Is there intelligent life out there ?

[tonyh29]

According to Stephen Hawking the answer is Yes ..and we are doomed .. unless he is just hyping up his new TV show

So do VT'ers agree with him ..or disagree

Stephen Hawking has revealed he strongly believes in aliens and warned that Earth could be at risk from an invasion.

In a documentary series, the renowned astrophysicist argued that it is 'perfectly rational' to assume intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe.

And in an extraordinary series of assertions, he said Earth might be at risk from what he imagines to be 'massive ships' which could try to colonise our planet and plunder our resources.

Professor Hawking said we should keep our location secret as alien life may be far from friendly and may be keen to exploit our natural resources

Professor Hawking said: 'We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.

'I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet.

'Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.'

It would be 'too risky' to attempt to make contact with alien races, he concluded.

'If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.'

The 68-year-old eminent scientist has spent three years working on the Discovery Channel documentary series, despite being paralysed by motor neurone disease.

Professor Hawking, who communicates using a speech synthesizer, re-wrote large parts of the script and kept a close eye on the filming.

The programmes use imagined illustrations to explain why he believes in extraterrestrial life and the forms it could take.

The scientist said that most alien life is likely to consist of small animals or microbes in planets, stars or floating in space.

But in one scene, shoals of fluorescent animals are depicted living under thick ice on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, while flying yellow predators prey on two-legged herbivores in another.

The existence of 100 billion galaxies each containing hundreds of millions of stars means Earth is unlikely to be the only place where life has evolved, Professor Hawking said.

'To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like,' he added.

Professor Hawking has suggested an open-minded attitude to extraterrestrials before, but the discovery of more than 450 previously-unknown planets orbiting distant stars since 1995 is believed to have strengthened his belief.

This year Professor Brian Cox, a physicist from the University of Manchester, also suggested life may exist elsewhere within our solar system - on Mars or the moons orbiting Jupiter or Saturn.

Britain's leading astronomer also provoked controversy by saying that the chance of detecting alien life was stronger than ever before.

Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal and president of the Royal Society said: 'I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms that we can’t conceive.

'And there could, of course, be forms of intelligence beyond human capacity, beyond as much as we are beyond a chimpanzee.'

Stephen Hawking's Universe begins on the Discovery Channel on Sunday May 9 at 9pm.

Never trust an Englishman who speaks with an American accent

[mjmooney]

I think it's statistically likely that there's something out there, but I don't believe they've ever visited Earth.

[Stevo985]

I think there is certainly intelligent life out there. Whether its a threat to us is another question.

But I think with the sheer size of the universe, us being alone is extremely unlikely.

[JulieB]

Not in the physical realm. Therefore I voted NO.

[mjmooney]

Whenever life get you down, Mrs. Brown

And things seem hard or tough

And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft

And you feel that you've had quite enough

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving

And revolving at 900 miles an hour

That's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned

A sun that is the source of all our power

The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see

Are moving at a million miles a day

In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour

Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way

Our galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars

It's 100,000 light-years side-to-side

It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light-years thick

But out by us it's just 3000 light-years wide

We're 30,000 light-years from galactic central point

We go round every 200 million years

And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions

In this amazing and expanding universe

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding

In all of the directions it can whiz

As fast as it can go, at the speed of light you know

Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure

How amazingly unlikely is your birth

And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space

Because there's bugger all down here on Earth

[Gringo]

I think it's statistically likely that there's something out there, but I don't believe they've ever visited Earth.

Pah - the lizard's are alive and living among us

[regular_john]

There are billions of solar systems in our galaxy, and billions of galaxies in the universe. It is a statistical impossibility that there is no other life out there. I would bet everything I own (though, to be fair, that's not a lot) that there are hundreds of other planets with intelligent life, whether or not they are sufficiently more advanced than us, or even as advanced as us, and hostile is another question.

Therefore I vote YES.

[jonno_2004]

Yes, but too far away for there to be any physical interaction.

[kimmie]

I hope so, considering the p poor attempt of life i see on jeremy kyle, i hope somewhere there is life to balance the retards on there!!

Though i wish to say the bloke on there this morning was a legend!! (you look like a raccoon AY!)

[MR.Smalljob]

Vote YES, the idea that there only should be life on our little planet is just ridiculous when you think about the size of the universe

but whether they have ever visited the earth is more doubtful, but it's not something I can exclude 100 %

The big question is, how would the christians react if we found life on another planet?

[The_Rev]

There are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on the beach.

Assuming every star has a solar system then the law of averages would suggest there is. I doubt our paths will ever cross though, even if you travel at the speed of light space is really really really big!

[LondonLax]

The big question is, how would the christians react if we found life on another planet?

I think the goalposts would just be moved again, like when we found out the earth is not the centre of the universe.

[mjmooney]

The big question is, how would the christians react if we found life on another planet?

I think the goalposts would just be moved again, like when we found out the earth is not the centre of the universe.

No doubt some of them would say they are all God's children. And others would say they are abominations born of Satan and must be destroyed.

And I daresay the alien nutjobs would be saying something similar about the mighty Knggrckhhh, Lord of the Znorgs, creator of the universe, in relation to us.

[JulieB]

The big question is, how would the christians react if we found life on another planet?

The Bible doesn't rule it out. It's just that in the scenario of universal sovereignty being questioned, why if it did exist, why wasn't that example used in the argument?

I think the goalposts would just be moved again, like when we found out the earth is not the centre of the universe.

the Bible does not say that the earth is the center of the universe. That was a teaching of church leaders who themselves did not adhere to God’s Word.

[MR.Smalljob]

I.m sorry, but i don't believe on anything there is written in the bible :-)

[Sie]

Echoing the majority here, I also think the possibility life existing elsewhere is pretty damn high considering the vastness of the universe. In what form I don't know but I'm really looking forward to seeing if Europa has life under its surface.

I don't believe aliens have ever visited human civilisation either.

[Risso]

The big question is, how would the christians react if we found life on another planet?

I think the goalposts would just be moved again, like when we found out the earth is not the centre of the universe.

No doubt some of them would say they are all God's children. And others would say they are abominations born of Satan and must be destroyed.

And I daresay the alien nutjobs would be saying something similar about the mighty Knggrckhhh, Lord of the Znorgs, creator of the universe, in relation to us.

Hopefully any race intelligent enough to work out how to travel the vast distances involved, won't be daft enough to believe in sky fairies.

I'd love it if aliens landed, and were told about the various religious beliefs on earth. They would then provide a one page proof that it's all nonense, before laughing their alien bollocks off.

[The_Rev]

I don't believe aliens have ever visited human civilisation either.

How do you explain Iain Dowie then?

[TheDon]

I'm not convinced there's intelligent life on earth.

Sersiouly though, the universe is near infinite, with a near infinite amount of planets. There's no way we're unique. Even if we're a one in a billion shot, that means there's potentially billions of other life supporting planets out there.

Anyone that thinks we're alone is very naive over the scope and scale of the universe.

[Risso]

Kingston-upon-Hull isn't civilisation though Nays.