Is it true that Stephen Hawking warned humanity about the dangers of contact with alien civilizations?

Many have heard that the famous British physicist Stephen Hawking warned people about the dangers of trying to interact with extraterrestrial civilizations. We decided to check whether the scientist made such statements.

Known for its interest in aliens and other paranormal phenomena, the Ren-TV channel has more than once made reference to the words of the famous physicist: “Meeting humanity with an advanced civilization may be like the meeting of Native Americans with Columbus."Contact with an alien, smarter or stronger civilization can destroy humanity", "Alien Even Stephen Hawking did not rule out the origin of the asteroid [Oumuamua." In addition to the TV channel, which is also known for promoting mysticism and pseudoscientific theories, whose host, the author of the film about the flat Earth, received in 2017, the TEFI Prize (albeit for a different project), the famous physicist writes about such statements Lenta.ru And "Moskovsky Komsomolets".

Stephen Hawking - British theoretical physicist, cosmologist and astrophysicist, purchased gained worldwide fame thanks to the popular science book A Brief History of Time. This work was on The Sunday Times bestseller list for 237 weeks. The physicist, due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, moved in a wheelchair since the 1960s and communicated using a speech synthesizer.

For many years, scientists have been sending evidence of our civilization into space in the hope that interplanetary contact will take place. On a gold record Voyager contains greetings in 55 languages, sounds of nature and technology, photographs of the most important achievements of mankind, as well as the coordinates of our planet. The record was sent into space in 1977 on two space probes: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. According to scientists’ calculations, scientific equipment began to gradually turn off back in 2020, and by 2025 all on-board instruments will stop working. To date, there is no evidence that the records have reached any recipient.

Hawking saw the prospects for the planet's population in space flights, since thoughtthat life on Earth is in danger due to the risk of nuclear war, the emergence of genetically modified viruses, future overpopulation and problems associated with climate change.

Back in 2017, the scientist expressed the assumption that alien colonization will be undertaken quite soon: within 30 years the first settlers will be able to settle on the Moon, and after 50 years - on Mars. In addition to the planets of the Solar System, he noted a likely candidate in the Alpha Centauri system - the exoplanet Proxima b.

And although Stephen Hawking actively supported the idea of ​​​​colonizing other planets, he advised humanity to refrain from trying to make contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. “If inhabitants of other worlds arrive, the consequences may be the same as for the Indians during Columbus’s arrival in America, that is, not the best,” - warned he is in 2010. Upon receiving an alien signal, the physicist offered to hide, and not to provide a warm welcome, since the arrivals may well turn out to be space marauders.

At the same time, unlike Hollywood screenwriters, the physicist thoughtthat alien life forms are most likely represented not by humanoid creatures, but by microbes. Also he doesn't excluded the presence of many creatures without intelligence. Speaking about future meetings with an alien civilization, the physicist also jokingly advised: “If an alien from another planet extends his hand to you, do not shake it. It may be made of antimatter. You will both disappear in a monstrous flash of light."

Thus, Hawking did believe that alien contact could someday be established. True, the British physicist did not consider it unequivocally useful and safe for the inhabitants of our planet.

Is it true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Stephen Hawking. Life among the stars
2. Hawking radiation: Physicist Hadi Godazgar on the Big Bang, black hole radiation and Hawking's information paradox
3. Is there God, aliens and the future of humanity? Stephen Hawking answers