Bad news for all who have put stock in the tales and theories revolving around Alien abduction: Steven Hawking, while commenting upon the 50th anniversary of NASA, called such stories the product of "weirdos." Even I will admit to feeling a tad heartbroken at such a remark coming from the revered physicist, thinking at first that he was dismissing the very thought of alien life itself. Not that I have piled all of my chips in said claims, but there have been times in my life when I desperately wanted them to be true.
I grew up in space, not literally of course but in grand works of fiction, both literary and cinematic, that regaled the swashbuckling tales of futuristic heroes and heroines. Now, I also had enough legitimate astronomy texts and an elementary grasp on the physics of space travel to know that tales such as those would likely never happen within my life-time, if ever at all. But I had always hoped that at some point, I'd be able to witness some sort of 'First Contact,' no matter how small it was. Hell, I'd probably have settled for a belligerent attack on our planet if I had gotten too old and desperate.
Then in recent months, all sorts of reports of water on Mars and CO2 on Distant Planets got me excited: Maybe the breakthrough I had always dreamed of is right around the corner. However, if Stephen Hawking is not a subscriber, I do not know if I can be. Bummer.
But wait!
While he did say such disparaging things regarding supposed alien abductions, when asked if he thought we were alone in this massive universe, he responded with a resounding "probably not," and proceeded to give us three scenarios in which he saw the greatest possibilities. One was boring (there is nothing out there), one was exciting (basically alien invasion) and one was middle of the road (most likely primitive life, nothing too far advanced). And which one did he prefer? Why, the last one of course, though that is not the most riveting scenario for my sci-fi riddled mind. And yes, I realize he is just one man and he offered up nothing more than an opinion but it is nice to have an endorsement of such possibilities from someone so respectable for it is the belief in such possibilities that will propel us into the great unknown.