Hogwash.
I wonder who types the words that comes out of the Stephen Hawking Fake Voice Synthesizer?
I think that for Western civilization to survive, other planets must be colonized. Without a frontier, we start to get stupid as a species.
He’s the “Smartest Man in the world” because liberals feel guilty he’s in a wheelchair, and crippled. Someone please name one Hawking accomplishment. (Crickets)
Although America still possesses the technologies necessary for mega space projects, there is no overt Cold War providing a collective impetus to go forth. The question becomes will low orbit and the moon be dominated by Elon Musk or the Chinese.
Hawking is voicing the Dark Forest Theory which most have never heard mentioned.
It goes something like this: Where is everybody? With trillions of suns and billions of planets, where are all the civilizations?
Explanations range from there are none (but us) to everyone else does not use radio (so we cannot hear them).
The Dark Forest Theory goes like this:
You seem alone are in a dark forest, what do you do?
Cry for help and hope that some friendly person comes to your aid?
Do you remain silent because there are dangerous creatures that may hear your call and come to feed?
How do you know of the two possibilities which will be true?
So every one remains quiet less someone comes hunting. Being on more than one world, in more than one solar system increases the odds of remaining undiscovered by hunters.
That is all he is saying.
It’s a pipe dream. Humans will never “colonize” Mars. Any spacecraft that manages to make the arduous journey will be destroyed by the violent galestorms that sweep the planet with winds hundreds of miles strong, not to mention unsustainable surface temperatures and deadly radiation. Also, no water, so everything necessary for survival would need to be brought along. God created Earth as a habitation for humankind.