Stephen Hawking and I agree. Humans may not survive-

[thebestMAX]

He says another millennium, I say less. He is worried about the greenhouse effect, I am worried about stupidity.

He says:

"to ensure the survival of humans, efforts must be made to colonize other planets. Space travel would not solve every problem but at least it would ensure that people do not become extinct. It takes too many resources to send each person into space but unless the human race spreads into space, I doubt it will survive the next thousand years."

I feel Hawking is a brilliant Physicist/mathemetician and so forth. I have always felt we have to get off this planet to survive but now feel we have lost our chance due to "entitlement programs" and so on. Spock said "the needs of the many outweight the needs of the few"

What do you think? Lets leave religion out if possible.

 

[Doomer]

Within 100 years civilization will collapse and man will revert back to the animal. Mother nature will then take from that which he cherishes most. His intelligence.

 

[convex]

it's comming...soon

 

[Isla]

thebest,

I am trying to cut down my posting average, but you pose a good question.

I think if we spend more time and effort on trying to take care of our resources here on earth and find ways to live in harmony w/our environment and ways to protect ourselves from environmental disaster, we would survive here quite well. However, there isn't much of a chance of that... as a whole, man is more concerned with using up and tossing out.

Any monies spent on colonizing outer space would have to include environmental control/ learing to make use of and manage resources. In fact, it would be critical because space is a hostile environment. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do that here? We don't because the earth seems so inviting and friendly to us, but there are limits to the damage we can get away with. If we spent more money on research for things that would make it possible to stay here, we could perhaps have the best of both worlds one day. Then, we could live on a space station/ planet and still come home now and then to visit the good old blue and green.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< Spock said &quot;the needs of the many outweight the needs of the few&quot; >>

thebestMAX, Spock also said &quot;you must have faith [that the universe will unfold as it should]&quot;. All things taken into account I think humanity is doing quite well. There are far fewer wars, democracy/capitalism (the best available systems) have spread, technology continues to take us forward at a remarkable rate. And on that last note don't you find it odd that as problems pop-up we always seem to have the technical knowledge to deal with them (e.g. we'll run out of fossil fuels at exactly the same time as alternate sources become commonplace)?

Does this mean there aren't any problems. No! I can name oodles of them. But overall, taking in the wide panoramic view, we should all rejoice in mankind's accomplishments and have a possitive outlook toward the future. Of course that 10 mile wide asteroid could hit earth next week and all this jabber might be for naught.

 

[Tripleshot]

JellyBaby


<<Of course that 10 mile wide asteroid could hit earth next week and all this jabber might be for naught. >>



Do you think Nasa(or any government agency) would tell us if a 10 mile wide astroid(or comet) was going to impact the earth?:Q







Would you want to know?

 

[Shazam]

Sigh.... Humanity will survive..... Like it always has. You guys could have said the exact same thing when the Roman Empire fell... Or when the Spanish Flu hit in the early 20th century...

 

[thebestMAX]

ISLA -

As usual you are a voice in the wilderness and I mean that in a good way. Were what you say only possible I would be for it in an instant. I think we come back to the question of instant gratification here and not long range thinking.

Jelly -

Again you look for the good in things and that is not a bad thing. People always look to science to save them but when it comes to funding research money goes elsewhere. I have written quite a few grant requests so I do know a little on this subject. I again pose the question to you, if we dont get off of this planet, do we survive? Alt energy sources are fine but take technology to take advantage of them and if not present, wither.

Lets go on.

 

[Russ]

<< &quot;the needs of the many outweight the needs of the few&quot; >>



Sorry, the few are broke.

Russ, NCNE

 

[thebestMAX]

SHAZAM -

Pull your head out of the dark ages because if humanity just survives that is just where you will be. NO, I think even worse off. How many people alive now than then or even compared to how many have ever even lived? How fast are we using up resources compared to then?

I am not a save the resources kind of person but where will we be when they are gone if we dont use them to best advantage.

 

[thebestMAX]

Droll, Russ, Droll.

 

[RaDragon]

it is funny how people look to &quot;space&quot; for redemption. how do we know that we will survive should we colonize outer space? (people *will* get homesick)
is that why we are building the international space-station, for future plans of colonizing the moon or mars? are they really sending a survivor up to mir to help fix it?

 

[JellyBaby]

<< Do you think Nasa(or any government agency) would tell us if a 10 mile wide astroid(or comet) was going to impact the earth? >>

chess9, we had an almost &quot;near miss&quot; a coupla years back and the word reached the populous. God threw a curveball at nasa. Nasa misread the pitch, thinking it was well within the strike zone when if fact it flew the catcher.

thebestMAX, you seem to be quite eager to get off-world. I agree space exploration is in our best interests. Spreading humanity far and wide guarantees survival. This simply has little meaning at the individual level. I'd like to ensure future generations have the best shot possible. At the same time we need to live in there here-and-now and face economic reality.

btw, I assume you're not voting for Gore? He's intentions toward nasa are not exactly nice.

 

[thebestMAX]

Now I am really worried about who will feed your cats. Id come by but a long trip.

Please reread the original post. Dont think looking to space for redemption was really an issue.

 

[thebestMAX]

JELLLY-

I assume you have seen few of my other threads or you would know voting for GORE would be intolerable to me. I may sound cold but funding the underachievers for political gain is not in our best interest. Getting off planet, a nice phrase, was something I once thought possible and would still jump at in an instant but now feel may never happen. Hope I am wrong. Think without space travel, even in our own solar system, we are doomed to perish not for lack of intelligence but resources.

 

[GammaRayX]

The human race will survive for a long time to come. Whether our &quot;modern society&quot; survives is another question.

The current lifestyle we currently enjoy requires a lot of earth's resources and if we exhaust earth's resources without comming up with an alternative, then many will starve and bring down earth's population (6 billion and counting), but there will always be some humans left on earth. If we lose enough of earth's population and/or resources to maintain our current technology, we will simply revert to a simplier lifestyle and society.

<--- Goes to pratice hunting w/ bow &amp; arrow in prepration for the hunting &amp; gathering society of the future.

 

[Pilgrim]

&quot;That which does not kill us makes us stronger.&quot; Conan???

The fact is that mankind (PC please read &quot;the human race&quot;,
oh sorry that doesn't work either, how about &quot;people&quotwill survive just fine.
Technology will solve many more problems than it will create, as it always has.
As for the greenhouse effect. Don't people put plants in greenhouses to grow better?
Please read the info on this site The Greening Earth Society I think it makes sense.
More CO2 = more plant growth.
Fire up that SUV.

 

[CyberTiger]

it's all over... almost.

 

[JellyBaby]

thebestMAX, good man. Gore would dismantle nasa when all it needs is better management and control over frivilous projects. Earth's natural resources will be depleted but not in your lifetime. And I still believe technology and common sense will prevail to deliver alternate sources of energy and better management of what we have. Take a look at the expansion of some large, modern cities in the States: nature is factored into the equation at a far higher priority than before. Fusion power will eventually supplant other energy production sources. Just need to nail down the details.

But at the end of the day only education can save us. Again, a big rip at Gore/democrats who fail miserably here though often have good intentions. For example, in college my biology 101 (&quot;Environmental Resources&quot professor, as insane as he was managed to convince me to purchase high mpg cars and to recycle.

 

[Gloaras]

Having said all this, what are you doing to make the earth a better place? I give lots of money to &quot;green&quot; associations and try and plant 12(avg of 1 per month) trees a year for me. my husband and each of my kids...

 

[Shazam]

thebestMAX, learn some history, then come back to this thread and say something meaningful.

Do we still use whale oil for lights?

Do we still use coal to heat our homes?

When was the last time you killed a cow for your meat?

Point being, this was FIRST WORLD technology only a HUNDRED years ago... Humanity adapts and changes, depending on need and available resources.

God damn, I'm so sick of doomsday naysayers. You people underestimate the resourcefulness of humans.

 

[RaDragon]

ok, thebestMAX,i went back to your orig post and found this instead:


<< Space travel would not solve every problem but at least it would ensure that people do not become extinct. >>


i don't think we'll ever become extinct, i'm sure we'll adapt as our environment changes. (or ditto to what Shazam stated)


<< It takes too many resources to send each person into space but unless the human race spreads into space, I doubt it will survive the next thousand years. >>


as i read between the lines of hawking as you quoted, he finds that if we spread into space, we may survive -- hence our liberation from this dying planet.


<< Now I am really worried about who will feed your cats >>


yes, unfortunately, i don't think they will adapt!

 

[KDOG]

thebestmax: Whats your problem with religion?

 

[Double Trouble]

Humanity has done a great job getting to this point -- too good in fact. The problem with the people on earth is their number. We've gotten so good at fighting diseases and making everything safe that our sheer number on the planet is gonna be our downfall..... 6.3 Billion and counting.

With 'primitive' peoples, things had a way of balancing out - the population was kept in check by nature. We're doing a great job of helping ourselves, but that balance has been thrown out of wack....

 

[kami]

<< Sigh.... Humanity will survive..... Like it always has. You guys could have said the exact same thing when the Roman Empire fell... Or when the Spanish Flu hit in the early 20th century... >>


I disagree...I believe Hawking is right. If we don't change anything and keep expanding/destroying at our current rate without leaving the planet, we will have destroyed ourselves within 1000 years. Back when the roman empire fell or when the spanish flu hit was a lot different. We weren't destroying the planet back then, and the technology was no where near advanced as it is now. And just think, in 5-10 years, todays technology is going to look ancient.

But I have hope...within 1000 years our technology, including space travel, will be good enough to carry humans long distances - possibly light speed? or at least close to it. If Alpha Centauri (closest solar system) has earth-like planets it would still take roughly 3 years to travel there at light speed.