The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe because there's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy the Earth, world-renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said Tuesday. — Quoted from AP
I'm not quite sure I understand this remark. Especially since the dangers he quotes are, according to the article, all human in origin, "sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of." If humans are so dangerous to ourselves how is getting to another planet really going to help? We'll just risk the same dangers there, it'll just take a little longer. If we add in the natural dangers of the Universe, though, we're doomed. Period.
The problem is a simple matter of time. As the Oracle says in The Matrix Revolutions, "Everything that has a beginning has an end." There's no way around this problem. Sooner or later time is going to catch up with the human race, it's unavoidable. The death rate for humanity is, was, and will always be 100%. The death rate for the species will be no different.
Does this mean I'm ready to roll over now and welcome the end of humanity? Of course not, I'm not even opposed to human expansion into space and colonization. I'm just not willing to engage in false hope that humanity will find the key to immortality sooner or later. This statement is not only myopic but based on blindness.
The fact that time has a beginning and an end should tell us something about the nature of the universe. No, the blessing of having a Christian worldview is that that worldview grants an eternal perspective. Before the universe began, there existed a timeless eternity past. After the universe ends, a timeless eternity future awaits. A materialistic, scientific world-view, however, denies the existance of such a time because it cannot be observed or tested. Belief that a loving God is also planning things provides additional reassurance.
Am I naive about what the human race is capable of, absolutely not. However, niether am I staying up a night fretting over the destruction of the race. It won't happen until it happens and when it happens, it will happen for a reason.
