Stephen Hawking isn’t just the world’s most respected theoretical physicist and the holder of Isaac Newton’s chair at the University of Cambridge. He also writes a good one-liner.
| AP |
Hawking unveiled a brand-new lecture at a packed auditorium at George Washington University Monday, in which he argued for a renewed commitment to space exploration. He said that we’d better extend our reach out into the universe because “we don’t appear to have been visited by aliens. I’m discounting reports of UFOs. Why would they appear only to cranks and weirdos? … Issuing an insurance policy against abduction by aliens appears to be a pretty safe bet.”
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He went on to say that in the universe, he believes “primitive life is very common, but intelligent life is very rare. Some would suggest we have yet to see it on Earth.”
In a nod to “Star Trek,” he closed with an exhortation to “boldly go where no man has gone before.”
Hawking appeared with his daughter Lucy, a novelist, who argued for science education. She said growing up wanting to be astronaut is “certainly a lot more inspirational than growing up wanting to be on a reality TV show.”
Hawking’s prepared his talk specially for NASA’s 50th anniversary, so it’s no wonder that GW, NASA and sponsor Lockheed Martin took it seriously: It took three different people just to introduce him.
