Slashdot Mirror
Stephen Hawking Asks The Internet a Question
An anonymous reader writes "Dr. Stephen Hawking received about 15000 answers to a question he posted 2 days ago on Yahoo Answers. His question was 'How can the human race survive the next hundred years?'." I imagine you can do better than 'It Can't.' How would you answer Dr. Hawking's question?
There are about three good comments in this discussion that are along these lines, but yours is the best.
It seems Hawkings question is really, how do we keep our "world" (planet, society, etc.) as stable/stagnant as possible. That won't happen. It never has.
We may well face some drastic climate changes in the next 100 years (many are certain about that), but the human race has faced that before and survived by wearing mammoth hide or migrating. We may face ravaging disease, but we've seen that too. War? Yep. Will the population decrease at some point in the next century? Probably. We've been due for a correction for some time now.
About the only forseeable event we haven't already survived is global radioactive contamination. However, the odds of that happening - and leaving no habitable corner of the world where humans can survive long enough to reproduce - are slim.
Will you or I survive the next hundred years? Most likely not. Will our children? Most likely. Will some human? Almost definitely.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
True, but it means you can put that intelligence to better use.
I think the first step is to not give religious organizations preferential tax treatment. The rest should write itself.
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.