recent article in the new york times, in one of the subsections about abductees visiting at the medical institute of new york and discussing how their experiences. all i have to say, it s very entertaining to me. and let s keep it grounded in science, but please accept maybe that the reality is that maybe they are here, coming to treat us like the ants that the doctor talks about. and that really, altima i will in the end, they will not want anything to do with us because we re basically pretty bad. larry: i got it. all right. hold it. does the united states have some kind of official policy with regard to aliens? that s next. [ male announcer ] parents magazine and edmunds.com called it one of the best family cars of 2009. the insurance institute for highway safety calls it a 2010 top safety pick. with automatic crash response from onstar that can call for help, even when you can t. we call it peace of mind.
story of hidden bodies? do you believe that? no well, no, larry, i don t believe that aliens came 500 or 1,000 light years to enjoy some tex-mex cuisine in the northeast and then made a navigation error and crashed into the desert. but there s a whole office of planetary protection within nasa, and it s not to defend us against the aliens as you would in the movies, but simply to understand if we bring rocks back from marches or send rockets to marches, that we don t contaminate either planet, so we don t mistake martian life for earth life or vice versa. dan, why doesn t the government treat it seriously. dan first. there s all kinds of footage
well, that s the whole point, larry. as an astronomer, as a science fiction author, i ve been thinking about the alien, discussing the alien with everybody i could for the last 50 years. and what i believe is that everybody is too strong in their beliefs right now. seti, the search for extraterrestrials is called the only topic without a subject matter. and everybody gets passionate. they believe that they would have seen our signals by now. they believe that space flight is impossible, which is the standard seti position, or that if there are aliens out there, they ll automatically be altruistic, which is wishful thinking where we re heading. i would like more open conversation about this. i would like the seti people to get involved. larry: dan, isn t it true that we know a little bit, but there s so much we don t know? and the answer to the question is, why don t they land in l.a. and new york, dan? well, first of all, i m glad this is grounded in real
being watched all the time. and then we might see that wow signal come back, because calculations show that s how the aliens would far more likely try to communicate. larry: science fiction films have had some good alien story lines. which are true to life? our experts will weigh in, coming up. y buying? a shiny coat of paint? a list of features? what about the strength of the steel? the integrity of its design. or how it responds. in extreme situations? the deeper you look, the more you see the real differences. and the more you understand what it means to own a mercedes-benz. the c-class. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze. my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a new liquid gel. new zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®.
qualified to answer that, but i don t think so. larry: john well, ben, you first. the tendency has been to kind of dismiss this, until mr. hawking arrived, as kind of kooky, right? i think that you know, maybe it s been overstated slightly from what he actually says in the film. what he says in the film is that if intelligent aliens exist that a big if and if they were to meet us that s another big if then we might be wise to treat them with caution. it s not stephen saying as far as i know in any way, stephen is not saying aliens are coming, we ve got to hide under the bed. he s not trying to frighten anyone. he is just saying if you follow the argument logically, then he thinks that we would be wise to be to exercise caution when dealing with aliens. larry: so what do we do with this, john, other than entertain and inform us? what s the next step? well, what we re trying to do with this you know, what is just so amazing about this