Stephen Hawking Warns Against Confining Ourselves To Earth 414
alancronin writes with this excerpt from CNet:
"Stephen Hawking, one of the world's greatest physicists and cosmologists, is once again warning his fellow humans that our extinction is on the horizon unless we figure out a way to live in space. Not known for conspiracy theories, Hawking's rationale is that the Earth is far too delicate a planet to continue to withstand the barrage of human battering. 'We must continue to go into space for humanity,' Hawking said today, according to the Los Angeles Times. 'We won't survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet.'"
Re: Earth isn't delicate, (Score:4, Informative)
Humans don't actually handle low G all that well.. Vision degrades. Bones weaken. Muscle tone is lost. It would be many generations in that environment before we adapted or evolved to live comfortably in it. We need gravity. We need bugs (and the whole ecosystem). We need changing weather. Without the later two, you won't have well sustained food crops.
Re: Earth isn't delicate, (Score:2, Informative)
Or we can just send Hawking and be done with his babble if he wants to go so bad.
Hawking has been paralyzed for decades. It isn't that he wants to go to space, he wants humanity to survive.
You got it right though, Human beings are just a Virus, moving into areas just to consume it's resources, only to move on to another after we've laid barren the lands.
Then explain the existence of farms. You have it backwards - we're one of very few species that doesn't do that.
The problem is, we can't change because all we care about is money.
We? Who's "we", Mr. Trump? Not everyone worships money.
we're just not doing enough to matter.
How could anything anyone does matter at all in the long run? Our species has only been around for the blink of an eye in cosmological timescales.
Re:Paradox (Score:5, Informative)
Hawking ought to be more concerned about remaining confined to his chair.
Hawking ought to be long dead by now. And he currently speaks at about one word per minute [slashgear.com] (via a twitch of a muscle on his cheek). Do you really think he doesn't get that? "Concern" doesn't magically reverse a medical condition for which we have no clue how to cure.
But his concern may help save the human race. I think his priorities are in order.
Re: Earth isn't delicate, (Score:5, Informative)
Or, learn how to survive on this planet before going out and colonizing another one.
There are things that could happen that would make it very difficult if not impossible to survive on this planet no matter how much we've learned about surviving. Like a supervolcano eruption putting enough ash in the air to shade the entire planet, sudden release of ocean methane stores, a large asteroid strike, etc.
Any of these events are unlikely, but any of them could happen tomorrow. Even if they don't lead to extinction, the collapse of civilization would prevent us from leaving the planet for a long long time.
Re: Earth isn't delicate, (Score:3, Informative)
The planet needs humanity or it will turn to dust? You sound religious.
We are not the only living beings who have gone to space. Bacteria regularly take trips there encased in their own protective shuttles. Here's an article from a few months ago.
http://news.discovery.com/earth/weather-extreme-events/loads-of-bacteria-hiding-out-in-storm-clouds-130124.htm