Stephen Hawking: Off Earth by 2110?

[jkoci]

Cosmic Log - Stephen Hawking: Off Earth by 2110?

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Hm thats pretty good theory and no one around to dispute in 2110

 

[Sean Elifritz]

I very much doubt it. The majority of people have made it pretty clear that they have no interest whatsoever in funding such things. Hell, I think Obama might blow up NASA if it were legal. At least half of the population is foaming at the mouth for additional spending on entitlements despite 13 trillion dollars of debt. When ya' listen to presidential debates these days it sounds more like an auction than anything else, "I'll burn 30 billion on this." Opponent: "That's nothing, I'll ignite 60 billion on that!" The public hears this and damn near piss their pants in excitement and then vote for the guy promising to spend the most. But for some reason the public doesn't feel that way when it comes to space exploration. They don't want to spend squat on that. So we probably could get out into space by then but we won't because not enough people care to.

 

[trainedobserver]

I think we have to face the fact that we may not be intelligent enough as a species to pull it off. As a whole, we're too busy spending all of our time and fortune in devising new ways of cornering the resources on earth through war, politics, and business. The only way we'll be goaded into leaving the planet is when a significant majority views cornering the resources of the solar system as a viable business/political strategy. The only other thing might be a "When Worlds Collide" situation, but I doubt seriously that we have that much warning.

 

[Kandinsky]

I don't know if anyone remembers Stephen Hawking's question on Yahoo? It was fairly well publicised around 2006/7. He asked Yahoo members...'How can the human race survive the next 100 years?' How can the human race survive the next hundred years? - Yahoo! Answers

Maybe it's a false memory...I seem to recall he added a short commentary on the answer he chose? If he did, it's no longer there.

In the past few years, he's asked some big questions. He's not afraid to rephrase, regroup or change his perspective.

In asking about our survival, or if we'll get off this planet in the next century, I like to think his credibility and respect will add a little urgency or importance to those concepts.

 

[exo_doc]

Well, in my inconsequential opinion, I think he's right. Humanity must spread or die. Homo Sapiens days are numbered anyway, but maybe we could extend it a bit longer. For what reason....I'll leave that for you to decide.

 

[Slim Shady]

Humans are bound to go extinct some-day ,either by a giant rock wiping us out , a black hole , a super volcano etc , but the most plaussible one would be , we will the first beings on this planet who wiped themselves out because of war , famine ,over population and ideologys and systems that hold us back from oor true potential.

 

[trainedobserver]

...we will the first beings on this planet who wiped themselves out because of war , famine ,over population and ideologys and systems that hold us back from oor true potential.

I think it is possible for us to do so but I don't think we could take the dubious credit of being the first. If the species fails it fails for the same basic reasons all other species fail. We will have proved ourselves incapable of adapting and coping with our environment (which includes our own social/economic/political context. Animals have wars, kill themselves off through overpopulation, and have a social context all their own in which they routinely and miserably fail in. I think people in general have a false and harsh view of humanity and often judge it as though perfection in nature was something other than the product of the human imagination. Aren't we the products of an evolutionary process in which all species eventually evolve into something else (and thereby cease to exist) or else fall by the wayside?

If we're smart enough to get all of our eggs out of one basket (the earth) we might stand a chance of surviving the next extinction event whatever that might be. But given our general short sightedness and need for immediate gratification, unless someone comes along with a great vision for humanity in space who gets everyone bought in, we're going to keep fighting over the same patch of dirt ad nausium.

 

[TClaeys]

Well, if it's true that 99% of all species of life are now extinct perhaps we should take a hint and come to the realization that we will become part of this statistic if we don't take precautions. However people are generally very busy and live in the now and short term future. We, as a species, don't seem to want to take this space travel thing very seriously especially when we have to spend gobs of money and take huge risks.

It may take some kind of imminent disaster scenario for us to really put effort into it. The sad thing is that we could do it. We have most of the technologies, the engineering, the materials, the brain power, etc. The thing we seem to be lacking is a strong will to do so. But by the time we really NEED to move, it may be too late.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

People spend way too much time worry about BS so venturing out into space has stalled. The country that has done the most for space travel has a population that had to argue over whether they should have universal health care.
People these days seem to care less about science and more about crap so it doesn't look like we'll be colonizing space anytime soon.