Stephen Hawking now says humanity has only about 100 years to escape Earth

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/science/ct-stephen-hawking-escape-earth-20170505-story.html

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Stephen Hawking now says humanity has only about 100 years to escape Earth[/font]

[font size=3]In November, Stephen Hawking and his bulging computer brain gave humanity what we thought was an intimidating deadline for finding a new planet to call home: 1,000 years.

…

Now Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist turned apocalypse warning system, is back with a revised deadline. In "Expedition New Earth" - a documentary that debuts this summer as part of the BBC's "Tomorrow's World" science season - Hawking claims that Mother Earth would greatly appreciate it if we could gather our belongings and get out - not in 1,000 years, but in the next century or so.

…

"Professor Stephen Hawking thinks the human species will have to populate a new planet within 100 years if it is to survive," the BBC said with a notable absence of punctuation marks in a statement posted online. "With climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly precarious."

…

In recent months, Hawking has been explicit about humanity's need to find a "Planet B." In the past, he has also called for humans to colonize the moon and find a way to settle Mars - a locale he referred to as "the obvious next target" in 2008, according to New Scientist.

…[/font][/font]

[Sculpin Beauregard]

1. No. We should go down with the goddamned ship. We have no right to destroy another planet.

[vlyons]

2. What makes him think that humans will act any differently on Planet B?

Wherever we go, we will also take our ignorance, greed, hate, envy, pride, and jealousy. We will still take propensity to trash and destroy our planet for profit.

[2naSalit]

5. No matter where you go, there you are....nt

[Xipe Totec]

3. Well, it's up to the cockroaches then. nt

[Laffy Kat]

4. So glad I'll be long gone. nt

[democratisphere]

6. Homo sapiens are a failed species and should be contained to their

self-destructed planet. Continued overpopulation will finish off our planet, it's resources, it's environments, it's living populations within 100 years.

[defacto7]

9. I agree we are a failed species.

and a very short lived one. But we can't destroy the planet, only humanity. We damaged it but the earth will brush us away as if we had never existed and move on. Our civilizarion and the rise and fall of the human race will be our doing but the earth will continue on. A couple thousand years from now all that will be left to show we existed will be the pyramids.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. The bulk of the human race will never be air-lifted to safer surroundings

So the only point of populating another planet is the supposed importance of having human beings eternally spreading their DNA somewhere.

Why?

Individually, we all die anyway.

What's the difference if -- at some point -- there's no one left?

[longship]

8. Professor Carlin on the same subject.

Save the Planet???

Pack your shit.

Enjoy!

[Javaman]

10. we had an okay run. we still weren't the most successful species to have lived on this planet.

we have created many interesting things...to us.

but regarding lifeforms, we seem pretty hell bent on destruction.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. It's always going to be easier to survive on Earth than anywhere else in the solar system

Well, in the next few hundred million years, anyway - with the possible exception of a total nuclear war. Asteroid strike? You're still at risk elsewhere, and planet-changing strikes have hardly ever happened - the one that killed off the dinosaurs would be a disaster, but I'd still rather be here than on another planet without an atmosphere, at an unsuitable distance from the Sun. Crocodiles survived it, and they couldn't plan, or use tools.

Pandemics might wipe out billions, but I'd still rather be someone on a isolated island, or polar research station, than stuck on an inhospitable planet. Whatever happens with climate change, it'll be easier to control that than the 'climate' of currently lifeless planets or moons.

[OKIsItJustMe]

12. I agree 100%

At a time when we speculate about colonizing the Moon and/or Mars, it would be one heck of a lot easier to colonize Earth.

On the other hand, he’s not suggesting we need to pull up stakes and move somewhere else. He’s saying that the odds of some sort of cataclysm wiping out humanity are too high not to have a population elsewhere in addition to the Earth.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. The idea of "100 years" just seems like a number pulled out of ...

... I'll be polite, since it's him, and say "thin air". People in isolated communities on Earth would have a better chance of survival, and then fixing the rest of Earth, with just about anything apart from the literal end of all life as we know it. The human species can survive in all kinds of environments on Earth with minimal technology, while maintaining anything on a planet or moon would need extreme high tech.

[OKIsItJustMe]

14. I dunno...

What were we up to 100 years ago? http://firstworldwar.com/timeline/1917.htm

How did it all start? http://firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm

They didn’t have nuclear weapons in 1914. They did have other “weapons of mass destruction” though, and they weren’t afraid to use them. We’ve managed not to have a “nuclear exchange” to date… but…

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-spox-asks-what-the-purpose-is-of-nuclear-triad-if-youre-afraid-to-use-it/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Trump Spox Asks What the Purpose Is of Nuclear Triad ‘If You’re Afraid to Use It’[/font]

by Josh Feldman | 8:47 pm, December 18th, 2015

[font size=3]A Donald Trump spokeswoman tonight asked what the point is of having nuclear weapons if the United States is “afraid” to use them.

This comes on the heels of one of Trump’s big flubs from this week’s debate––not knowing what the nuclear triad (the three different systems the U.S. has to fire nuclear weapons) is.

On The O’Reilly Factor tonight, Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson attacked Republicans for pushing endless war and talking tough. And then she asked, “What good does it do to have a good nuclear triad if you’re afraid to use it?”

…[/font][/font]

[muhamed g]

15. different

Every year someone new says "this time it is different."

[airplaneman]

16. I personally don't believe space travel is in our destiny.

Nice idea but it is not going to happen. We really don't have the technology for this and we are going to see our decline in the not distant future. Things will start to fall apart faster than everyone realizes. Up against the limits of growth and way too many people. We have passed way too many tipping points to stop our decline. Enjoy life while thinks are still OK.
-Airplane

[OKIsItJustMe]

17. "Things will start to fall apart faster than everyone realizes."

I believe this is/was his point (in part.)