Hawking’s earliest astrophysics work posited the existence of singularities, mathematically conforming black holes with Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity…An atheist, anti-war activist, BDS supporter and anti-capitalist, the overlap between Hawking’s humanist politics and scientific interests found expression in his repeated public statements on the possibility of contact with extraterrestrial life.
Hawking took a conflicted position on alien life, at once promoting the search for extraterrestrial life and warning about the potential dangers of first contact with an alien species. His position on extraterrestrial life advocates two approaches: collecting intel and keeping as quiet as possible.
In 2010, Hawking worried what that answer would bring, describing the dangers of first contact with aliens in a Discovery Channel documentary. “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans,” Hawking says. “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.”
It could be worse than perpetual Trumpism.
Eideard 
First off, I must say I loved that goofy movie (in reference to your alien picture).
Second, if you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching an episode of the old Twilight Zone called “To Serve Man.”
It speaks both to extraterrestrials and Politics if viewed properly.
Read the short story first. Went nutso when I saw that TZ was going to produce a version. Delightful.
Ah, so you know what I’m talking about. It’s funny, there are many people who I’ve spoken to who know nothing of the old TZ’s and only of the really REALLY bad remakes. What’s worse, is they’re people my age and I cringe because how can you not know? But it was a teeny bit before my time, so I guess I can understand. I’m just an old soul. I didn’t know there was a short story first. I can see how that was exciting to know it was going to be made into an episode of a great show. I don’t know where he got a lot of his ideas, but I assume most of them were short stories first. But I’m not sure. It’s really cool to know that one was.
BTW, I’m probably older.
You don’t know that for a fact. I’m neither old nor young, but somewhere in between.
Only talking about calendars. Folks figure my attitudes on politics and society are pretty much as radical, disturbing to those who wallow in the comfortable middle or right, as they were [generally] when I headed off to my first sit-in in 1960.
My brain still mostly thinks I’m younger than that. The only problem with the whole question is most of my peers from BITD – in fact, like my extended family – ain’t around anymore.
BITD=Best In The Desert?
By spirit, I’m probably older than you, but by the calendar, you may be a few years older than me.
“Back In The Day”
83
An amazing scene. I love that even back then, the one who solved the riddle was a woman and not the man who shuffled himself off to become souffle
And following “To serve man” there is “Will the real Martian stand up” – 7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 13th
I never heard that acronym before. You are 83?
Ayup.
You are slightly older than me. I would never have guessed, your writing is full of vibrancy, and most people are convinced that after 80 your brain just stops. Actually my aunt who is 80 is convinced that everyone her age has let their mind just go. I guess some do, but not everyone, and I tend to meet the exceptions to the “rule”.
It’s really awesome that you referenced Mars Attacks though… my aunt would swallow her tongue before she’d watch “crap like that” 😂🤣
My love of sci-fi started when I was walking to elementary school – maybe around 6th grade – maybe a bit later. Going past Mr. Freeman’s drugstore, I saw copies of AMAZING STORIES and THRILLING WONDER STORIES in his latest window display. He wasn’t a fan; but, he figured the BEM (one of the oldest sci-fi abbreviations) covers might get some traffic. They got me.
Whoops! Time to leap in the shower before the 2 hours I allocate to evening TViewing.
I know what a BEM is. When they created Doctor Who they wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to be weekly BEMs because BBC hated the idea.
NASA Is Quietly Funding a Hunt for Alien Megastructures : Detecting ‘technosignatures’ such as hypothetical Dyson spheres in space could lead us to extraterrestrial life, and now NASA is funding the search. https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkbq7z/nasa-is-quietly-funding-a-hunt-for-alien-megastructures
NASA Is Quietly Funding a Hunt for Alien Megastructures https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkbq7z/nasa-is-quietly-funding-a-hunt-for-alien-megastructures
Detecting ‘technosignatures’ such as hypothetical Dyson spheres in space could lead us to extraterrestrial life, and now NASA is funding the search.
There is something strange happening around Boyajian’s star. https://www.supercluster.com/editorial/nasa-is-supporting-the-search-for-alien-megastructures
“Reagan and Gorbachev Agreed to Pause the Cold War in Case of an Alien Invasion” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/reagan-and-gorbachev-agreed-pause-cold-war-case-alien-invasion-180957402/
On Sept. 21, 1987, then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan gave an address to the United Nations General Assembly. In an often-quoted section of his speech, Reagan asked rhetorical questions and commented about the nations and cultures of the world uniting in common efforts to live in peace and avoid wars and bloodshed.
“Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity,” Reagan said.
“Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond,” Reagan proposed.
“I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war?” https://www.cultureready.org/blog/reagans-1987-un-speech-alien-threat-resonates-now
The Iran-Contra Affair https://millercenter.org/issues-policy/foreign-policy/iran-contra-affair
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 12th
Republicans Are from Mars https://www.dcreport.org/2021/09/09/republicans-are-from-mars/