
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Fulton, Graham R 
T1  - Space Perspectives.
JF  - Pacific Conservation Biology
JO  - Pac. Conserv. Biol.
Y1  - 2011
VL  - 17
IS  - 2
SP  - 88
EP  - 88
KW  - 
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1071/PC110088 
N2  - STEPHEN Hawking recently advised that we ought not to make contact with intelligent aliens, because they would be so much more advanced than us. He states, &#x201c;I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn&#x2019;t turn out very well for the Native Americans&#x201d; (Hawking 2010). He suggests that aliens might simply raid the Earth for its resources and then move on. I speculate that they may use us as they would any other resource with as little respect as we have shown to other life forms with which we currently share a planet. Or perhaps they would see us as an out-of-control species of pest and, with the kindness and ethical values of an advanced species, promptly weed us from the &#x201c;Gaia-garden&#x201d; that we call Earth (Gaia hypothesis see Lovelock 2000). They could effectively save millions of species and restore the &#x201c;Gaia-balance&#x201d; for the loss of one species, plus a few others dependent on humans &#x2013;&#x2013; various body lice and some microscopic gut flora. 
ER  -

