Stephen Hawking: Human Survival Depends on Settling Space
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Prof. Stephen Hawking. David Parry/Press Association/AP Photo
Stephen Hawking, the famed astrophysicist, says we need to spread into outer space or else. If we don’t, he says, it will be difficult for the world “to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million.”
Hawking who has Lou Gehrig’s disease and speaks with the aid of a computer-synthesized voice, gave an interview to the Canadian Press to promote a new television series in the U.K. and Canada, “Brave New World With Stephen Hawking.” He answered questions by email, calling space exploration our most urgent mission.
“We are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history,” he wrote in excerpts published by the Winnipeg Free Press and cited widely elsewhere.
“Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. But our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. 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 lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space.”
Hawking, now 69, has spoken on this theme before, though he warned in 2010 that it may be “too risky” to seek out intelligent aliens that he said almost certainly exist.
“If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans,” he said at the time. “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.”
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While I think that space exploration is a worthy endeavor, wouldn’t a more pragmatic approach to survival be to clean up our act down here?
Posted by: MyTake | November 23, 2011, 12:26 pm 12:26 pm
mytake, yes, of course. Plus we can never send enough people into space to make a dent in our population–it would cost too much in resources. But, since Earth is periodically bombarded by asteroids that cause mass extinctions, it’s good not to have all our eggs in one basket if we want to survive long term.
Posted by: matyra | November 23, 2011, 12:59 pm 12:59 pm
Once Cochrane has that warp drive thing going, the Vulcans will come here and help us along…
Posted by: Michael | November 23, 2011, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
nice idea in a perfect world, however, there is no way we can afford space exploration anymore…NASA is way too expensive…
Posted by: RalphF | November 23, 2011, 1:38 pm 1:38 pm
See no reason to think that any group “selected” (and by whom?) for space settlement would be immune to the problems of violence that we earthlings wreak on one another right here on Earth.
Posted by: Hugh | November 23, 2011, 2:43 pm 2:43 pm
We don’t need to survive. Make room for better beings.
Posted by: Matt | November 23, 2011, 2:49 pm 2:49 pm
For mans sake I hope we have a lot of time left before the Earth situation gets so dire, for the will, economic means, and technical know how are not in the near future to move out to space (and may never be). If you believe in spiritual eternal life where a deity has designated a time when the Earth becomes obsolete and spiritual beings will live forever (in good place or very bad place) then I guess it does not matter.
Posted by: DanC | November 23, 2011, 4:00 pm 4:00 pm
MATT, there are no ‘better things.’ As far as we know, we are the only technological species in the entire universe. We don’t even know if life exists outside of our planet. That means that, as far as we know, we are special. It also means that we shoulder a responsibility that we should live up to. We are the caretakers of not only our world and all the species on it, but also of our Solar System. Are we acting responsibly?
Posted by: matyra | November 23, 2011, 7:55 pm 7:55 pm
I like Hawking, but his observation that “our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts” and the implication that we cannot change (stemming overpopulation, geopolitical diplomacy, new technologies to handle large problems) bothers me. Are human beings lemmings? Can we not stop bad behaviors or are we just programmed to spawn and consume until we smother ourselves? As “MyTake” observed, I think we should understand and control our own actions before we take our show elsewhere.
Posted by: Stan | November 23, 2011, 9:52 pm 9:52 pm
Has anybody ever consider that some group may want to put IT’S OWN O’NEIL SHIP in space then cut off all contact with OUR HOME PLANET and start it’s own CIVILIZATION? That, it seems to me, like a viable way for the HUMAN RACE to ensure the HUMAN RACE is not wiped out by a PLANETARY CATASTROPHE. If it ever happens I hope it’s a peaceful separation.
Posted by: Tom | November 23, 2011, 11:23 pm 11:23 pm
As long as we remain dependent on our individual governments, and bankrupt our countries we won’t be in a position to explore outer space the way we should have. When leaders finally stand up and say no to unemployment and constant welfare handouts, and the people respond by assuming responsibility for themselves we’ll start to grow into the 21st century. For now, the world’s population is too selfish and unsophisticated to focus on anything other than individual material wants and gains………
Posted by: R. Sargent | November 24, 2011, 1:42 am 1:42 am
Stephen Hawkins says there is no Creator God. He basically says throw the Bible away cause there is no God! Sad really … how what God says in his book proves Stephen Hawkins is wrong.(Rev 22:18-19)Steven Hawkins doesn’t prove to me there is no God… he proves to me there is one.
Posted by: Karon | November 24, 2011, 8:05 am 8:05 am
Humans are egotistic, self-centered, greedy, lazy animals who only take action when they are forced to. Here we are with brains capable of comprehending and manufacturing our future and we just sit on a small rock wasting all of it’s resources, fouling our nest, and collecting bits of paper we place false value upon. No, it will take something huge enough to slap our collective faces into reality before we actually do something about insuring the survival of our species.
Posted by: Wayne | November 24, 2011, 7:42 pm 7:42 pm