The human race will not survive another 1,000 years if
it cannot escape “fragile” Earth, physicist Stephen Hawking
warned during a lecture on the universe, saying we need to expand
beyond our planet.
Speaking at the Oxford Union debating society, Hawking
said it is necessary to “continue to go into space for the
future of humanity.”
“I don’t think we will survive another one
thousand years without escaping beyond our fragile planet,” he
said, as quoted by The Independent. Hawking’s remark comes after he
estimated in January that human colonies on Mars would not be built
for another 100 years, stressing that the human race must be “very
careful” in the time leading up to that point.
During his lecture, the 74-year-old also commented on
the work of humans coming “this close to understanding the laws
that govern us and the universe,” calling it a “triumph.”
Reflecting on those achievements, Hawking described the
present-day as a “glorious time to be alive and doing research
into theoretical physics.” He also noted his own
accomplishments – albeit in a rather humble way – by saying he is
happy if he has made a “small contribution” to the changing
picture of the universe that has taken place over the past 50 years.
Looking to the future, Hawking spoke of “ambitious”
goals, saying “we will map the position of millions of galaxies
with the help of [super] computers like Cosmos. We will better
understand our place in the universe.” The Cosmos, one of the
world’s largest shared-memory Supercomputers, is located in the
Stephen Hawking Centre for Theoretical Cosmology (CTC) at Cambridge
University.
Parting on an inspiring note, Hawking encouraged those
in the audience to “remember to look up at the stars and not
down at your feet.”
“Try to make sense of what you see, wonder about
what makes the universe exist. Be curious. However difficult life may
seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters
that you don’t just give up,” he said.
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