Hawking says "Abandon Earth or Face Extinction"

[The Franchise]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/...ephen-hawking/

Abandon Earth or Face Extinction, Stephen Hawking Warns -- Again

It's time to abandon Earth, warned the world's most famous theoretical physicist.

In an interview with website Big Think, Stephen Hawking warned that the long-term future of the planet is in outer space.

"It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet," he said.

"I see great dangers for the human race," Hawking said. "There have been a number of times in the past when its survival has been a question of touch and go. The Cuban missile crisis in 1963 was one of these. The frequency of such occasions is likely to increase in the future."

"But I'm an optimist. If we can avoid disaster for the next two centuries, our species should be safe, as we spread into space," he said.

That said, getting to another planet will prove a challenge, not to mention colonizing it for humanity. University of Michigan astrophysicist Katherine Freese told Big Think that "the nearest star [to Earth] is Proxima Centauri which is 4.2 light years away. That means that, if you were traveling at the speed of light the whole time, it would take 4.2 years to get there" -- or about 50,000 years using current rocket science.

Still, we need to act and act fast, Hawking stated. "It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth but to spread out into space. We have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years. But if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space."

This is not the first time Hawking has warned of impending planetary doom. In 2006, the physicist warned that Earth was at an ever increasing risk of being wiped out. And lately, Hawking has become quite outspoken.

In April, he warned of the dangers of communicating with aliens, telling the Discovery Channel that extra-terrestrials are almost certain to exist -- and humanity should avoid contact with them at all cost.

“To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational,” he said. “The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like.”

The answer, he suggests, is that most of alien life will be the equivalent of microbes or simple animals -- the sort of life that has dominated Earth for most of its history -- and they could pose a serious threat to us.

In May Hawking said he believed humans could travel millions of years into the future and repopulate their devastated planet. If spaceships are built that can fly faster than the speed of light, a day on board would be equivalent to a year on Earth. That's because -- according to Einstein -- as objects accelerate through space, time slows down around them.

“Time travel was once considered scientific heresy, and I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a crank," he said in Stephen Hawking's Universe.

"These days I’m not so cautious.”

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Our Lizardian Overlords shall save us!

[Ebolapox]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I agree but mankind was literally in the Dark Ages until the formation of the US and advances made in the 20th century. Once Mankind was free of the Church and religious persecution (if not death), men were able to share their ideas with the world. Many other like-minded men were encouraged, not discouraged, to work together and advance the human race.

The invention of the microprocessor has sped up the course of human technology and events exponentially. It's too bad that men like Pythagoras, Newton, Gallileo, Copernicous, et al weren't alive to see the remarkable evolution of technology that we know share.

Of course, none this would have happened without the Roswell crash...

to quote sir. isaac newton, "we stand on the shoulders of giants" (ignoring the fact that the quote in question was ACTUALLY an insult thrown at robert hooke, a contemporary of newton's who disagreed with many of newton's findings... very contemptuously. hooke was a 'little person,' fwiw). without the developments of all of our predecessors, we don't HAVE the microprocessor in the first place. without, oh, the number zero (thank you, Pingala) we don't have binary code which was the basis of computations.

I could go on and on. we build on the ruins of early, great civliizations that had technology beyond that which we give them credit for.

[Groves]

I do know this one simple fact.

Before the USA existed: no pizza rolls.
Since the USA has been formed: pizza rolls.

That's pretty strong.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by H5N1

to quote sir. isaac newton, "we stand on the shoulders of giants" (ignoring the fact that the quote in question was ACTUALLY an insult thrown at robert hooke, a contemporary of newton's who disagreed with many of newton's findings... very contemptuously. hooke was a 'little person,' fwiw). without the developments of all of our predecessors, we don't HAVE the microprocessor in the first place. without, oh, the number zero (thank you, Pingala) we don't have binary code which was the basis of computations.

I could go on and on. we build on the ruins of early, great civliizations that had technology beyond that which we give them credit for.

Oh, I know and totally agree.

I just can't believe that it took 3500+ years to get to the 20th Century in terms of rapid innovation.

It just seems too long.

[Ebolapox]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Oh, I know and totally agree.

I just can't believe that it took 3500+ years to get to the 20th Century in terms of rapid innovation.

It just seems too long.

eh, a lot of hiccups along the way. you're correct, the catholic church held back astronomy a great amount of time, and from astronomy we vastly increased our math and physics knowledge (newton is said to have 'come up with' calculus to deal with some of the calculations dealing with motion)

hell, we're not even mentioning how many great scientists were lost to history via disease (the black plague of the 1300's killed 1/4 of all europe, including burgeoning scientists) and war (we lost many great scientists to world war I... if memory serves, henry moseley was a physicist (that likely would have won the nobel prize in physics in 1916) who was killed in service of the british during WWI.

[Groves]

Originally Posted by RedThat

It is based on truth and has evidence to support truth.

Religion on the other hand, is opposite. It is mythical and based on blind faith.

You've apparently not read much of modern physics or the Bible.

That's a jab, but it's actually pretty amazing how some modern science is actually quite without the kind of proof or evidence that most would recognize.

Religions are a mixed bag, because some are quite content to fly in the face of science and not even care about the contradictions, where others are always reforming their views based on new evidence.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Oh, I know and totally agree.

I just can't believe that it took 3500+ years to get to the 20th Century in terms of rapid innovation.

It just seems too long.

Moore's Law.....

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

Moore's Law.....

Yeah, absolutely. But why did it take 3500 years to get to the 20th century in terms of innovation?

H1N1 furthered some of the things I'd previously mentioned but there has to be more.

I'd always read that if the fire at Alexandria hadn't occurred, man would have flown by 1,000 AD.

It's just amazing that so much knowledge was lost in that fire to setback mankind a full millennium.

[Param]

warp drive. Or a way to harness massive amount of energy to power our race into the future. That is THE next great invention.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Param

warp drive. Or a way to harness massive amount of energy to power our race into the future. That is THE next great invention.

I'll take Cold Fusion for $1,000, Alex

[T-post Tom]

Originally Posted by Param

warp drive. Or a way to harness massive amount of energy to power our race into the future. That is THE next great invention.

Done:

[Ebolapox]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Yeah, absolutely. But why did it take 3500 years to get to the 20th century in terms of innovation?

H1N1 furthered some of the things I'd previously mentioned but there has to be more.

I'd always read that if the fire at Alexandria hadn't occurred, man would have flown by 1,000 AD.

It's just amazing that so much knowledge was lost in that fire to setback mankind a full millennium.

h1n1? get the strain of flu right!

and fwiw, why are you going with the 3500 year figure? you're not a young earth creationist I'd assume... if we're going to be honest with ourselves, most scientists who study the evolution of homo sapiens sapiens put the age of our species at roughly 100,000-150,000 years. granted, that's making your time figure look optimistic, but still.

[Fairplay]

Alright I have my bags packed and ready to go on the next rocket or UFO that has space available. It's Mars or bust, it's got to be better then Earth.

We can build a statue in honor of Hawking. Imagine future traveler landing there seeing that!

Roll your clothes it packs nicely and keeps them wrinkle free.

[Fairplay]

Imagine being the first settlers there and you come across a boulder that said, Killroy was here, lol

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by H5N1

h1n1? get the strain of flu right!

My apologies.

Originally Posted by H5N1

and fwiw, why are you going with the 3500 year figure? you're not a young earth creationist I'd assume... if we're going to be honest with ourselves, most scientists who study the evolution of homo sapiens sapiens put the age of our species at roughly 100,000-150,000 years. granted, that's making your time figure look optimistic, but still.

I was throwing out 3,500 as a reference to recorded history, which really isn't accurate either.