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BRITAIN'S PRE-EMINENT SCIENTIST IS PREDICTING ...As panic grows over the threat of biological weapons from terrorists, a new book claims that germ warfare will destroy the human race in 1,000 years. The only way to save ourselves is to colonize other planets. This chilling prophecy comes from Professor Stephen Hawking, the world's most respected cosmologist. As a Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, he not only works with the most advanced theories of physics but is also renowned for his best-seller, A Brief History Of Time, which addressed the inner workings of the universe. Forget nuclear weapons which Man has had for 56 years.The real threat is from viruses and bacteria, capable of killing millions. Prof. Hawking points out that these biological weapons can bemanufactured secretly and silently in small, hidden laboratories anywhere around globe. Anthrax, a disease that has been a scourge off arming folk for centuries, has been put to a new ,sinister use. Although September 11 was 'horrible' Professor Hawking says, 'it didn't threaten the long term survival of our species'. It is doubtful that anthrax or any of the half-dozen germs, suchas plague or smallpox, touted as possible warfare agents, could wipe out humanity. All these bugs have been around for centuries, and humanity has built up a certain degree resistance to them. Even in the Black Death or smallpox and cholera epidemics of the past, most people exposed to them survived. Andthat was without the aid of modern medicine,vaccinations and antibiotics. Professor Hawkingbelieves a true doomsday weapon would be a genetically modified bug against which we haveno resistance. For instance, meddling around with anthrax's DNA to make it antibiotic resistantwithout turn it, from a potential threat tothousands into a killer of millions. We are quite likely, he thinks, by accident or design, to create a super-germ which would run rampant through humanity. After all, HIV ( anatural virus) has killed millions because of our lack of immunity to it. A deliberately engineered killer would be far worse. His solution is for humanity to establish colonies in space- spread out from our home planet across the Solar System and beyond. The problems with space travel are huge, but the work being done by Professor Hawking and its colleagues may go a long way towards solving them. Unfortunately, most of the nearby cosmic real estate is pretty hopeless as a home for humanity. Mercury and Venus are as hot as hell. The Moon's surface is a parched, airless dustbowl. Jupiter and the other outer planets are giant balls of gas, their moons frozen. Mars is more hospitable , but turning it into a suitable home for millions of people rather than a base for a few explorers will probably require thousands of years of planetary engineering time, according to the professor, that we may not have. So it would be preferable to find a far more Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star. The discovery of eight new solar systems was announced earlier this week. In the next 20 years or so, giant space telescopes, successors to the Hubble orbiting observatory, will be launched. These huge spyglasses will be able to detect Earth like planets orbiting the closest stars. The problem is getting to them. Today's rockets are fast enough to get to the moon, but hopelessly slow for traveling to another star system. For example, if the distance from the Earth tothe Moon is compressed to a single inch, then the nearest star ( Proxima Centauri) would be nearly 2.000 miles away. The fastest rockets can travel from Earth to the moon in ten hours, so the nearest star would be thousands of years away. SoProfessor Hawking hopes that developments in his field of physics may provide a solution. On the other hand , mankind's rescue may come from the laboratories of biologists . Professor Hawking, is not in favor of genetically-modified humans but feels that such a development is ultimately inevitable. There is a lot of hype over the 'new eugenics', but within a century, surely, we will be able to make ourselves stronger ,brainier and longer lived by tampering with our genes. This may make space traveleasier for our descendants, or it may lead to new solutions to problems that have bedeviled mankind since we evolved. Prof. Hawking is someone we should take seriously. If he is right , we are living in the beginning of a new terrifying era. (From the report of Michael Hanlon, Daily Mail, London ,UK, 10/17/01) --> return to menu / back ... (click) --> return to top of the page (click) |
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