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.”

[ClevelandBronco]

As far as I'm concerned, if we **** up this planet to the point that we have to abandon it, I hope we don't survive.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by frazod

My best friend has a doctorate in physics and knows several people who have met Hawking. Apparently he's a complete bastard - treats everybody around him like dirt and enjoys running into/over people with his wheelchair.

I guess I can't really blame him for being angry at life, though.

Once could be considered an accident. The second or 3rd time he's taking a dump.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

As far as I'm concerned, if we **** up this planet to the point that we have to abandon it, I hope we don't survive.

Don't worry we won't survive. Our end is already written

[RedThat]

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

As far as I'm concerned, if we **** up this planet to the point that we have to abandon it, I hope we don't survive.

Whatever man puts in, he gets back what he deserves.

[Amnorix]

Well, as a functional matter clearly we're overburdening the planet, and the burden we put on it can't increase indefinitely or it won't support all of us.

I just read yesterday that for all our fears of shark attacks, etc., it's humans killing them. Mostly as a result of the Asian delicacy of shark fin soup, humans kill approximately 50 million sharks per year.

50 million

per year

Yeah.

Eventually we'll screw things up so bad it wont' support us. But that's more or less our own problem tos olve. The planet will continue, in one form or another, with or without us. I think colonizing into outer space makes sense when the technology can support it. Man has always moved into the unknown. But the tech isn't there yet, so it's all very hypothetical at this point.

[RedThat]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Well, as a functional matter clearly we're overburdening the planet, and the burden we put on it can't increase indefinitely or it won't support all of us.

I just read yesterday that for all our fears of shark attacks, etc., it's humans killing them. Mostly as a result of the Asian delicacy of shark fin soup, humans kill approximately 50 million sharks per year.

50 million

per year

Yeah.

Eventually we'll screw things up so bad it wont' support us. But that's more or less our own problem tos olve. The planet will continue, in one form or another, with or without us. I think colonizing into outer space makes sense when the technology can support it. Man has always moved into the unknown. But the tech isn't there yet, so it's all very hypothetical at this point.

And thats the thing, so if thats the case, were pretty much doomed.

[MOhillbilly]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sp-VFBbjpE

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by RedThat

Whatever man puts in, he gets back what he deserves.

I like how you said what I wanted to say in like 1/10th the number of words....

[Frazod]

It sure would be nice if we survived long enough to colonize space, but who the hell's going to do it? Maybe the Chinese?

Current NASA Priorities:

1. Equal opportunity hiring
2. Making nice with the Muslims for inventing the abacus
3. Global warming

Not current NASA priorities:

A VEHICLE WE CAN ACTUALLY USE TO GET INTO OUTER ****ING SPACE

[philfree]

That said, getting to another planet will prove a challenge, not to mention colonizing it for humanity.

Battlestar Galactica?

I've had the thought that humans on earth might have come from seeding. There might have been some people already here because it was a good enviornment. Then for some reason the seeded people lost their technology and had to start almost from scratch and ended up being absorbed by the native population.



Didn't say I believed it all the way.


PhilFree

[BWillie]

I don't really care. I'm not having kids. I have about 50 more years left to live. Sounds fine if Skynet becomes self aware in 2050 or something.

[Crush]

He's right.


This man has no dick.

[ToxSocks]

You guys are seriously over thinking this shit. The universe is a computer simulation. We are just living in a simulated world. Imagine we are the San Diego zoo. Just a bunch of animals living in captivity. We think we can get out, but we really cant. And every once in awhile someone comes along, abducts us, prods us with Ancient Alien space probes and puts us back in our cage.

One day it will all be over. Some dorky green alien with bad acne will get bored and send a giant meteor hurling threw space at us just to watch us burn like ants under a magnifying glass.

And then he'll start a new race on jupitor.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

You guys are seriously over thinking this shit. The universe is a computer simulation. We are just living in a simulated world. Imagine we are the San Diego zoo. Just a bunch of animals living in captivity. We think we can get out, but we really cant. And every once in awhile someone comes along, abducts us, prods us with Ancient Alien space probes and puts us back in our cage.

One day it will all be over. Some dorky green alien with bad acne will get bored and send a giant meteor hurling threw space at us just to watch us burn like ants under a magnifying glass.

And then he'll start a new race on jupitor.

There is no evidence to support or refute this. It could really be as stupid as that.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

You guys are seriously over thinking this shit. The universe is a computer simulation. We are just living in a simulated world. Imagine we are the San Diego zoo. Just a bunch of animals living in captivity. We think we can get out, but we really cant. And every once in awhile someone comes along, abducts us, prods us with Ancient Alien space probes and puts us back in our cage.

One day it will all be over. Some dorky green alien with bad acne will get bored and send a giant meteor hurling threw space at us just to watch us burn like ants under a magnifying glass.

And then he'll start a new race on jupitor.

It's Jupiter. And girls already go there to get stupider.