Stephen Hawking is in the news again. This time around, he is warning that humans are not likely to survive another thousand years without escaping the fragile earth. Billed as one of the greatest minds around, Hawking has apparently come up with the same prediction a few years ago. In his opinion, it will be hard to avoid disaster on earth in the next hundred years. The human race should not have all its eggs in one basket, he argues. Other planets should be sought. And so on, and so forth. On reading all this, I cannot but be reminded of my book on climate change, which has attracted little if any attention around the world. Everything Hawking has to say I have been saying for many years and even decades already. When it comes to the greatest minds, though, humans are prone to put most of their eggs in just a few baskets. To their dreadful disadvantage, it goes without saying. Alas, yet another example of human collective stupidity…

Addendum I (May 9, 2017)

Well, well. Hawking has just come up with a new and even more alarming warning: humans are to escape the earth in a hundred years at most. Forget about a thousand years, that is. The only problem with his new warning is that humans cannot possibly escape their planet of birth within four generations. This would require international cooperation and accumulation of resources that cannot be even imagined at this historical moment. Most important, it would require an endeavor in coordination of interdisciplinary research and development that is unimaginable at this stage of human development. By implication, the human race is already doomed to extinction. Neither Hawking nor his commentators have anything to say about this implication, though. It is swept under the proverbial rug, as ever. Examples of human collective stupidity seem to multiply with each warning by good old Hawking. But wait for the next one, which is sure to come along any day now!

Addendum II (October 2, 2017)

Surprisingly, Hawking has not come up with any further warnings addressed to the human race. By now, I expected further shrinking of the time allotted to the endangered species on good old earth. Say, humans are to escape their cradle planet in a decade at most. Not a peep, though. Be that as it may, Hawking gets all the press, but no more than that. In short, his warnings are not heeded by anyone, let alone the bulk of humans. By now, he is part and parcel of the global entertainment industry. Whatever he comes up with is dutifully broadcast by all the media on offer, but that is all. For all the punch these broadcasts get, Hawking is just another clown. Returning to human collective stupidity, the species is enthralled by clowns of all descriptions. And their number is growing by the day. What is more, they are competing with each other with all their might. By comparison with the Donald, Kim Jong-un, Pope Francis, Angela Merkel, Cristiano Ronaldo, and a few others, Hawking is but a minor competitor in the global contest. Shucks!

Addendum III (March 15, 2018)

All the media are ablaze today, for Stephen Hawking has passed away at the ripe age of seventy-six. In short, there will be no more warnings from the physicist of renown. And there is no end to the laments from the media on this score. Hawking had the universe in his little finger. He knew it all, but now he has gone to meet his maker. Alas! Returning to the first addendum, humans are to escape the earth in a hundred years at most. To be a bit more precise, by 2117. And Hawking was not kidding, it goes without saying. Humans, pay attention! Or face the consequences of not heeding the last warning of the greatest scientist of this day and age.