Stephen Hawking: Biggest Human Failing Is Aggression

hypnosec writes: Aggression is the human failing that celebrity scientist Stephen Hawking would most like to correct, as it holds the potential to destroy human civilization. Hawking expressed his views while escorting Adaeze Uyanwah — London's Official Guest of Honor — around London's Science Museum. Uyanwah asked Hawking what human shortcomings he would alter, and which virtues he would enhance if this was possible. He replied, "The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression. It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory, or partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all. A major nuclear war would be the end of civilization, and maybe the end of the human race."

Comments

armchair evolutionary biologist

[globaljustin]

Stephen Hawking needs to stick to cosmology...he doesn't know *shit* about computing and human behavior.

"aggression" is such a ridiculously ill-defined term, it means virtually nothing scientifically

just like all traits of human behavior, evolutionary biologists (esp. psych) drastically oversimplify the most complex behavior we observe in the known universe

the **real problem** is listening to people like Hawking....they pontificate to feel important and get all the research dollars chasing their tails

this is just like Hawking warning of 'ai'....neither 'ai' nor 'aggression' are a threat to humanity....people listening to Hawking on this is the only threat

Re:armchair evolutionary biologist

[wgoodman]

If we don't spend so much money on the military, we would have a lot more to spend on science. It's a pretty easy link to see.

Steven Hawkings should stick to physics

[Anonymous Coward]

At some point when they gain enough fame, some clowns seem to think that it is imperative to make statements worthy of beauty pageant contestants in order to polish their legacy.

Note to Hawkings: Aggression is directly tied to competition and without competition, there would be no advancement of the human species. Now shut up and stick to dribbling saliva down your chin.