Stephen Hawking Warns "Aggression Could Destroy Us All"

[Wrenry]

Quote:

Forget doomsday asteroids, global plagues and super volcanoes. British theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking says we're facing a much more immediate threat -- and it's our own behavior.

“The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression,” Hawking told contest winner Adaeze Uyanwah, according to the Independent. “It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.”

Uyanwah, a 24-year-old from California, won the "Guest of Honor" contest from VisitLondon.com. The prize package included a tour of London's Science Museum with Hawking.

While being shown around, Uyanwah asked Hawking which human shortcoming he would most like to change, and which trait he'd enhance.

Hawking chose aggression and warned that a nuclear war could end civilization and possibly the human race. We need to replace aggression with empathy, which "brings us together in a peaceful loving state,” he said.

The subject of "The Theory of Everything" also told her that the future of man lies beyond Earth.

"I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be space and that it represents an important life insurance for our future survival, as it could prevent the disappearance of humanity by colonizing other planets," Hawking said, according to the Cambridge News.

Hawking said putting humans on the moon "changed the future of the human race in ways that we don't yet understand."

"It hasn't solved any of our immediate problems on planet Earth," Hawking said. "But it has given us new perspectives on them and caused us to look both outward and inward."

Uyanwah said meeting Hawking will stay with her for the rest of her life.

"It's incredible to think that decades from now, when my grandchildren are learning Stephen Hawking's theories in science class, I'll be able to tell them I had a personal meeting with him and heard his views first hand," Uyanwah said, according to The Daily Mail. "It's something I'll never forget."

Source

[azulmagia]

Are statements like these the reason why Hawking is Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology of the University of Cambridge and former Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, and we're not?

[David2074]

So, human beings stand a better chance of surviving as a species if we care about each other rather than attacking each other.

Who knew? lol

I mean, you don't need to be Stephen Hawking to figure that out.

[Ringoringa]

Replace "could" with "will," and you're spot on. The only way to salvage this species is to rewrite our brains, or be ruled by some non-human entity. We've proven throughout the history in various democratic nations that we're too stupid to pick our own leaders based on logic and reason, instead opting for handsome and charismatic scumbags. Perhaps if we had a robot or alien overlord. razz My hopes aren't terribly high for either of these things, however.

[MegaTurkey]

Ringoringa

Replace "could" with "will," and you're spot on. The only way to salvage this species is to rewrite our brains, or be ruled by some non-human entity. We've proven throughout the history in various democratic nations that we're too stupid to pick our own leaders based on logic and reason, instead opting for handsome and charismatic scumbags. Perhaps if we had a robot or alien overlord. razz My hopes aren't terribly high for either of these things, however.

Not really, that's a flaw of democracy. In my opinion, a meritocratic political system would be much better.

[Lady Vizsla]

Aggression isn't the only thing that could "destroy us all". I could think of a million other things. How is this news?

[ArcaneEldritchNeurons]

Lady Kariel

Aggression isn't the only thing that could "destroy us all". I could think of a million other things. How is this news?

Cuz celeb smart guy cripple said it is

[Your Baroness]

Aggression? AGGRESSION?! scream You wanna go Hawking? Huh? Think you can back up that statement after I destroy everything you love when I get my hands-... huh. I see it now. But I love being the dissident aggressor! crying What would a person like me do in a care-only world?

[azulmagia]

David2074

So, human beings stand a better chance of surviving as a species if we care about each other rather than attacking each other.

Who knew? lol

I mean, you don't need to be Stephen Hawking to figure that out.

Actually, it's worse than that. He's making a straightforward reductionist argument that chalks up entire world wars to the aggressiveness of individual human actors.

[Ringoringa]

MegaTurkey

Ringoringa

Replace "could" with "will," and you're spot on. The only way to salvage this species is to rewrite our brains, or be ruled by some non-human entity. We've proven throughout the history in various democratic nations that we're too stupid to pick our own leaders based on logic and reason, instead opting for handsome and charismatic scumbags. Perhaps if we had a robot or alien overlord. razz My hopes aren't terribly high for either of these things, however.

Not really, that's a flaw of democracy. In my opinion, a meritocratic political system would be much better.

We have yet to come up with a perfectly unbiased test for intelligence that actually measures how smart people truly are. Even if we could measure your merits as a leader with 100% accuracy in a way that everyone agreed with (supporters of meritocracies continue to be rather divided about the exact criteria a leader ought to fulfill, in my experience) and that didn't just result in the continuous rule of families with the money to pay for the best tutors (unless you intend to take everyone away from their parents to raise them in identical conditions), anyone with any knowledge of human psychology at all can see that you're going to create an us VS them mentality. No matter how you set up your system initially, as time goes on, the people of "merit" will distance themselves from the lower classes based on their beliefs of their inherent superiority. You know, sorta like how rich people do in the United States today. Only this time, they could also claim to be more intelligent and have the best genes, regardless of how true this actually is. Again, we have yet to actually create a test capable of accurately gauging someone's intelligence, especially seeing as what intelligence actually CONSISTS of is subject to various interpretations. If we're leaving it up for humans to choose, well, now you're subject to bias, and two people of identical merits will be judged differently based on innumerable variables we can't hope to control.

So yeah. I'm still putting my hopes in a benevolent alien takeover (though they're likely as not to be just as flawed as we are, so perhaps not) or robot uprising ('course, someone could still hack the system). The smartest human in the world is still just a human, prone to greed, favoritism, and corruption. Ergo, we're doomed so long as our fellow humans are running the show.

[Lupa Fangs]

David2074

So, human beings stand a better chance of surviving as a species if we care about each other rather than attacking each other.

Who knew? lol

I mean, you don't need to be Stephen Hawking to figure that out.

You need to be as respectable as Stephen Hawking to have people listen to you though. razz

[A mali]

We'll need that aggression if we want to go forth and conquer the stars and enslave those... redface

[MegaTurkey]

Ringoringa

MegaTurkey

Ringoringa

Replace "could" with "will," and you're spot on. The only way to salvage this species is to rewrite our brains, or be ruled by some non-human entity. We've proven throughout the history in various democratic nations that we're too stupid to pick our own leaders based on logic and reason, instead opting for handsome and charismatic scumbags. Perhaps if we had a robot or alien overlord. razz My hopes aren't terribly high for either of these things, however.

Not really, that's a flaw of democracy. In my opinion, a meritocratic political system would be much better.

We have yet to come up with a perfectly unbiased test for intelligence that actually measures how smart people truly are. Even if we could measure your merits as a leader with 100% accuracy in a way that everyone agreed with (supporters of meritocracies continue to be rather divided about the exact criteria a leader ought to fulfill, in my experience) and that didn't just result in the continuous rule of families with the money to pay for the best tutors (unless you intend to take everyone away from their parents to raise them in identical conditions), anyone with any knowledge of human psychology at all can see that you're going to create an us VS them mentality. No matter how you set up your system initially, as time goes on, the people of "merit" will distance themselves from the lower classes based on their beliefs of their inherent superiority. You know, sorta like how rich people do in the United States today. Only this time, they could also claim to be more intelligent and have the best genes, regardless of how true this actually is. Again, we have yet to actually create a test capable of accurately gauging someone's intelligence, especially seeing as what intelligence actually CONSISTS of is subject to various interpretations. If we're leaving it up for humans to choose, well, now you're subject to bias, and two people of identical merits will be judged differently based on innumerable variables we can't hope to control.

So yeah. I'm still putting my hopes in a benevolent alien takeover (though they're likely as not to be just as flawed as we are, so perhaps not) or robot uprising ('course, someone could still hack the system). The smartest human in the world is still just a human, prone to greed, favoritism, and corruption. Ergo, we're doomed so long as our fellow humans are running the show.

Not really, I came from a privileged background, while plenty of my colleagues didn't and have done just as well I'd say. I wouldn't say tutoring and therefore financial background is much of an issue in higher education as it is in earlier education. Now I'm not saying a meritocracy is perfect but I think a Health Secretary with a degree in medicine and a background in healthcare or a Chancellor of the Exchequer with a degree in Economics for example should be more second nature than anything else. A democracy with everyone's voice supposedly heard and accounted for equally across the nation appears to be more of a popularity contest than anything else; China for example has done pretty well for itself in borrowing from the meritocratic system. And besides, even with all its flaws, I do think an improvement by revising the most widely practiced modality of political governance in the world is much more realistic than extra-terrestrial rule to magically solve everyone's problems. Also I don't think blindly submitting our species' right to self-determination would be a wise or popular choice and essentially shits (for want of a better word) all over our evolutionary inheritance, our achievements and mistakes throughout history and leaves us no better than mere pets to be looked after.

[David2074]

azulmagia

David2074

So, human beings stand a better chance of surviving as a species if we care about each other rather than attacking each other.

Who knew? lol

I mean, you don't need to be Stephen Hawking to figure that out.

Actually, it's worse than that. He's making a straightforward reductionist argument that chalks up entire world wars to the aggressiveness of individual human actors.

Well, in the literal sense he is correct.
Every war ever is the direct result of humans acting aggressively.
The politics and motivations may vary but when it gets down to the killing other people part those are aggressive acts. So... attacking each other.

[David2074]

Lupa Fangs Makucha

David2074

So, human beings stand a better chance of surviving as a species if we care about each other rather than attacking each other.

Who knew? lol

I mean, you don't need to be Stephen Hawking to figure that out.

You need to be as respectable as Stephen Hawking to have people listen to you though. razz

Well now that the world knows maybe people will stop acting aggressive to each other. smile