Stephen Hawking: The Great Alien Debate with Alan Cohen and Neil Nathan

Stephen Hawking is arguably one of the finest geniuses of our time. The Discovery Channel obviously had to give him his own series of TV specials: Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. A few months ago, Mr. Smarty-Pants, sorry, Professor Hawking, decided to tackle the age-old question…no, not that one, but this one: Do aliens exist? Clearly, according to Hawking they do or he wouldn’t have named this specific special “Fear the Aliens.” Many people have a different opinion on Hawking’s state of mind and “scientific” research. So we decided to have two of Green Light Go’s own musicians take their place in The Great Alien Debate.

Alan Cohen of The Alan Cohen Experience is a staunch supporter of Hawking. It was in fact Hawking’s book “A Brief History in Time,” that resulted in Cohen’s August 31 release of the concept album Space & Time. So we know that we have an automatic Hawking fan on our hands. But after Neil Nathan showed interest (albeit a bit tongue-in-cheek) in "Fear the Aliens," we thought it would be interesting (and probably humorous) to pit Nathan and Cohen’s opinions against each other in The “Friendly” Great Alien Debate. (FYI: Nathan’s new album The Distance Calls comes out August 24.)

Below are each musician’s initial reactions to "Fear the Aliens." Neither has read the other’s take until now, as you are. We henceforth encourage Nathan and Cohen to comment back and forth (feel free to stick your nose in too, ahem Michael J. Epstein) for a friendly battle of, well, is Hawking a genius or a nut?


Alan Cohen on "Fear the Aliens"

“It's easy to write off Stephen Hawking as a silly nut peddler, especially considering the stakes he has in advancing his theory of extra-terrestrial invasions: a TV show! We all know that outrageous things make for great ratings. But is there something to his argument that reaching out to alien life could be disastrous for life here on Earth? Taken at its word, his logic is clear and simple: advanced life forms that are culturally organized enough to explore space, are no doubt big consumers of materials. Digging a bit deeper, our own history provides some insight. In the entire scope of human history, no voyage of ‘exploration’ was taken without at least the possibility of ‘striking it rich.’ The European age of exploration was intimately tied to the spice trade; deep-sea exploration has ties to oil (as we all now know), and even space exploration was/is done in order to advance military technology. At every level of life, the constant force that drives us all (and this includes amoebas) is survival. Plain, good 'ole survival. Humans won't bother exploring a far-away place unless there is a survivalist reason (resources, escape from disaster, etc.). Why would aliens be any different?”

Neil Nathan on "Fear the Aliens"

“For a genius, Stephen Hawking's fear mongering about aliens who are exactly like humans - but with better technology - is beyond lame. Though it makes for arguably good television on shows like V and The X Files, and movies like Independence Day or War of The Worlds, I'd expect a bit more from our resident brainiac. I'm flabbergasted by his lack of imagination! What about some inter-dimensional possibilities or some bold statement like, ‘They're already here or have been many times and they're bored as hell with our lack of social progress. Until we get our shit together, they won't be ‘officially’ presenting themselves, because we're still just too stupid and self destructive.’ That's Prime Directive 101, Professor!”

“Simply projecting human imperial history onto the unknown is about as base as it comes. As is the belief that humans are simply a virus like Agent Smith posits in The Matrix. Hawking should stick to black holes. Of course, all these possibilities and more are almost certain realities in our limitless universe, but there's gotta be some pretty cool stuff worth chattering about too. Perhaps he should read Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and see how civilized aliens act or even Cocoon! “

Now.......... go! Debate! Comment and play fair.