Stephen Hawking endorses search for intelligent alien life

"We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know", famous physicist Stephen Hawking said lately of a major new effort to search for signs of intelligent alien life.

According to media reports on Thursday, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner announced that over the next 10 years, he will invest a total of 100 million U.S. dollars to fund the search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligent life.

Previously, Stephen Hawking had said that sending signals into space for possible alien life to receive was "reckless."

Some media review also expressed concern about hailing the attention of alien civilizations, saying human might ring the doorbell of an army of space invaders with futuristic weapons.

But after Stephen Hawking appearance with Yuri Milner on Monday to announce initiative, which is called Breakthrough Listen, the famous physicist seems to have at least partially reconsidered.

The Breakthrough Listen initiative will only search for signs of intelligent life, not broadcast signals from Earth. The initiative is to give scientists access to powerful technology, including some of the best telescopes in the world.