** Hawking says humans must look to outer space if race is to survive
**
LONDON: Humans will have to colonize planets in far-flung solar systems if the race is to survive, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said in an interview Thursday as he was awarded a top honor.
“The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet,” he said in a radio interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. “Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe.”
Because there are no other planets like Earth in our own solar system, Hawking said humans will have to travel to another star to find a hospitable planet to colonize. At the speed of chemical-propelled rockets like the Apollo, the trip to the next nearest star would take 50,000 years, he said.
While the warp drives described in science fiction are just that, Hawking said that using matter/antimatter annihilation, described in the TV series “Star Trek,” would allow for travel at almost the speed of light.
When a particle and its antiparticle destroy each other, the entire mass is converted into energy. Some scientists, including Hawking, believe this process could be used to propel spacecraft.
Hawking, 64, whose speech and mobility have been limited to a speech synthesizer and wheelchair by the progression of Lou Gehrig’s disease, gave an interview to the BBC Thursday before receiving an award from the Royal Society.
The Copley medal is the world’s oldest award for scientific achievement, first awarded in 1731. Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur and Sir James Cook also have received the award.
“This is a very distinguished medal,” Hawking said in a statement. “It was awarded to Darwin, Einstein and Crick. I am honored to be in their company.”
Hawking is a mathematics professor at the University of Cambridge whose theoretical work has allowed for the classification and greater understanding of black holes. He has written four books, including the best-selling “A Brief History of Time” and “The Universe in a Nutshell.”
“Stephen Hawking has contributed as much as anyone since Einstein to our understanding of gravity,” said the society’s president, Lord Rees. “This medal is a fitting recognition of an astonishing research career spanning more than 40 years.”
To recognize Hawking’s achievements in cosmology, British astronaut Piers Sellers carried Hawking’s medal into space on the July shuttle mission to the international space station.
“Stephen Hawking is a definitive hero to all of us involved in exploring the Cosmos,” Sellers said. “It was an honor for the crew of the STS-121 mission to fly his medal into space. We think that this is particularly appropriate as Stephen has dedicated his life to thinking about the larger universe.”
Hawking wants to follow his medal into space, he told BBC radio.
“My next goal is to go into space,” he said.
Re: Hawking says humans must look to outer space if race is to survive
Very informative!
But at the same time reminds me of one Allama Iqbal shair
Kafir ke ye pehchan ke aafaq mein gum hei
Momen ke ye pehchan ke gum us mein hei aafaq
If you dont understand urdu, too bad
Re: Hawking says humans must look to outer space if race is to survive
Actually, humans are worth a lot - about 100 million years worth of evolution. That we haven't gotten past our inability to act for the long-term good vs. our short-term needs is a problem that will hopefully be sorted out over time. If we don't sort it out, we die, but since we're a product of the evolutionary process, it's difficult to blame ourselves for the limitations we're born into.
Re: Hawking says humans must look to outer space if race is to survive
well well my friends evolution is and idea created to support western meterialistic approch.
This idea has huge hole in it.
Re: Hawking says humans must look to outer space if race is to survive
*I picked 100 million years because it's about the time when the first mammals evolved. We, however, seem to have won the evolutionary lottery in having the right combination of brain (ability to visualize and project into the future) and physiology (opposable thumbs and ability for complex speech) that has allowed us to lead the pack.I'm not saying that we aren't capable of great things, certainly we are, but we're also to an extent held captive by the very processes that created us. Kurt Vonnegut has a good take on this, viewing the human mind as a terrible evolutionary mistake. I can't remember which book, hell, probably all of them.... *
Re: Hawking says humans must look to outer space if race is to survive
what he didnt want to say barin proves that evoluation thing is wrong??
Re: Hawking says humans must look to outer space if race is to survive
*well its all therioes ... Personally i think Darwin was also adopted *
Re: Hawking says humans must look to outer space if race is to survive
Creation dates back only 5000 years! There were no prophets found in Australia, the americas or even Japan! They are all limited to middle east and tell the same story!
Whereas the aborigines in Australia living for over 50,000 years!