Human Space Settlements—Folly Most Foul

Waking Point

by Helen Noakes

“It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species. Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.”—Stephen Hawking

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—(Weekly Hubris)—9/13/10—Mr. Hawking, as much as I admire your superb intelligence, I must say that the quote above is the singularly most stupid statement I’ve heard in a long time.

Which part of “. . . the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus . . .” allows you to believe that the same humans who are responsible for this scenario can be trusted not to repeat it on another planet, in a “galaxy far, far away”?

And don’t those “. . . other dangers we have not yet thought of,” cause you to shudder and rethink your naïve and irresponsible suggestion?

Is it perhaps the fact that your remarkable mind, so busy traveling along the trajectories of incredibly complex calculations, is so high up in the cosmos that you have failed to look down on the human race and the dystopian world that we’ve created?

Sadly, I would not wish my own species on the most predatory of “alien” space invaders. Carl Sagan wondered why none of the UFO’s allegedly witnessed by people in various parts of the world never land.

My impression is that they’re much too smart to do that. If you were an alien looking down on us now, you’d see what we’ve done with this beautiful planet, you’d witness what our corporate Huns have done to the world and to those who people it, you’d see the brutality of our wars, and shudder at the bloodlust in folks like Sarah Palin, who like to shoot wolves from the safety of helicopters, and you bet your little grey jumpsuit you wouldn’t land!

Oh, we’ve had our Mozart and our Euripides, our Beatles and our Elvis. We’ve had good souls who gave and continue to give of themselves to help and educate others, but there is a mean and predatory streak in so many members of our species who have not progressed beyond knuckle-dragging, caveman attitudes, and refuse actually to evolve into the higher species they claim to be.

Sadly, these few continue to override all truth and beauty inherent in the human condition, and until and unless those more evolved, those who refuse to adopt a rapacious stance, make themselves stronger and overwhelm the barbarians, they will be running the world.

Another oil spill has occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. This one, caused by Pemex, has got very little coverage, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t causing irreparable harm. BP has bought TV ads to continue their enormous lie that the spill is under control and now, it has the temerity to claim that no great damage has been done. If you believe that, I have an original Rembrandt to sell you—never mind that I whipped it up in my spare time—the oil spill is beneficial to the Gulf and my Rembrandt is real. Well, I really painted it!

So now, I hear that we’re looking at the moon or Mars, or even a nearby galaxy to see if we might mine and exploit them for raw materials. Pray God we never acquire the technology to achieve our ends, or we’ll have the likes of BP and Pemex blowing up the surface of the moon to find crude—and isn’t that an appropriate word for oil exploration?

If that happens—and it’s a very big “if,” the human race will simply have to pack up and get ready to explore the afterlife. I understand that’s precisely what some fanatic sects are gleefully predicting—the Apocalypse!

Their certainty is that they will be God’s chosen upon that final big bang. They should be so lucky. And they really ought to look up the original meaning of the world Apocalypse—from the Greek Ἀποκάλυψις’, Apokalypsis. It means “revelation” or, to quote Wikipedia, a “lifting of the veil”. . . a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception . . .”

It seems to me that this is the era of revelation. And perhaps, if we let go of the smug belief in our own righteousness, our entitlement at the expense of others, perhaps we might even see what is being so clearly shown to us and do something about it.