Noteworthy Quote: Time to Leave the Planet

"I believe that the long term future of the human race must be space and that it represents an important life insurance for our future survival, as it could prevent the disappearance of humanity by colonising other planets." 

-- Dr. Stephen Hawking's statement at London’s Science Museum as reported in The Independent. 

Interview with Dr. Stephen Hawking

For some light entertainment, you may want to view John Oliver's interview with Dr. Stephen Hawking as the discuss time travel, artificial intelligence, and parallel universes.  Dr. Hawking proves he has a sense of humor though all of it.  The HBO show is called Last Week Tonight, and the series is called Great Minds: People Who Think Good. 

Dr. Hawking has spoken on artificial intelligence in other more serious forums and provides us with a pretty dire warning.  In The Independent, Dr. Hawking wrote:

One can imagine such technology outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing weapons we cannot even understand. Whereas the short-term impact of AI depends on who controls it, the long-term impact depends on whether it can be controlled at all.

Something to ponder as we rush headlong into the future.