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Hawking backs venture to listen for aliens


Waspie_Dwarf

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Prof Stephen Hawking backs venture to listen for aliens

Prof Stephen Hawking has launched a new effort to answer the question of whether there is life elsewhere in space.

The venture is said to be the biggest yet in support of the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.

The 10-year effort will listen for broadcast signals from a million of the stars closest to Earth.

The £64m ($100m) initiative was launched by the Breakthough Initiatives group at the Royal Society in London.

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I thought a few years back Hawking had said we should avoid aliens.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8642558.stm

Make your mind up, Stevie!

The difference is between just listening and actively trying to make contact. He supports the former, but warns against the latter.

Cheers,

Badeskov

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The difference is between just listening and actively trying to make contact. He supports the former, but warns against the latter.

Cheers,

Badeskov

Doesn't make sense once we listen to the signal we are going to reply back. Otherwise what's the point on spending millions .

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Doesn't make sense once we listen to the signal we are going to reply back. Otherwise what's the point on spending millions .

Perhaps answering one of the biggest questions facing mankind ?

In case you are wondering, the question is: "are we alone ?"

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Perhaps answering one of the biggest questions facing mankind ?

In case you are wondering, the question is: "are we alone ?"

So we are going to answer the question and then hide?

Edit: Apparently the Breakthrough Listen Project is going to be followed by the Breakthrough Message Project, an attempt to contact aliens. Perhaps Hawking will bow out after the first project to avoid having to admit he can't make his mind up!

Edited by Derek Willis
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Doesn't make sense once we listen to the signal we are going to reply back. Otherwise what's the point on spending millions .

It makes perfect sense.

An analogy to think about.

If there is a lunatic with a gun are you more or less safe if you know he's there so that you can avoid him?

Are you more or less safe if you shout and wave at him?

When it come to aliens Stephen Hawking thinks we should do the first but not the second. No contradiction, no lack of sense and really not that difficult to comprehend.

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So we are going to answer the question and then hide?

We can't hide anymore. We have been advertising our existence ever since we invented radio and radar.

I guess it would be a political question whether to respond or not, but to me the possible benefits is worth the very small risk.

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We can't hide anymore. We have been advertising our existence ever since we invented radio and radar.

I guess it would be a political question whether to respond or not, but to me the possible benefits is worth the very small risk.

I mentioned in the edit to my previous posting that the Breakthrough Listen Project is going to be followed by the Breakthrough Message Project. So there are plans to make contact. Bring it on, I say!

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Doesn't make sense once we listen to the signal we are going to reply back.

Just because we are listening does not mean that we have the intentions of replying back. The good thing about simply listening to a message from another civilization in space is that it confirms that there is, indeed, other forms of sapient entities in this universe aside from us humans.

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It makes perfect sense.

An analogy to think about.

If there is a lunatic with a gun are you more or less safe if you know he's there so that you can avoid him?

Are you more or less safe if you shout and wave at him?

When it come to aliens Stephen Hawking thinks we should do the first but not the second. No contradiction, no lack of sense and really not that difficult to comprehend.

If there is a genius who can cure cancer and show you how to make fusion reactors, should you avoid him?

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If there is a genius who can cure cancer and show you how to make fusion reactors, should you avoid him?

What if this genius has the capacity to do these things but only cares about finding another planet for its resources?

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What if this genius has the capacity to do these things but only cares about finding another planet for its resources?

So are you saying that in the future when we humans explore planets around other stars, that will be our only motive?

I know we have not had a glorious past when it comes to exploration here on Earth, but are we forever condemned by that past?

Or might we learn from our past, and when (if) we come across other species, do it for the right reasons?

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What if this genius has the capacity to do these things but only cares about finding another planet for its resources?

Outside of science fiction, are there any scenario where the collosal cost of mounting an interstellar invasion could possibly be worth it ?

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Outside of science fiction, are there any scenario where the collosal cost of mounting an interstellar invasion could possibly be worth it ?

I agree with this. If a species has the ability and resources to mount an interstellar invasion, would they really be interested in whatever resources are here on Earth?

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They already know we are here, the more advanced ones anyway, and I believe they have already been here. Too many reports from reputable people. If this were a murder trial you would find yourself on death row because of the eye witnesses and other evidence. Good news the ones that have been here so far don't seem to want to kill us but others might.

I'm all for listening just not reponding.

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Outside of science fiction, are there any scenario where the collosal cost of mounting an interstellar invasion could possibly be worth it ?

Prevent what they see as a threat achieving interstellar travel? In which case they could just send drones.
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And if there is a planet like earth was just a few hundreds years ago, it could be teeming with life, yet we wont find out about it. We havent been broadcasting that long in the great scheme of things....yet we were still an intelligent species, someone listening to earth a few hundred years ago would have thought by our silence perhaps, that there was no-one here

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They already know we are here, the more advanced ones anyway,

This is an interesting statement. How do we know, exactly whether or not intelligent civilizations exist elsewhere in the universe? It would be an example of sheer ignorance to say that there is guaranteed to be no highly intelligent entities other than humans in the universe, but to me it seems that you've made a statement of fact when there really isn't any evidence to support such a statement.

and I believe they have already been here. Too many reports from reputable people. If this were a murder trial you would find yourself on death row because of the eye witnesses and other evidence. Good news the ones that have been here so far don't seem to want to kill us but others might.

Here you are comparing two entirely different situations.

There are many reports from reputable people concerning unidentified flying objects, sure... but just because they are "reputable" does not mean that they can't make misidentifications or even lie. This, in my opinion, does not seem to be a very convincing argument in support of a belief.

Secondly, eyewitness testimony is one of the weakest forms of evidence considering it is so prone to error. Humans are not infallible--they are extremely fallible, in fact... hence why there needs to be a large amount of evidence in order for there to be any serious convictions in a court of law.

Edited by nuclearwessel
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Outside of science fiction, are there any scenario where the collosal cost of mounting an interstellar invasion could possibly be worth it ?

Yeah, I don't think a full-scale invasion would be productive, or even possible. Also, I think there must be other ways to defeat a civilization, such as: biological weapons, asteroids turned into missiles, antimatter, nuclear weapons, computer viruses, etc.

Edited by Anomalocaris
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And if there is a planet like earth was just a few hundreds years ago, it could be teeming with life, yet we wont find out about it. We havent been broadcasting that long in the great scheme of things....yet we were still an intelligent species, someone listening to earth a few hundred years ago would have thought by our silence perhaps, that there was no-one here

Good point, although that would be a bit disappointing at the same time. Oh, well :P

Edited by Anomalocaris
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And if there is a planet like earth was just a few hundreds years ago, it could be teeming with life, yet we wont find out about it. We havent been broadcasting that long in the great scheme of things....yet we were still an intelligent species, someone listening to earth a few hundred years ago would have thought by our silence perhaps, that there was no-one here

Off and on, we have been listening in for half a century. I am sure that an alien species would take an interest in a planet like ours (i.e. in the Goldilocks zone of a G-type main sequence star) and keep trying. Eventually, they would hear us.

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Off and on, we have been listening in for half a century. I am sure that an alien species would take an interest in a planet like ours (i.e. in the Goldilocks zone of a G-type main sequence star) and keep trying. Eventually, they would hear us.

Of course finding a planet with non intelligent life and vegetation would be amazing...but there is always the assumption aliens must be advanced in some way. Europa is one of the best candidates for life...(in our ss), but it transmits nothing in the way of intelligent signals

.

Edited by seeder
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What if intelligent aliens use other methods to communicate? and maybe they don't send radio signals into space.

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