"We don't appear to have been visited by aliens," Hawking said, adding that he discounts reports of UFOs. "Why would they only appear to cranks and weirdoes?"

Having read the full article - i am puzzled as to why this would be described as 'shameful & painful'

He's advocating that we explore and colonise our own universe. 'noble and inspiring' would be a better description.

I mean given our current level of knowledge, the idea of space aliens popping by is really far-fetched, the contraints of space travel are such that it would require a huge investment of resources and a sizeable population to travel between solar systems - it would take a great many years to complete such a journey - and this alien culture would have to be intelligent. So why would the abduct some random (and usually lonesome) individual - only to stick their fingers up their bottom - and throw 'em back. Cosmic Fishermen?

You may argue that there is some mystical and advanced knowledge that they possess that allows FTL travel, i would ask - where is the evidence?

To go from UFO (unknown) to declaring the aliens are here is a huge leap of faith, based on contradictory and flimsy evidence.

I recall the early days - when these Aliens were supposed to have originated from Mars/Venus/Saturn - then the probes were sent out, we looked, they were not there, and suddenly they no longer come from within our universe, but from without..

The story always changes and the goalposts move, the Aliens theory always seems to inhabit the gaps in scientific knowledge and relies on human credulity.

Honestly - i do believe there is other intelligent life out there somewhere - the universe is simply too great in size for that not to be the case, but it may well reside in another galaxy. As for alien life (non-intelligent) i beleive thats a lot more common, and we may discover proof of that within our own solar system and (i hope) within my own lifetime.

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The most important mental attribute anyone can have is the ability to recognize when one's own comprehension of a topic is insufficient. Without that, one's knowledge simply becomes tautological: it is "impossible" for there to exist wisdom one does not already possess. - JayUtah

There is no light in space. - Moon Man