Can humanity in the near future expect to meet with alien life forms? According to physicist Stephen Hawking, no.
This point of view was expressed by him during the announcement of the project "Breakthrough Starshot" in New York. Hawking, along with investor Yuri Milner and a group of scientists, announced that it is planned to create small spaceships that can reach the Alpha Centauri star system in 20 years. To do this, they will need to develop a speed of about 20% of the speed of light. Once they reach their destination, the ships will be able to carry out reconnaissance activities, including taking close-up photographs of the system, as well as measuring magnetic fields.
But the audience wanted to learn not only about new technologies. They were interested in whether there is a possibility that scientists will be able to detect other forms of life, and if so, when exactly.
To this question, Hawking answered that this is unlikely in the next 20 years. However, he emphasized that NASA studies suggest that there are billions of inhabited planets in our galaxy alone, not to mention that there are, in principle, at least 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Therefore, it is very likely that other forms of life also exist.
However, Hawking is famous for saying that aliens can pose a threat to humanity. And he still takes this point of view. When asked how humanity should behave if it finds life on other planets, Hawking replied - "we need to hope that they will not find us."