Hawking has warned that Earth should be wary about answering alien signals. He has suggested in a recent online short film about the Universe that advanced civilisations that might try to contact us, might attempt to colonise Earth. The chilling warning came in the film, in which Hawking travelled to a planet 16 light years away called Gliese 832c, which he believes could be home to intelligent life. Movies and pop culture might have painted a very interesting picture of what aliens might look like or ways in which they might communication or just how bizarre human lifestyle could sound to them - Hawking, however, paints a fearsome picture. He says that if we were to come face to face with an advanced civilisation - it could be similar to when the “Native Americans first encountered Christopher Columbus – and that didn't turn out so well.”
In the film titled Stephen Hawking’s Favourite Places, he says, “Gazing at the stars I always imagined there was someone up there looking back. As I grow older I am more convinced than ever that we are not alone. After a lifetime of wondering, I am helping to lead a new global effort to find out. The Breakthrough Listen project will scan the nearest million stars for signs of life, but I know just the place to start looking. One day we might receive a signal from a planet like Gliese 832c, but we should be wary of answering back.” In the movie, he visits the deep super massive black hole, Sagittarius A* in the film and then travels to Gliese 832c which has been defined as a ‘super-Earth’ being at least five times as massive as Earth itself. Hawking narrates that the planet is most Earth-like exoplanet in the universe. He explains that the planet could be the best place for potential extraterrestrial life.
While there, he says, “In recent years, we have found thousands of planets outside our solar system. Some were burning hell caves of fire and lava, while others are solid diamond made of dying stars. But some are like home and incredibly, we found one only 16 light years away right on our doorstep.” He added, “Finding intelligent life would be the single greatest discovery in history - it would force us to change. We would have to give up the idea that we are unique and start acting with more compassion and humility.” International astronomers have pointed out that the exoplanet is in the star Gliese 832c’s 'habitable zone.’ This makes the planet in just the right range of distances that could allow liquid water to exist on a world's surface. In the year 2014, Robert Wittenmyer from the University of New South Wales in Australia along with his team had discovered Gliese 832c.
They reportedly spotted tiny wobbles that the planet's gravity induces in the motion of its host star in data gathered by three separate instruments. Wobbles were noticed in data from the University College London Echelle Spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope in Australia, the Carnegie Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan II telescope in Chile and the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) spectrograph, which is part of the European Southern Observatory's 11.8-foot (3.6 meters) telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.
Hawking says, “Here a year only lasts 36 days. Its atmosphere could be thick, smothering the surface in super thick fog or worse, it could have a gravity of its nearby sun. One side is always facing the sun, perhaps not a good place for a picnic after all.” He says that “due to the sun’s light, the foliage on the surface is black and purple. This distant world may also have Earth-like temperatures with abundant liquid water and intelligent animals. And where there is water, there is usually life.” Adding, “From Earth we cannot see what lies on 832C, but if intelligent life has evolved here we should be able to hear it. Using the world’s most sensitive radio telescopes what might we hear? Maybe an alien opera or perhaps a phone call home.”
BEWARE!
With all the knowledge available about Gliese 832c and with many nations making advances in space science - the possibility of making contact with intelligent alien life forms has only increased. Hawking, however, thinks we’re playing a dangerous game by trying to contact them. He believes that “if aliens discovered Earth, they are likely to want to conquer and colonise our planet.” Speaking in an interview, he said, “If aliens visit us, the outcome could be much like when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans.”
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/2...colonise-earth
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Originally Posted by waltky
