“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 colonize whatever planets they can reach. [Contacting aliens would be] a little too risky … 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.” —Stephen Hawking, who believes aliens are out there, in his Discovery Channel documentary Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, which aired tonight. [Times UK via ABC News]
