TNHarley
Diamond Member
- Sep 27, 2012
- 93,282
- 55,340
- 2,605
Technology
Most threats to humans come from science and technology, warns Hawking
The human race faces one its most dangerous centuries yet as progress in science and technology becomes an ever greater threat to our existence, Stephen Hawking warns.
The chances of disaster on planet Earth will rise to a near certainty in the next one to ten thousand years, the eminent cosmologist said, but it will take more than a century to set up colonies in space where human beings could live on among the stars.
“We will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period,” Hawking said. His comments echo those of Lord Rees, the astronomer royal, who raised his own concerns about the risks of self-annihilation in his 2003 book Our Final Century.
Speaking to the Radio Times ahead of the BBC Reith Lecture, in which he will explain the science of black holes, Hawking said most of the threats humans now face come from advances in science and technology, such as nuclear weapons and genetically engineered viruses.
--
I completely agree. In fact, I have been saying this for years.
Nuclear war seems almost imminent at this point. So many countries have them. So many countries have a lot of them.
I have also said that technology is why so many people are lazy and entitled now.
I have always figured they were making viruses. I would think that is also a way to fight viruses. But what if someone messed up protocol or something? What if, a virus got out that was so bad, a nuke was the only option to cease it?
We are our worst enemy. By far.
Most threats to humans come from science and technology, warns Hawking
The human race faces one its most dangerous centuries yet as progress in science and technology becomes an ever greater threat to our existence, Stephen Hawking warns.
The chances of disaster on planet Earth will rise to a near certainty in the next one to ten thousand years, the eminent cosmologist said, but it will take more than a century to set up colonies in space where human beings could live on among the stars.
“We will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period,” Hawking said. His comments echo those of Lord Rees, the astronomer royal, who raised his own concerns about the risks of self-annihilation in his 2003 book Our Final Century.
Speaking to the Radio Times ahead of the BBC Reith Lecture, in which he will explain the science of black holes, Hawking said most of the threats humans now face come from advances in science and technology, such as nuclear weapons and genetically engineered viruses.
--
I completely agree. In fact, I have been saying this for years.
Nuclear war seems almost imminent at this point. So many countries have them. So many countries have a lot of them.
I have also said that technology is why so many people are lazy and entitled now.
I have always figured they were making viruses. I would think that is also a way to fight viruses. But what if someone messed up protocol or something? What if, a virus got out that was so bad, a nuke was the only option to cease it?
We are our worst enemy. By far.
