Page 7 - John Smithson News Today

Hawkings says its possible and issues a warning for all of us. stop trying to contact other life forms now. just in case theyre out there and theyre hostile. >> they are likely to be more advanced than us. >> larry: hawking joins us, answering our questions, sounding the alarm. believer dan aykroyd is here too. >> i dont thing theyre a mass threat. >> larry: aliens from outer space. real threat to the human race? next on "larry king live." good evening. you could say this show tonight is out of ...

About aliens in that program was very much what steven hawking wanted to say. for years he had been lecturing about the -- about lots of things including the possibilities of alien life. what we are able to do, for the first time using the wonders of computer graphics, was to visualize with professor hawking hypothetically what they might look like. thats what were able to do here. >> larry: ben, you did this come about? how did you and steven and john all get together and do this. >> well, disc...

Say -- you cant say one way or the other. you can think maybe caution would be a good idea. >> larry: stephen theorizes the negative aspect, does he not, john? >> he rightly thinks we should be cautious, and im not going to secondguess professor hawking. but that is what is so intriguing, isnt it, about this whole subject? could there be life out there? if so, is that just some sort of green gloop or is it something that is a real menacing threat? thats what we dont know. many better scientific ...

>> on august 16th, 1977, a radio telescope in ohio picked up a signal that became famous. the signal was a steady source of radio waves, just the kind an alien race might send because it stands out from the radio static that fills the universe. a computer recorded the signal as six letters and numbers. astronomer jerry ermin saw the letters and wrote one word in the margin. >> larry: this is a remarkable, remarkable entertaining feature that will air on discovery sunday. john smithson and ben bo...

Im not a scientist. my job is to make tv programs. what blew my mind is the huge scale of the universe. ill never look at the night sky the same way again. just during the three years weve been making this show, someone told me the other day 300 billion stars have been born. 300 billion stars have died. these are just awesome figures. and what were doing next really is just -- literally what were doing next on sunday night is the ultimate story on the discovery channel, the ultimate story of how...

>> larry: john -- well, ben, you first. the tendency has been to kind of dismiss this, until mr. hawking arrived, as kind of kooky, right? >> maybe its been overstated slightly from what he actually says in the film. what he says in the film is that if intelligent aliens exist -- thats a big if -- and thats were to meet us, thats another big if, then we might be wise to treat them with caution. its not stephen saying as far as i know in any way, stephen is not saying aliens are coming, weve got ...

Life may not go so well. watch. >> so if aliens ever visit us, i think the outcome would be as when christopher columbus first landed in america. which didnt turn out very well for the native-americans. >> larry: john, do you -- youre produces ting the show. do you accept the theory? >> well, were working with one of the greatest living scient t scientists, one of the best scientific brains in the world. im not a scientist. my job on the discovery channel was to bring the views, imagination of t...

He has this extraordinary aura about him. and we just know that trapped in this body that he cant use is this quite brilliant brain. and theres something about that that is such a powerful and poignant image that i know it just -- it just seems to touch people. >> larry: thank you both very much, john smithson and ben bowie. the second part of this special will air sunday on discovery. well be back. well talk with stephen hawking and well meet an expert panel as well. stephen hawking in his own ...

A computer recorded the signal as six letters and numbers. astronomer jerry ehman saw the data and wrote one word in the margin. >> larry: this is a remarkable, remarkable entertaining feature that will air on discovery sunday. john smithson and ben bowie are the executive producers of "into the universe with stephen hawking." this would be an opinion, ben. do you think we would be hostile or not hostile to another environment coming here? >> do i think -- i dont think you can really say. i thin...