Human Race 'Must Colonize Space Or Face Extinction', Warns Stephen Hawking

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Aug 10, 2010, 9:32:20 PM8/10/10

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Human Race 'Must Colonize Space Or Face Extinction', Warns Stephen Hawking
The astrophysicist says that our only chance for long-term survival is to move away from Earth and begin to inhabit far-flung planets. In an interview with the website Big Think, Professor Hawking said he was an optimist but the next few hundred years had to be negotiated carefully if humans were to survive. ‘I see great danger for the human race,’ he said. ‘There have been a number of times in the past when survival has been a question of touch and go. ‘The Cuban missile crisis in 1963 is one of these. The frequency of such occasions is likely to increase in the future. We shall need great care and judgment to negotiate them all successfully. ‘But I am an optimist. If we can avoid disaster for the next two centuries our species should be safe as we spread into space.’ Earlier this year, Professor Hawking warned humans should be wary about trying to make contact with other alien life forms as we could not be sure that they would be friendly. ‘If we are the only intelligent dead’beings in the galaxy we should make sure we survive and continue.’ But he warned that mankind was entering an increasingly dangerous period.