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Is Stephen Hawkings losing it?

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Epyx:
Again your talking about a timeframe close to one we live in...the technology needed would require us to outlive "who owns the moon"...

I don't dispute that war is about property...if you read above, what i stated was that the technology required would have to see a species move beyond the notion of property or pollution or resources with members of its own species.  Getting to the moon while the earth is still factional has already happened...getting to the stars while the earth is still factional is imo all but impossible.

Ond:

--- Quote from: pinballjim on May 06, 2010, 03:43:18 pm ---Nah, I totally disagree with your point #2.  All of our technology advances as human beings have been war-related, I'd expect aliens to be the same.



--- End quote ---

There's no doubt that the military does drive technological advancement and fund research, but to say ALL technological advance, that's pretty generalistic.  Easier to generalise eh?  Well I don't think Isaac Newton was thinking about warfare when he was coming up with his laws of motion.  Newton is considered by many to be one of the most influential people in human history. I think what is apparent from this discussion is the inability of the general public to equate these great thinkers and their discoveries with daily life i.e. how does it benefit me in some tangible way?  

Here's one for consideration, Carl Sagan once postulated that if it weren't for the loss of the knowledge contained within the Library of Alexandria we would have colonised parts of the solar system in the 30's and have been heading for the stars by now.  That knowledge was (in part)thought to have been lost due to acts of warfare.

Sure, man went to the moon on the back of the military but where might we be if weren't busy trying to invent better ways to kill ourselves?

danny_galaga:

I'm which case we stay on Earth. Humans will always be war-like. I consider it one of the definitions of being human...

RayB:
If you had the ability to "travel" lightyears, you'd be sending out automated, unmanned probes first, to observe and gather data.

Havok:
I have the ability to travel to the future.

I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

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