--- title: Stephen Hawking Endorses New Search For Alien Life, Despite Misgivings description: Stephen Hawking has made his concerns about the search for extraterrestrial life clear, but the famous physicist seems to have reconsidered canonical: https://time.com/3967126/stephen-hawking-seti-extraterrestrial-life-breakthrough/ author: Alissa Greenberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-22T07:20:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:52.210Z article:section: Science og:title: Hawking Supports Extraterrestrial Life Search, Despite Risks og:description: "We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know." og:url: https://time.com/3967126/stephen-hawking-seti-extraterrestrial-life-breakthrough/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte58b55d34abd934e/69885be02dce014fe19e4bb9/ap_750997563154.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Britain Extraterrestrials og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hawking Supports Extraterrestrial Life Search, Despite Risks twitter:description: "We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte58b55d34abd934e/69885be02dce014fe19e4bb9/ap_750997563154.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Hawking Endorses New Hunt for Alien Life, Despite Fear of Being 'Conquered and Colonized' ## Video: TIME Explains: The Most Distant Galaxy in the Universe [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: The Most Distant Galaxy in the Universe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9OCmo1zS.m3u8) (1:42)  _Published 2013-10-28. What does it mean for a galaxy to be the most distant galaxy disovered? The numbers are staggering—here's what you need to know_ by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jul 22, 2015 7:20 AM UTC  Russian tech entrepreneur Yuri Milner, left, speaks next to renowned physicist Stephen Hawking during a press conference in London on July 20, 2015 Russian tech entrepreneur Yuri Milner, left, speaks next to renowned physicist Stephen Hawking during a press conference in London on July 20, 2015Matt Dunham—AP by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Jul 22, 2015 7:20 AM UTC Stephen Hawking has long made his concerns about the search for extraterrestrial life clear. But after his [appearance](http://time.com/3964238/yuri-milner-breakthrough-listen/) with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner on Monday to announce [Breakthrough Listen](http://www.breakthroughinitiatives.org/), the new $100 million initiative looking for signs of intelligent life, the famous physicist seems to have at least partially reconsidered. Hawking famously revealed his worry that any aliens advanced enough to contact earth would be “looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach” during a 2010 episode of the miniseries _Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking._ And he clearly hasn’t changed his mind completely. “If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced,” he told reporters at the Breakthrough announcement. “A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.” Still, he said, the initiative is of special importance in a moment when humanity’s [achievements](http://time.com/3958195/pluto-new-horizons-survives/) in [space](http://time.com/3948364/moon-landing-apollo-11-margaret-hamilton/) are in the [spotlight](http://time.com/3920486/philae-comet-lander-hibernation-awake/). “We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know,” he said of the search for life beyond earth. Breakthrough Listen will provide funding explicitly for the search for extraterrestrial life, scanning the million stars closes to Earth and portions of 100 neighboring galaxies but _not_ for sending messages or signals to communicate with that life, an important distinction for scientists like Hawking, who are concerned with the possible consequences of contact. Instead, a second program, Breakthrough Message, will host a competition in which anyone can submit ideas for potential interplanetary messages. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3967126/stephen-hawking-seti-extraterrestrial-life-breakthrough/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3967126/stephen-hawking-seti-extraterrestrial-life-breakthrough/"},"headline":"Stephen Hawking Endorses New Hunt for Alien Life, Despite Fear of Being 'Conquered and Colonized'","datePublished":"2015-07-22T07:20:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:52.210Z","description":"\"We are alive. We are intelligent. 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