Esteemed professor advises us to quietly switch off the 'Hi there!' signals to deep space...

Legendary astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has said that we might be less-than-delighted with our search for extra-terrestrial intelligence if we continue to keep inviting it to Earth via probes and specially-crafted projects such as SETI.

In a new series for the Discovery channel, Hawking acknowledges that while it is perfectly likely that life exists beyond our planet, it may not pay a visit in the friendly form of creatures depicted in Hollywood fare such as E.T., The Day The Earth Stood Still, Starman, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and various other tales of amicable inter-planetary contact.

"We only have to look at ourselves," Hawking explains. "to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet...If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

Hawking believes a strong probability that a more advanced species might simply raid Earth for resources and move on, as depicted in SF fare such as 'V', Independence Day and They Live, among hundreds of others.

BBC

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