Stephen Hawking to Human Race: Move to Outer Space or Face Extinction (VIDEO)

Is the future of the human race in outer space? Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, in an interview with Big Think, warns that if humans can't find another planet to inhabit, they will face extinction.

"We are entering an increasingly dangerous period in our history," Hawking says. "There have been a number of times in the past when survival has been a question of touch and go," like the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963, and the frequency of such occasions "is likely to increase in the future."

Because we are rapidly depleting the finite natural resources that Earth provides, and because our genetic code "carries selfish and aggressive instincts," our "only chance for longterm survival" may be to "spread out into space."

But how do we get there? Scientists estimate that it would take roughly 50,000 years to make it to the nearest star, if we traveled using chemical-fuel rockets. To arrive within our life span, humans would need the technology to travel at near the speed of light and to remain shielded from cosmic radiation for the duration of the journey.

WATCH:

Comments

[Stephen Froud]

09:51 AM on 08/18/2010

We need to stop having bloody babies, if we're going to spare resources for space exploration.... Too LATE!

[DeadWaffles]

11:18 PM on 08/16/2010

Argh, this is depressing. I'll face extinction and stay here, like most people, if it comes down to that in my life.

[evan la]

01:24 AM on 08/16/2010

He's right. We're a few million years overdue for an impact event. Pity that we won't have outposts away from Earth when it happens.

[Donald Current]

03:08 PM on 08/14/2010

Not taking anything away from Mr. Hawkins. A very learned man. But, here is a word from Our Creator. " All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not cease." Genesis 8:22.

[evan la]

01:22 AM on 08/16/2010

Oh for crying out loud. You're ridiculous.

[ruve]

09:35 AM on 08/13/2010

Advisory warning: I am in no way, shape, or form a scientist (unless you include "political scientist").

Couldn't evolution solve this problem? Not saying that it's a utopian future, but if there's an abundance of humans, doesn't that encourage other animals to evolve to become predators of humans? More predators means less humans. This would probably be bad for contraception manufacturers, but good for pharmaceutical companies manufacturing anti-anxiety medication.

[gx5000]

12:34 PM on 08/16/2010

They have..

It's called War and Sacrifice...
Medical and Pharma alpha testing
The disapearing Middle Class.........etc...

[norkas]

09:06 PM on 08/11/2010

A peaceful spiritual revolution will happen very soon that will change and divide the world.

I agree with Hawkings that we are destroying our natural resources and greed and selfless may bring an end to our planet.

That being said in truly believe those that want to enter this revolution will know the only leader is themselves without the often self serving Religions dominating the days this occurs.

What will happen in my opinion in a massive awakening a new door opening to a new dimension.

People are already changing and once they join with others and world will exist.

[tyson707]

01:36 PM on 08/10/2010

Not to be bleak, but the material universe is finite, so even if we colinize other planets, our material forms will eventually be destroyed with the universe. It seems that the point, from my perspective, is to remain in this material form long enough to evolve into the next level of consciousness. Otherwise, it seems rather pointless to continue prolonging our existense just to perpetuate selfishness and vanity. Hopefully we are closer to this universal epiphinay than it seems from the consciousness reflected in internet comments.

[Jamil RA Lynch]

02:49 PM on 08/10/2010

You are being bleak. It is well known that all things are finite and that "our material forms will eventually be destroyed with the universe"; it is called entropy and it is inevitable. However, this will not happen in any timespan menainful to the human species. Selfishness and vanity will not be perpetuated so long as humankind exists. Those qualities are the product of our society. Change the society (which would be an inevitable change in and of itself as resulf of creating a society that would mandate cooperation and material conservatism as a matter of survival) and the qualites cease to exist. Simple.

[tyson707]

03:15 PM on 08/10/2010

Ah, but therein lies the conundrum. Do changes in society shape the quality of individuals, or is it the change in the quality of individuals that prompt the changes in society? Looking at the failure of "communism" (I know, there never really was a truly "communist" political state), there is a good argument that attempts to impose societal templates of behaviour will not succeed so long as the templates conflict with fundemental human nature. I think that the truth is likely somewhere in between.

But your reply ignores my central point. Is not the purpose of human existence to continue the evolution of consciousness, not just for the sake of perpetuating existence itself?

[evan la]

01:26 AM on 08/16/2010

Heh. Heat death of the universe is a very long time from now.

[Slipperypick]

01:22 PM on 08/10/2010

Well, I for one think Hawking is right. After all, the man is a genius.
Problem is, we (speaking as an American FOR Americans) have come to believe that being ignorant is somehow virtuous. How else can we explain the complete rejection of science in favor of religious tenets, of scientific evidence in favor of what a money-driven politician says, of rejection of written words, facts and indisputable figures in favor of what some dittohead or Glenn Beck fan WANTS to believe?
Nope, the minority, i.e. the smart ones, are going to try their best to get us out there and think for the progression of humanity and the earth, but their just gonna spin their wheels as they try to drag the idiots kicking and screaming along for the ride.

[delphilic5]

06:17 PM on 08/10/2010

Ditto!. Men of reason have always been in the minority. While the knuckle dragging, holy book thumpers, will, only do the "right thing" if the dog biscut reward of heaven is offered. What about just behaving decently towards earth and each other because it makes this world an easier place to live for us and our children, a place we might be able to inhabit longer, ( though all things in fact do, come to an end). Thing is, those who vehemently want to belive ( because their too lazy to make necessary changes) that the earth is ticking along just fine "as is", will be the first to rob and kill their neighbors who have been trying to conserve, if things get tight and they think those neighbors might have something they need....Like that old Twilight Zone episode where a family builds a fallout shelter and are mocked until the day comes....then every on wants in. Well we know know that no fallout shelters gonna do it. Only resaon and a little humility over our over sized egos will, but I don't have much hope for that when even at the grocery check-out line almost no one can even bother to bring their own bags.We're intellectually lazy and ego driven and I don't see THAT changing soon enough before the beginning of the end to get uncomfortably near. I'll just keep trying, because I want to go with a halfway good conscience, heaven or no.

[Slipperypick]

07:29 PM on 08/11/2010

agree completely. Fan #1.

[Juilar]

02:32 AM on 08/10/2010

extinction hahahaha, people have been killing humans for many years for example war but as we have seen killing with guns and bombs just doesn't do much damage as we have hoped for, maybe biological war will be a better way of eliminating a very large number of humans that we don't need such as criminals, "terrorist" or any one that does not seem to have the right to live. :D

[Aldo Rodriguez]

01:33 AM on 08/10/2010

"Scotty, fire up the engines! We're leaving!"

[Cori527]

01:37 AM on 08/10/2010

Unfortunately we don't have those engines yet.

[ruve]

11:40 AM on 08/13/2010

If we had left 50,000 years ago we'd be there by now. ;-)

[Sparsh Parimoo]

01:30 AM on 08/10/2010

What if all life all over the universe is born and created spontaneously. I mean even before they can leave their planet for colonization or have first contact with another civilizations. Maybe thats why we havent met ET yet. Because like us, they face extinction too.

[Cori527]

01:32 AM on 08/10/2010

I tried to understand what you wrote, but I failed.

[tyson707]

01:43 PM on 08/10/2010

I think s/he means "simultaneously," i.e., what if all life emerged in the universe at the same time, so it is at the same point in evolution Earth life, and has not yet reached the ability to colonize other planets, either. Interesting thought, but rather remote and somewhat irrelevant.

[Cori527]

01:21 AM on 08/10/2010

I think that multi planet colonization would really uproot a lot of religious dogma. I wonder... what would all the "judgement day" religion people say if we had colonized two or three planets besides earth? The earth gets struck by an asteroid... is it nature or "God's Will"? If it's God's will that Earth be destroyed, why did he not destroy the other colonies too?

Just another example of our technology outpacing our religion. I have no doubt the religion folks will come up with something new to compensate. For as much as they dislike change, their blinders make them fairly resistant to facts and reality.

[ADRealist]

11:33 AM on 08/10/2010

Religion will just continue the process that it has already gone far down, making the transformation to vague "spirituality". Christians for instance will still be able to spin the Jesus story but it will be the whole universe instead of the planet, "or when mother planet Earth faces a rapture the other colonies will go as well" and the concept of Hell will go from being of brimstone and fire to "a place of loneliness because your separated from God"; these kind of 'polite' adjustments made for the ideology to survive in an increasingly diverse group of people.

I believe we will be stuck with the bible thumpers for a very very long time, but they should become less irritating as time goes on.

[Birdman372537]

01:10 AM on 08/10/2010

I'll face extinction, thank you very much.

[wallisphoto]

11:33 PM on 08/09/2010

lol funny one... I've seen Wall-E -I'm not going to outer space!

[publiuswarmac9999]

10:30 PM on 08/09/2010

Far too much pessimism here. There is great glory to be had in the search for the future.

We wouldn't be using the internet if it weren't for scientists pursuing every greater good and in some cases God.

[Birdman372537]

01:12 AM on 08/10/2010

Yeah, I remember when I drank my first beer, too.

[Cori527]

01:22 AM on 08/10/2010

Great glory? Are you a Klingon?

Great adventure, perhaps.

As far as the internet is concerned, I assure you, your mythical deities had nothing to do with it. 8-)

[publiuswarmac9999]

11:25 AM on 08/10/2010

Constant negativity eats you up. You die hating not living. There are numerous biographies of scientist whose purpose in their science was to find God. You don't have to believe in God, that is you right, but they did and their search produced the breakthroughs that have helped all mankind.