Why would they be nomads, if they had the technology to visit other worlds? and if they were some kind of locust-like organism, that stripped everything, you would think that, again, they would have the technology to do it all- even utilize the elements of stars.
No- I disagree with Hawking- if they have the knowledge to accomplish interstellar travel- much less intergalactic- I doubt they'll be visiting for the purpose of enslaving us, or taking our resources. They won't be human, you know.

Why come here themselves when they could send probes designed for the task?
Are those the droids we're looking for? (sorry)
As Hawking said they might be nomads in search of resources.
I think Hawking's watched Independence Day a couple times too many.

I still maintain that for a sufficiently advanced life form, we and our entire solar system are about as interesting as a footnote in some obscure research paper regarding some archaic proto-bacterium.

The Fermi paradox is resolved easily enough: they ARE here (and there, and over there) -- or at least they have been, and probably not just once -- but they just simply don't give a crap about us, our still pathologically over-inflated sense of self-importance notwithstanding.

You know, at the risk of being banned from this thread, I might dare to (hypothetically) weigh in on the side of UFO conspiracy theorists in response to stuff like what Hawking said. It's ridiculous.

Any culture that can travel interdimensionally/FTL can find its own minerals, I think.

What would they care to take from us? And if they did want a piece of us, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that all they would have to do is get some genetic samples and make clones of us. Then they would have slaves, food, etc that could be trained for their purposes, free of the influence of T.V. and such.

Waitaminute...now I AM starting to sound like some wingnut UFO abducteeeeeee..

@ Eric B

DUDE- I told you to KEEP the tinfoil hat ON at ALL TIMES!!!!!

I still think that a species that can traverse light years quickly would:

1.) Already know we're here whether or not we answer the door. We are already detecting other planets from earth with our primitive technology. I'm sure they know where everything is already.

2.) Have learned to use their technology responsibly. The evidence for this would be not destroying themselves with it generations earlier. The article makes it sound like evolution means killing everything and taking all you can get. Advanced species would have realized that survival success depends on responsible co-existence with your surroundings and other species.

I think the universe operates so elegantly that no species could be nearly all powerful and simultaneously malevolent. The safety mechanism is destroying yourself if you are powerful and violent.

Hawking might like this, as it relates to his own black body radiation hypothesis:

I wonder if a civilization, sufficiently advanced, might simply conjure matter (and anti-matter) from the vacuum in sufficient quantity to support any purpose to which they desire?

In other words, they might simply create what they need, as they need it.

See? We can imagine anything. Why waste time imagining being scared?

This debate on whether there are aliens has been going on for centuries. Who cares if some other dude comes up with an opinion? No-one is any closer to an answer and we probably won't be for millenia.

I was once told that it is not how smart you are, but how well you use your resources. We should not fear whether or not they can dominate us, but whether they will.

I shure hope they are lazy...

It is strange that an esteemed thinker such as Hawking would assign a malevolent intent to an advanced race. It seems contradictory as our own history indicates that more advanced societies tend to become more appreciative of diversity, and more protective of less advanced cultures (not always, but generally). So, even accepting our own oscillations between civilized and barbaric cultural behavior, it is hard to imagine that any race or culture would achieve spacefaring technology without being able to achieve peacemaking behaviors.

@trekgeek1
Advanced species would have realized [...] surroundings and other species.


No, an advanced species would realise the biggest threat to their survival would ultimately be themselves. Next in line would be an adequately advanced race, or a race with that potential.

What of a machine race? Will they have (it) emotions? Will it have any moral compass?

I think the universe operates [...] simultaneously malevolent.


What of a black hole moving through our solar system? Is that malevolent?

@ danlgarmstrong
Ours is a very exceptional planet that can acomidate life. Why would a space traveling race not want another home? Why should they not dissinfect out plannet and use it as a nursery?

@Possibilus
It is strange to think that an advanced race would need to have a malevolent intent, for us to be destroyed. Their very existance is variable of such magnitude that it makes perfect sense to avoid them, untill we can equal them.