Stephen Hawking @ Yahoo! Answers

[entanglement]

Is everyone (or culture) fully equipped? I dont think so personally. In terms of potential maybe. Would computers have been invented in the East or the Middle East with the pre-colonial culture in place? I doubt it. A number of very advanced inventions, calculus etc, were invented or known by the Romans and Greeks, but not developed due to their own cultural restrictions.

No culture equips its members with 'everything'. By what you are saying, you are entering an area of 'who knows if...'. We do not know of what might have happened IF, this had happened or this had not happened. I'm only pointing at what did happen. The east is responsible for as much (if not more) contribution to medivial sciences, literature and religion (an example would be the invention of the concept of zero '0', paper). What I think killed the bird and didn't allow it to fly anymore is the hunger for power. Colonism is evil. Its the supression of those perceived as lower beings as compared to themselves, through narrow eyes that cannot see beyond their own domain of influence.

What you mentioned earlier was quite accurate. The eyes that considered themselves 'up there', still pretty much do. Its the scale that has changed. Its not measured by control or whip anymore, but scientific/cultural superiority. (Which is nothing but a result of what the stare of those eyes caused earlier).

We talk of this world going to 'end' in the next 100 years. This is nothing but paranoia if 'nuclear threats' from the 'other countries' is being considered as the major threat against 'the world' a.k.a. the 'west', instead of paying attention to fixing the holes we've created in nature that gives us a home (global warming, for example). If only we could all work together for what we work in fragments, this fight for survival would be a lot more easier.

 

[entanglement]

It was because of this cultural phenomenom in the west (beginning with the Age of reason or the enlightenment), that essentially elimanated every single restriction against science and created our present age, and through colonialism and trade has allowed the rest of the world to catch up.

And No.

 

[Keltoi]

It will take a global effort to really confront the issues that threaten mankind's existence on the planet...is "mankind" considered sexist language now?...anyway, the destruction of our natural environment is definitely dangerous, but I don't see an easy alternative to this problem right now. Like John Lennon did, I too can imagine a world so much better than this one if only all people could see their common destiny. Hopefully we live in our own version of a "dark age", and the future generations will be able to save our world from whatever disaster probably awaits.

 

[ARC150]

People have been calling for the end of mankind for as long as written record has documented the thoughts of the poeple; this includes people as well renowned and "esteemed" as S. Hawking, and those as ill-spoken as Aarohi (read: "And no."). <--- Not very anodyne of me, but...

Fact: In any given lifetime, threre have been events that have brought into question the ability of the human race to survive.

Fact: The human race has not only survived the last six thousand years (to wit: The time since end-of-the-world statements have been recorded), but prospered.

That said, I have often mused that an extra-terrestrial race, in their history-of-the-universe class, would come across a chapter on Earthlings (by then extinct) that tersely noted us as one of those races that committed the classic evolutionary end-causality of developing world-destroying technology before perfecting the ability for off-world travel.

The reality though, IMHO, is one of a psychological nature: It is difficult for people to imagine a distant future - that is, something beyond their immediate grasp. Despite the fact that humans have existed for millenia, it is hard for any one of us to imagine a continued existence because to do so necessarily involves a comprehension of ideas beyond our finite grasp on existence.

This phenomenon reminds me of the time I saw my teacher (I was six) in the supermarket and had to immediately reconstruct my take on reality; the idea of her being anywhere but in the classroom did not work with my notion of world-order. Likewise, the idea that the human race will continue on for thousands, if not millions, of years is difficult to embrace.