Page "Search for extraterrestrial intelligence" Paragraph 50

Active SETI, also known as messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence ( METI ), consists of sending signals into space in the hope that they will be picked up by an alien intelligence.

Physicist Stephen Hawking, in his book A Brief History of Time, suggests that " alerting " extraterrestrial intelligences of our existence is foolhardy, citing mankind's history of treating his fellow man harshly in meetings of civilizations with a significant technology gap.

He suggests, in view of this history, that we " lay low ".