Stephen Hawking on Extinction Risk Monday, Apr 28 2008
risks 12:24 pm
It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species. 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.
– Stephen Hawking
April 28th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Hawking is wrong. If we can’t survive on Earth, we aren’t going to survive on other planets.
The challenge of colonizing space is puny compared to the threats we will face from yet unrealized technologies.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Hawking is right, keeping all of humanity on earth is like keeping all your eggs in one basket. If we colonize other planets the human race can survive even the planet is destroyed or rendered inhospitable.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Regardless of the perceived moral value of expansion beyond one’s home planet, the technical challenge is relatively minor and decreasing while the risk of an “existential” catastrophe is relatively high and increasing.
This is as certain as the fact that with linear expansion, the surface area tends to increase as the square while the volume tends to increase as the cube.
Another key is that increasingly intelligent action corresponds with increasing effectiveness with decreasing unintended consequences.
Together, these might shed a broader spectrum of light on the mystery of the Fermi “Paradox.”
May 27th, 2008 at 3:58 am
I’m not a big Hawking fan. Sudden global warming killing us all? No mention of nanotech or AI? If he thinks nuclear war will end our survival then he needs to get better informed about the side of the impact of nuclear war and the size of the Earth.
He got the black hole information thing wrong but we are now to be assured that he is right that the LHC will not produce a stable black hole due to Hawking radiation? Sure hope he’s right this time!
None-the-less space colonization does seem prudent. Problem is Fermi would suggest that it won’t be sufficient.