Why Stephen Hawking Doesn't Want Us to Reply to Alien Signals

The scientific world was shocked when rumors about extra-terrestrial signals were detected earlier this year. Some say it must by the alien's way of reaching out to the human race, but astrophysicist Stephen Hawking is repeatedly warning scientists to be careful in responding back to these "messages."

Hawking believes that there could be other intelligent beings off the Earth. However, he warns that reaching out to them may cause a catastrophy because he also thought they could dangerous, thus he is warning people not to respond to alien signals if indeed there's any detected.

His views on communicating with extra-terrestrial beings were shared through a new film called Stephen Hawking's Most Favorite Places. In the film, he emphasized that there could be "perils" in sending out communication signals intended to reach out to other planetary systems because first and foremost, mankind doesn't know who could be out there. And if ever there's another race out in space, their intentions towards Earth might also be questionable, according to a report by The Guardian.

Other experts agree with Hawking in this, mankind shouldn't delve too deep into something they know much about. There is a danger in things they do not fully understand including extraterrestrial beings, in case they really do exist. Hawking fear that if men send out signals, they might fire an intergalactic defense system upon us and obliterate the Earth. The professor believes that they could be more advanced that mankind.

Hawking also expressed that men may mean less than a bacteria to the extra-terrestrial forces making it easy for them to decide on devastating actions towards the Earth. The professor advised researchers focused on sending signals to extra-terrestrials to "lay low" but the scientists also believe that it's now too late. Hawking is only one of the growing numbers of scientists who hopes that aliens don't find the human civilization sooner.

"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," astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said in a statement. "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet," Hawking added.

Meanwhile, other people are surprised that one of the most intelligent people alive like Hawking "freaks out" about aliens, especially the group called Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) whose opinion is the opposite of Hawking's. 

"We have no clue as to the intentions of putative extraterrestrials " Seth Shostak, director for SETI said in a statement. "Perhaps they live in a utopian Shangri-La similar to the one we've always said we want for ourselves, a place that values peace as well as the neighbors," Shostak added.

Shostak also added that since World War 2, mankind has been sending signals and high-frequency communications to space, these signals can also be construed as a means to communicate to alien beings.

But according to SETI, despite the urging of Hawking, there is a far bigger number of scientists who supports the search for life in the universe and deeper space explorations; one good example is Elon Musk's colonization of Mars.