We speculate how we would react if a lifeform that is technically more advanced than humans visited the earth. Should we contemplate how this lifeform would react to us? Stephen Hawkings had described a possibility that should make us wary.
In his later years, Hawking repeatedly warned about the dangers of humankind meeting alien civilizations. In his 2010 documentary series Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, he suggested that alien civilizations sufficiently advanced to visit Earth may be hostile. Does Alien Life Pose a Danger? Extract “Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach,” he said. “Who knows what the limits would be?” And in the 2016 documentary Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places, Hawking reiterated his views: “Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well.”
