The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Steven Hawking: Scaredy Cat

Posted on | April 25, 2010 | 13 Comments

The world-famous astrophysicist warns that, while intelligent life probably exists elsewhere in the universe, we’d do best to avoid contacting them.

But who will warn the aliens to avoid Arizona?

Even a professor of Space Law won’t be able to help those aliens if Sheriff Joe Arpaio locks ’em up.

Category: humor

Comments

13 Responses to “Steven Hawking: Scaredy Cat”

  1. proof
    April 26th, 2010 @ 3:55 am

    Comedian Gallagher says that’s the reason satellites point up when they’re searching for intelligent life!

  2. proof
    April 25th, 2010 @ 10:55 pm

    Comedian Gallagher says that’s the reason satellites point up when they’re searching for intelligent life!

  3. Estragon
    April 26th, 2010 @ 9:50 am

    His point is well made: why would we assume any contacting species would be benevolent? There is absolutely no reason to believe this.

    Hey, why don’t we let our 13-year-old daughters post their personal data on the internet? Why, surely those who wish to contact them would only mean well, right?

  4. Estragon
    April 26th, 2010 @ 4:50 am

    His point is well made: why would we assume any contacting species would be benevolent? There is absolutely no reason to believe this.

    Hey, why don’t we let our 13-year-old daughters post their personal data on the internet? Why, surely those who wish to contact them would only mean well, right?

  5. Illegal Alien
    April 26th, 2010 @ 3:26 pm

    No, his point is silly, because why would we assume that any sufficiently advanced species would not be able to find us regardless of whether or not we tried to contact them? We spew tv radio signals all over the place, set off nuclear weapons, alter the chemistry of the atmosphere and the reflectivity of the planet’s surface and so forth. Might as well jump up and down and scream “here we are”. If “They” are out there, and if “They” hold ill will for us, “They” will find us, or not. Worry about the aliens we CAN do something about!

  6. Illegal Alien
    April 26th, 2010 @ 10:26 am

    No, his point is silly, because why would we assume that any sufficiently advanced species would not be able to find us regardless of whether or not we tried to contact them? We spew tv radio signals all over the place, set off nuclear weapons, alter the chemistry of the atmosphere and the reflectivity of the planet’s surface and so forth. Might as well jump up and down and scream “here we are”. If “They” are out there, and if “They” hold ill will for us, “They” will find us, or not. Worry about the aliens we CAN do something about!

  7. McGehee
    April 26th, 2010 @ 5:34 pm

    We spew tv radio signals all over the place

    Last thing I read about that said most of our signals that are meant for on-Earth consumption are so weak they’re lost in the background noise within a couple of light-years of home.

    The odds that a spacefaring civilization would pass that close by our solar system by accident are infinitesimal. It’s more likely a passing giant elephant would hear us.

  8. McGehee
    April 26th, 2010 @ 12:34 pm

    We spew tv radio signals all over the place

    Last thing I read about that said most of our signals that are meant for on-Earth consumption are so weak they’re lost in the background noise within a couple of light-years of home.

    The odds that a spacefaring civilization would pass that close by our solar system by accident are infinitesimal. It’s more likely a passing giant elephant would hear us.

  9. Illegal Alien Jr
    April 27th, 2010 @ 6:44 am

    I’m guessing that super-advanced civilization might have means of detecting those radio emissions which are, oh, I don’t know, maybe super-advanced? As in a lot better than ours, so they could detect them from far away? Our ability to sort signals from background noise is many times better than it was a few decades ago, imagine what a few millenia or more gets you? And if they really are interested in finding us and can’t detect weak signals from far away, they have probably sent out millions of self-replicating probes to look for those weak signals and transmit much stronger signals back to the home planet, “Hey! They’re over here!” Therefore, odds of one of the zillion probes passing close by our system at random, not so small. The point is, they’re super-advanced, therefore we can’t hide from them. We would be like a little kid covering his own eyes and thinking that means mom and dad can’t see him.

  10. Illegal Alien Jr
    April 27th, 2010 @ 1:44 am

    I’m guessing that super-advanced civilization might have means of detecting those radio emissions which are, oh, I don’t know, maybe super-advanced? As in a lot better than ours, so they could detect them from far away? Our ability to sort signals from background noise is many times better than it was a few decades ago, imagine what a few millenia or more gets you? And if they really are interested in finding us and can’t detect weak signals from far away, they have probably sent out millions of self-replicating probes to look for those weak signals and transmit much stronger signals back to the home planet, “Hey! They’re over here!” Therefore, odds of one of the zillion probes passing close by our system at random, not so small. The point is, they’re super-advanced, therefore we can’t hide from them. We would be like a little kid covering his own eyes and thinking that means mom and dad can’t see him.

  11. McGehee
    April 28th, 2010 @ 1:04 am

    And if they really are interested in finding us

    Why would they be?

  12. McGehee
    April 27th, 2010 @ 8:04 pm

    And if they really are interested in finding us

    Why would they be?

  13. Free Canuckistan!
    April 30th, 2010 @ 5:51 pm

    […] HMMMM– Steven Hawking: Scaredy Cat: “The world-famous astrophysicist warns that, while […]