Media outlets, NASA, and the Internet are all abuzz this week with talk of extraterrestrial forms of life.
In a London Associated Press story, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking recently warned that while aliens likely are out there, it’s not a good idea to try to contact them. In fact, it might be dangerous to do so.
The announcement came as Discovery Channel was about to broadcast the documentary “Stephen Hawking’s Universe,” and he likened advanced life forms arriving on Earth to Christopher Columbus discovering the Americas and noted the poor outcome for American Indians.
Hawking’s announcement immediately made big waves on Internet forums and blogs where people interested in the subjects of UFOs and ETs could not type fast enough. Some thought Hawking had a fair point but as Open Minds Forum “Garuda” posted, “Stephen Hawking is without a doubt one of the most brilliant minds alive on the planet today. His fields of expertise, however, have to do with mathematics and theoretical physics. He has no qualifications whatsoever to relevantly speculate about how extraterrestrials might behave, and, quite frankly, his statement just confirms that.”
Meanwhile, NASA held a news media teleconference Wednesday and said the distinguished panel would discuss astrobiology research, including evidence of extraterrestrial life, the search for life on Mars, and the study of life beginnings on Earth. Also discussed was the possibility of other planets in the cosmos that could be habitable as well as potential technology research.
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