. Upgrading the equipment to do better science? Sure thing. Looking for little green men? If you happen across them fine. But I would not spend time doing it.
It would be something like 150 years to get to the nearest solar system (10 if we could go light speed which we cant). Then that assumes there is anything in that solar system.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday July 24 2015, @03:33PM
Well, if you do astronomy, SETI comes almost for free-it's mostly just re-analysis of existing data with an eye towards intelligent signals. And there is the distinct possibility that alien life might be generating signals we could detect. Sure, we're unlikely to detect planetary TV broadcasts across interstellar distances, especially with current technology, but there's always the possibility of detecting well-ordered "noise" from large-scale industrial processes, intentional interstellar communication beacons, and even targeted signals from races with better detection technology that have already identified us as a life-bearing world and are hoping to initiate communication. After all our own planet-detecting technology is still in its infancy, and we're already posed to be able to detect probable living worlds from their atmospheric composition within a few decades, it's not unreasonable to assume that any nearby alien races with which we might communicate are already well aware of us, at least as a living planet, and possibly even as one harboring intelligent life.
And if we are detected by a race that's even remotely interested in alien life, then they probably have a gravitational-lens telescope focused on us - simply because they are so cheap and easy to build, especially for a race that's presumably far more technologically advanced than us. And such a device can be trivially adapted to send an extremely tight-beam signal to us, so if they have any interest in contacting us there should be at least periodic signals coming our way that have a decent SNR