306. STEPHEN HAWKING: HUMANS MUST GO INTO SPACE
It's nice to see one of the greatest minds on the planet in full agreement with one of the main contentions of this blog: that humans must grow into space. The endless energy/material resources of space will allow humans to continue exponential growth into the solar system and beyond, and dodge the problems posed by exhaustion of terrestrial resources.
Dr. Hawking:
Hawking says humans must go into space
Predicts increased risk of disaster that will destroy our planet
Updated: 11:03 a.m. ET June 13, 2006
HONG KONG - The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy the Earth, world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday.
The British astrophysicist told a news conference in Hong Kong that humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years.
"We won't find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system," added Hawking, who arrived to a rock star's welcome Monday. Tickets for his lecture planned for Wednesday were sold out.
He added that if humans can avoid killing themselves in the next 100 years, they should have space settlements that can continue without support from Earth.
"It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species," Hawking said. "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of."Source
-- by JD
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Numerous articles on harvesting energy and resources from space are available on the sidebar under "Popular Content". See #2, #5, #51, #104, #191 and #223.
posted by JD @ 7:31 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
Reminds me of a quote from another eminent physicist:
"A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it"
Unfortunately we don't have the technology to make a self sustaining colony offworld. Until we do humans will just be deadweight taking up valuable kilograms that could have been spent of robotics.
Fortunately the earth has remained more habitable than any other body in the solar system for at least 3 billion years so we are unlikely to get wiped out by nature in the next few hundred years. And if we can't prevent ourselves from killing ourselves with high technology on earth, how will we prevent ourselves from doing that in space where we will be entirely dependant on high tech?
"Survival of humanity" sound like a good reason to build a secret shelter in New Zealand. Until we improve our technology, sending people into our space will probably drain money from science budgets and reduce our chances of survival.
"The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy the Earth, world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday."
A little doomerish, I think. Kunstler must be rejoicing.
an interesting entry, but kind of a strange post to have at the "top" of the log (not that it's basically mothballed) for folks who may be looking around and getting turned off from the real meaty stuff that's deeper in... maybe you should have a "floating" top post regarding the purpose of the blog and making more noise about the "best" of or most "popular" links that are in the sidebar and are surely ignored...
Sending meat-people to space is so 1950s. The only reason why sending meat-people to space in the future is an often recurring theme in sci-fi is that it allows the reader to better identify with the characters or that it the alternatives never occurred to the writers.
First re-engineer human bodies and brains so that they can live comfortably in environments wildly differing from the Earth. Being able to survive comfortably in vacuum, poisonous atmospheres, intense pressure, scorching radiation, extreme heat or extreme cold would be make space colonisation much easier and cheaper. Instead of eating one could survive on electricity produced in photovoltaics or nuclear batteries inside the body.
there is something to be said for the simple pleasures or being able to do things such as Italian food or sex.
Why do you think cyborgs would be incapable of enjoying things?
not to detract from the spirit of your suggestion, It just makes me chuckle a bit, I contrast a massive die-off with enhanced cyborg humans that can't die.
These more fringe suggestions beg for "meaning of life" type questions to be applied to them.
I don't think the meaning of life is death. But you're right in that radically re-designing the body and the mind will change what life is about in many ways. I think that is perfectly fine.
Oh i love this site.
Heres another great idea,lets go and find another planet like earth and fuck it up as bad as this one!!
What a cop out!!
Lets get the earth sorted out for the people who are going to be "staying"
Not an easy task when the world has been hijacked by greedy corrupt governments and corperations and an education system that only teaches you to become a successful consumer.
But the first thing you can do to help things is to ask yourself,do you really need that suv to compensate for your "ahem" shortcomings?,or do you really need to have another kid to complete the "nuclear family Set"?
Is owning that Debt-ridden house in the burbs that you work 60 hours a week to pay off really making you happy?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions,congratulations!
You are a perfect product of the system!
Now run along,you must have another useless consumer item to purchase!
Cynic boy here again,
well omnitir,you make it sound almost easy,but what time frame are you talking about here?
Our problems are here and now and time is not on our side.
Even with technological advances it could take humans a hundred years or more to achieve that goal of living on another planet.
A goal,which i hate to say is way more likely then not to fail completely.
Lets say by some miracle we can find a planet somewhere 'close' that can sustain our life needs and then by an even bigger miracle,survive the incredibly dangerous journey to it,and then be able to successfully live there(total pie in the sky in my book)Who will go to start the breeding process there?
Will black people be allowed to go,or will it just be for rich white people?
Will there be some lottery process whereby you can win a seat to the new earth?
The basic fact is,and i know you wont agree omnitir,that overbreeding is what is getting the human race in the shit in the first place!
As for an asteriod wiping us out,that could happen any minute,but there is no need to rush into star trek mode.
sounds great until the demand for homes and the price of living on earth becomes so high us normal humans cant afford to live on our own planet. Into space with all the freaks and chavs and anyone that doesnt fit the desired criteria. Like we dont have enough problems . Hawking should stick to writing crap books and leave the future of humanity to the professionals.
I´m 100percent with him....
If we try to solve the problems we´r now facing with - we can do anything.
Reg Marv
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Yeah, and we should also become inmortal and develop technology to power our planes with salt water. I bet Stephen is currently devoting his massive brain to the cause, at least when he is not busy marinating and recycling old cosmology papers 30 years old and posing to the cameras as the only bright scientist in the world.
What a deep concept! Humans should go into space to survive! Although i agree in principle and in fact, that idea was what motivated me to study physics and specialice in fusion researh the thing is... we cant yet. There is not energy to do that. Soon there wont be enough energy to run a car, much less a spaceship.
Maybe we will do it eventually, at the 22th century, once fusion gets developed.
Anyone ever see 'Earth 2'? In all likelihood, any emigration to an off-world colony would be limited to the power elite and a few indentured servants/techies, not any kind of large population. Fine. But for the rest of the species, we have to find methods of making this planet a more sustainable environment. For most of us, it's the only home we'll ever have. - taz
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