Hawking Says Humans Must Go Into Space

neutralino writes "The Associated Press reports that astrophysicist Stephen Hawking wants humans to establish colonies in space in order to ensure the survival of the human race. At a news conference in Hong Kong, Hawking said that 'It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species. Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.'"

Right now?

[ewg]

Do we have to go into space right now? Do I have time to go home and change?

We must search for intelligent life

[Trigun]

We're running out of it here.

Although seriously, everyone still living on earth makes for a giant single point of failure. But my ping time is going to suck if I start gaming from the moon.

avoidance

[wjsroot]

Talk about avoiding the problem.

Instead of fixing our problems and looking for solutions, lets go into space to get away from it all.
some how this seems like a bad idea, or atleast a bad reason. Why not go into space for some positive reason? like to learn or solve a problem like over population...

Hawking demands it!

[Rob T Firefly]

He later elaborated on the specific humans who should go into space, including several people he went to school with, that one snooty teller at his bank, his obnoxious neighbors with their noisy children, and that little bastard who egged his house last Halloween.

Just one problem among many.

[eclectro]

How are we going to take cows into space? We need cows for steaks and dairy (milk, cheese and ice cream).

They have spacesuits for man. Could they make a spacesuit for a cow? A cowsuit?

What about..

[ganiman]

What about that hot nurse of his? Is she coming too?

Re:avoidance

[machine of god]

Hey, if I can put off dealing with something until the heat death of the universe, I call that a problem solved.

Re:The irony is

[IgLou]

Wouldn't irony be more like mankind sets off in giant spaceships to colonize the galaxy and save the planet only to die horrifically in a freak interstellar traffic accident? It could happen easily too, I don't see any stop signs up there! And how do you do right of way in 3 dimensions?? It's madness I say!

Did Hawking say it....

[russ1337]

TFA: "Hawking said that 'It is important for the human race to spread out into space....'"

mmm, I'll bet that long after Steven Hawking is gone, his chair will be still be giving lectures, advice, and making scientific discoveries...

Re:The irony is

[Wellington Grey]

Well then we'd better learn how to travel to other galaxies, fast.

-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]

Re:I doubt it.

[corbettw]

Well we'd best get crackin' then!

Re:Hawking demands it!

[ArmyOfFun]

A full transcript of the news conference does go into who Hawkings thinks should go:

AP Reporter: Professor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Hawking: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Reuters Reporter: I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Professor.

Re:Hawking demands it! -further elaboration

[kansas1051]

Dr. Hawking further elaborated on his suggestion that the space colonies include 10 women for every man:

"Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature."

Space is not the escape

[DanHibiki]

There's is little point in escapint to space. After all space and time will collapse within 3,000 Zillion years(aprox.) anyway. You're just delaying innevitability. What we really need to plan is an escape from this doomed dimention!

Re:avoidance

[birge]

Awful picky for a guy reading Slashdot...

Re:Right now?

[Kagura]

What a hypocrite, Stephen Hawking. Why doesn't he take some of his own advice for a change?

Re:article left out picture of his nurse

[dr_dank]

Hello nurse! I have a feeling that the "spongebath" button on his synthesizer is very well-worn...

Re:Life == humans?

[ch-chuck]

I would suggest sending a module of cockroaches and kitchen scraps to Mars. If they can't form a surviving colony there, then nothing could possibly survive.

Re:Right now?

[morcego]

And a towel ! Can't forget a towel !

Re:Right now?

[Dr Tall]

But I've watched enough 24 to know that the Big Disaster can only happen at the top of the hour. If you survive to 1:01 you're good for another hour!

Re:Right now?

[kesuki]

you can live your live in a cave with a rock covering the mouth in fear of the end of life, or you can embrace each day for all there is to enjoy about it. or you can just cry about all your sorrows and bitch about how much life sucks, whatever floats your boat man, it's not going to make a super virus infect the human race or whatever.

Personally the idea of floating colonies appeals to me not to 'flee' the earth, but simply as a platform from wich to launch giant mecha suits to have a massive war with the earth, no wait that's Gundam...

It's a cool technology, and space flight technology has gotten a lot cheaper, but in the end i think we're more likely to build giant space amusment parks complete with casino and brothel. afterall that's where the money is. But the technology has to mature and become afordable for people to fly into space for even that to happen.

Re:Just one problem among many.

[Esion Modnar]

Could they make a spacesuit for a cow? A cowsuit?

A spacesuit is what you wear when you are in space. A cowsuit...?!

But more importantly...

[bookbits]

He and his daugther are writing a children's book.

Re:Right now?

[owlnation]

Do we have time? No one knows. The Big Disaster could happen tomorrow, or it might not be for a thousand years. If we wait until we *do* know about it, it may be too late to avoid it.

Which is why those of you specially selected for passage on the B Ark should hurry right along and get ready now...

Yes, there is a special connecting bus from Redmond. Why yes of course Mr Dvorak, those in the A and C Arks will still be able to read your articles...

Re:Right now?

[dubmun]

No. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. Go directly to space.

Re:Poor solution

[Nimey]

Stereotyping is so much easier than thinking, isn't it?

One of the worst posts I've ever seen

[amightywind]

Fly over urban metropolises and you'll see pus and grime coming out of them, a haze of brown tinges their atmosphere.

But from my SUV the sun is dimmed to a pleasant orange color.

People shuttle to and fro in their daily lives, consuming as much as their salaries will allow. They justify this as acceptable in the "spirit of capitalism". It's "acceptable" to spend all that money on crap you don't need, because everybody else has it, or "it's cool".

But aren't you free to reject these ideas. People would gravitate to better alternatives. It is hard to beat Nascar on my plasma HD and a six pack of beer

Then most of these blobs will be told they need to hurry up there too, so that they can meet that quota, and then by the time you're 40, bald, and more or less impotent, you say: "My God! I've arrived!" And you look around and realize that not much changed, and you feel a big let down, you feel deceived, as if there was some hoax played on you.

This is a victim's thinking. Are you having a midlife crisis? Try buying a red sports car.

If you're interested about what I said here, please know that it was basically all taken from the words of Alan Watts [wikipedia.org], the 20th century's best and little known-about philosopher and interpreter of Eastern religions.

Sounds kinda creepy to me, like Heaven's Gate. If you haven't noticed a lot of people from the far east are highly motivated by US style consumerism. You can only meditate so much I guess.

Re:Right now?

[Da_Weasel]

Not to worry...i'm sure we can dig up a rag-tag team of oil drillers to save humanity...

Re:Right now?

[e03179]

"But I've watched enough 24 to know that the Big Disaster can only happen at the top of the hour. If you survive to 1:01 you're good for another hour!"

Hate to break it to you, bud...but God has a TiVo.

Re:The irony is

[FinestLittleSpace]

No, irony is like ra-eeee-ain on your wedding day.

Re:Hawking demands it! -further elaboration

[mgabrys_sf]

He also began beating the crap out of his right arm which refused to cooperate in general and had a propensity to give the hitler salute at the worst possible moments.

Star Trek Ethics (was:Right now?)

[soren42]

The Federation is a military dictatorship. Deal with it.

Look, the Federation may have been a military dicatorship, but it worked for some people...

All I'm saying is that if humans need to spread out into the galaxy to ensure the survival of the species, Will Shatner and I are ready to go out and sleep with all the alien babes it'll take to make that happen. We'll take one for the team - that's just the sort of guys we are.

:)

Re:Right now?

[Anonymous Coward]

testing the comment function

Re:The United Federation of Planets

[phreakincool]

Are you going to write the series? That sounds pretty good as a series concept.
"Star Fleet - Shadows of the Federation". (yes, I stole that from SOTE)

Go pitch it to Paramount...I'm getting the popcorn ready!

Re:With regarde to Hawkings

[MadUndergrad]

Why, that would require an army of super-virile men scoring around the clock. Kif, clear my schedule.

Re:Umm... attention ST geeks...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm, who's the bigger nerd. The one who quotes star trek, or the one who quotes a star trek actor on saturday night live?