Stephen Hawking gives humanity 200-500 years to find a new home among the stars if our species is to survive global warming, the physicist told attendees at a science and arts festival in Trondheim, Norway.
When we have reached similar crises in our history, there has usually been somewhere else to colonize. Columbus did it in 1492 when he discovered the New World. But now there is no new world. No Utopia around the corner.
Shouldn’t we be content to be cosmic sloths, enjoying the universe from the comfort of Earth?
The Earth is under threat from so many areas that it is difficult for me to be positive. –Stephen Hawking
Hawking also slammed President Trump over his environmental policies:
‘I am not denying the importance of fighting climate change and global warming, unlike Donald Trump, who may just have taken the most serious, and wrong, decision on climate change this world has seen,’
How to escape?
While Elon Musk has announced his plan to colonize Mars, starting with a visit in 2020 – Hawking suggests we escape to the vast reaches of space riding on beams of light.
Beams of Light?
In order to test this theory, Hawking has teamed up with fellow physicist and billionaire Yuri Milner to form a company called Breakthrough Starshot, which will be launching 1000 tiny prototype space probes into the void. Just a few centimeters wide, the data collectors will attach to a miniscule ‘light sail’ which will ride on beams of light provided by an array of lasers.
The probes could accelerate to speeds reaching 100 million mph (160 million km/h) – approximately one fifth the speed of light. This would be fast enough to reach Alpha Centauri in just 20 years, and theoretically send back images of what was found, Hawking said.
“Human colonization on other planets is no longer science fiction. It can be science fact. The human race has existed as a separate species for about 2 million years. Civilization began about 10,000 years ago, and the rate of development has been steadily increasing. If humanity is to continue for another million years, our future lies in boldly going where no one else has gone before,” said Hawking.
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Far out man
Let’s streamline his time horizon and shoot his ass on a rocket to Mars tomorrow.
If one more cripple freak. Why do they have to be that way. Glass eyes Midgets Fags Vampires. It is a set up. Wake up.
A man has not been on the moon yet but hey, let’s travel on beam of light and colonize the warm and friendly beaches of Alpha Centauri first. Gotcha.
Remember when Segway’s were going to change the world and life. Good times, we need more idiots that pass themselves off as scientists. Maybe him and Bill Nye can start a show performing anal probe tests on each other.
“Remember when Segway’s were going to change the world and life.”
LOL. That worked out well. From the Daily Mail (28 Sep 2010):
“The multi-millionaire owner of the company that makes Segway motorised scooters has died in a freak accident while riding one of his vehicles.
Jimi Heselden, 62, was found dead in a river after plunging 80 feet over a limestone cliff near his home….
…The Segway was found in the river near his body, indicating that he was still riding the scooter when he drove over the cliff…”