Comment Predicting the future (Score 1) 465
Any time I see a scientist (or any other 'pundit') predicting the future, I automatically assume the opposite of what they say will be true. The only guaranteed way to be wrong in life is to specify something about the future. Bill Gates saying 64k is all anyone will ever need in RAM or whatever, for instance.
Worse, and akin to what some people are arguing above...this sounds old and tired, to me. Someone giving up on a lifelong dream. Hawking has done a lot of great things in his life, but, to me, one of the greatest has always been inspiring other people with his love of science and his passion for knowledge. To say that humanity will never do something, given the practical infinity of time seems defeatist and...sad to me.
I think the theory of everything is one of the most important pursuits in science. Whether or not it is possible, rational, logical or what...it's already spurred massive amounts of research (LHC, etc) that has/will pay dividends in commercial, medical, or merely cool ways. It's the same argument I always have about the space program. Yes, it'll never be cool as Star Trek, at least not for a couple thousand years, but our need to explore, to climb, to name, to learn might be the thing that keeps us alive as a species. When we lose that...then I would expect extinction to be a natural outcome.
K.