In a recently concluded reader poll, more than 40% of respondents said we don’t have enough information to know whether space aliens potentially could pose a threat to Earth.

With a nod to the Fermi Paradox, 20% said if anyone was going to molest us, they should have been here by now.

In contrast, almost one in five of our poll respondents apparently believe that aliens are already here. And another 8% are concerned that there could be real danger in announcing our presence to the Universe.

Are space aliens a threat to Earth?

This poll was conducted in response to an episode of Stephen Hawking’s Discovery Channel program in which he warned that advanced extraterrestrial species likely would pose a serious threat to human civilization. Two articles we posted on our site, one from IEET Board Member George Dvorsky, and the other from IEET Fellow David Brin, generated a large amount of discussion on the topic.