Ax3l
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Stephen Hawking: To the moon!
quote: (post ) Originally posted by CNN NEWS
HONG KONG, China (AP) -- 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 Earth, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said.
Humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years, the British scientist told a news conference.
"We won't find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system," added Hawking, who came to Hong Kong to a rock star's welcome Monday. Tickets for his lecture Thursday were sold out.
Hawking said 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."
The 64-year-old scientist -- author of the global best-seller "A Brief History of Time" -- uses a wheelchair and communicates with the help of a computer because he suffers from a neurological disorder called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
One of the best-known theoretical physicists of his generation, Hawking has done groundbreaking research on black holes and the origins of the universe, proposing that space and time have no beginning and no end.
However, Alan Guth, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said Hawking's latest observations were something of a departure from his usual research and more applicable to survival over the long-term.
"It is a new area for him to look at," Guth said. "If he's talking about the next 100 years and beyond, it does make sense to think about space as the ultimate lifeboat."
But, he added, "I don't see the likely possibility within the next 50 years of science technology making it easier to survive on Mars and on the moon than it would be to survive on earth."
"I would still think that an underground base, for example in Antarctica, would be easier to build than building on the moon," Guth said.
Joshua Winn, an astrophysicist at MIT, agreed. "The prospect of colonizing other planets is very far off, you must realize," he said.
Hawking's "work has been highly theoretical physics, not in astrophysics or global politics or anything like that," Winn added. "He is certainly stepping outside his research domain."
Hawking's comments Tuesday were reminiscent of the work of American astrophysicist Carl Sagan, who was a believer in the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Sagan, a Cornell University professor and NASA-decorated scientist who died in 1996, noted that organic molecules, the kind that life on Earth is dependent on, appear to be almost everywhere in the solar system.
Sagan played a leading role in the U.S. space program, helping design robotic missions and contributing to the Mariner, Viking, Voyager and Galileo expeditions.
But his work also focused on the search for habitable worlds and intelligent life beyond the solar system, as well as theories about life's origins, ideas popularized in his best-selling 1985 novel, "Contact," which was made into a film starring Jodie Foster.
At Tuesday's news conference, Hawking said he too was venturing into the world of fiction. He plans to team up with his daughter, 35-year-old journalist and novelist Lucy Hawking, to write a children's book about the universe aimed at the same age group as the Harry Potter books.
"It is a story for children, which explains the wonders of the universe," said Lucy Hawking. They did not provide further details.
(Summed up)
He's predicting that the world is going to be destroyed. Either Nuclear wars, or Global Warming, ect..
He's saying our only chance of survival. Is colonizing space.
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Jun 24th, 2006 04:28 AM
Morgoths_Wrath
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I think he needs to calm down
Jun 24th, 2006 04:42 AM
Alpha Centauri
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Yeah, he needs to chill out a bit. You're a really smart man, Steve, but just chill.
-AC
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Jun 24th, 2006 04:44 AM
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Re: Stephen Hawking: To the moon!
quote: (post ) Originally posted by Hotpants
(Summed up)
He's predicting that the world is going to be destroyed. Either Nuclear wars, or Global Warming, ect..
He's saying our only chance of survival. Is colonizing space.
This guy has like over a 200 IQ and he just figured out the it's possible for the earth to be destroyed by global warming or nukes?
Sheesh..doesn't take a genuis to figure that out.
Jun 24th, 2006 04:47 AM
allofyousuckkk
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i dont think he needs to calm down. People brushing off problems just makes them worse. We shouldn't be figuring out how to colinize on the moon, those funds should be going to a solution to the problems he thinks are going to force us to move from our planet. Ehh
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Jun 24th, 2006 04:49 AM
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quote: (post ) Originally posted by allofyousuckkk
We shouldn't be figuring out how to colinize on the moon, those funds should be going to a solution to the problems he thinks are going to force us to move from our planet.
like world hunger, world peace, global warming, etc, etc....
Jun 24th, 2006 04:52 AM
Ax3l
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But you have to agree. This world is so tense right now, that its just going to snap. Its like theres so much pressure on the world, that its just going to explode, metaphorically speaking, of course.
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Jun 24th, 2006 05:04 AM
Imperial_Samura
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quote: (post ) Originally posted by allofyousuckkk
i dont think he needs to calm down. People brushing off problems just makes them worse. We shouldn't be figuring out how to colinize on the moon, those funds should be going to a solution to the problems he thinks are going to force us to move from our planet. Ehh
Well, eventually, if humanity has managed to survive a few billion more years (extremely doubtful in my view) we will have to leave earth anyway, what with the sun dying and all that.
But yes, it is not something that can be rushed, and no use panicking. I think that it would be wise, in terms of specie survival, to be as diffuse and spread as possible (ptoverbial eggs, basket), but we aren't near that stage yet, so bringing up the specters of Global warming (which while it's implications are serious don't usually include the death of humanity) comets and the like doesn't really achieve anything.
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Jun 24th, 2006 05:08 AM
Devil King
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The earth might have been struck by a comet any time in the last 6 million years. Sure, it's plausible that our best hope for survival is to move into outer space, but to get one's panties in a wad now is kind of silly.
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Jun 24th, 2006 05:28 AM
Alpha Centauri
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I'm just disturbed by the fact that the solution is "We've managed to severely damage, disrespect and defoul our own beautiful planet, what do we do?" "Duh, we find another.".
-AC
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Jun 24th, 2006 05:41 AM
Devil King
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quote: (post ) Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
I'm just disturbed by the fact that the solution is "We've managed to severely damage, disrespect and defoul our own beautiful planet, what do we do?" "Duh, we find another.".
-AC
Exactly
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Jun 24th, 2006 05:50 AM
Imperial_Samura
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quote: (post ) Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
I'm just disturbed by the fact that the solution is "We've managed to severely damage, disrespect and defoul our own beautiful planet, what do we do?" "Duh, we find another.".
-AC
It's not really a new solution at all. Historically speaking so many of the "developed nations" that were powers reached a point where they said "By Jove, it's dirty and overpopulated here and we need more resources to keep it that way, lets go subjugate some natives who are living quite contentedly in some other beautiful country/island untouched by such things"
Humanity really needs to learn from it's mistakes instead of just moving on and committing them down the track again at some point.
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From even the greatest of horrors irony is seldom absent.
Jun 24th, 2006 06:36 AM
SP90
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Yeah, humanity sucks, all humans should be shot...
Jun 27th, 2006 03:24 PM
DarkC
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Gender: Male Location: Cacapoopoopeepeeshire.
That's a bit of an overreaction from Mr. Hawking, sorry to say. I personally believe there are more options open than that.
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Jun 27th, 2006 04:24 PM
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