What if Stephen Hawking is right?

Who really believes that humankind has only 100 years before our planet becomes uninhabitable? I mean, other than the greatest mind of our time? Anyone? Anyone?

Despite Stephen Hawking’s vaunted status as this generation’s Einstein, it is safe to say that his latest warning about the demise of humankind’s home world will be largely ignored. We don’t even take global warming seriously; it’s hard to imagine we’d buy the death of the planet.

But should we dismiss Hawking’s warning out of hand? The world’s population growth over the past two hundred years has grown exponentially while the amount of fresh water we have on hand remains static. Melting ice caps and rising sea levels threaten the world’s most populous cities with extinction — as does the spread of nuclear weapons to rogue states like Iran and North Korea. Mankind’s ability to genetically manufacture deadly viruses is spreading as fast as artificial intelligence is becoming a reality. Do we really think mankind is threatened by “none of the above?”

Hawking has a special place in his argument for artificial intelligence that he believes would outpace the evolution of mankind in the survival of the fittest. “It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate,” he said. “Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.”

We do what we always do: kick the can down the road.

Unfortunately, even if we bought Hawking’s argument, we lack the political will to do anything about it. Issues like our fiscal and trade deficits, the imminent collapse of Social Security and Medicare have been recognized for years, but few have the profile in courage to address them. We do what we always do: kick the can down the road. Unfortunately, according to Hawking, it’s an awfully short road.

While we don’t currently have all the technology to colonize Mars, we are well on our way to inventing it. The advance of science is accelerating at such a breathtaking pace it is hard to imagine that its reach will exceed our grasp. I remember the day that Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the surface of the moon.” My grandfather, sitting next to me, shook his head in disbelief and said, “I used to drive the milk to town with a horse and cart.”

That such a technological leap could be made in his lifetime was indeed astounding. But consider the pace of change since that day 48 years ago. Genetic engineering, cyber-warfare, Watson, instant hand-held communications, organs the can be regrown, and cars that drive themselves litter our conversation with expectation. The only constant in science is progress.

Our problem is fiscal. We don’t have the money to get to Mars let alone colonize it. We are so focused on building walls and spurring the economy with tax breaks that we have little left to take out an insurance policy on the human race…especially when no one believes we’ll need it…well, save that guy Hawking.