Stephen Hawking has stated in his television series ‘Universe’ that extra terrestrials are almost certain to exist and that rather than seeking them out, we should be doing everything possible to avoid making contact.
He states that the existence of aliens is a mathematical certainty in a Universe containing 100 billion galaxies, each of which contains hundreds of millions of stars. If humans met with another intelligent species then it could be extremely dangerous for the human race.
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.
To highlight the risks, he stated that;
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.
Hawking has long held the belief that life exists elsewhere in the Universe, but in recent years his theories has been substantiated by the discovery of more than 450 planets orbiting distant stars, proving that planets are a common phenomenon.