Stephen Hawking: ‘This is the most dangerous time for our planet’ — The Humanity Party® has the solutions that the “Hawkings” types of this world do not consider — Why?
December 7, 2016 |
| 4 min read
Consider this story in which one of the most renowned and celebrated minds of our time, states,
“The automation of factories has already decimated jobs in traditional manufacturing, and the rise of artificial intelligence is likely to extend this job destruction deep into the middle classes, with only the most caring, creative or supervisory roles remaining.This in turn will accelerate the already widening economic inequality around the world. The internet and the platforms that it makes possible allow very small groups of individuals to make enormous profits while employing very few people. This is inevitable, it is progress, but it is also socially destructive.”
…
“The consequences of this are plain to see: the rural poor flock to cities, to shanty towns, driven by hope. And then often, finding that the Instagram nirvana is not available there, they seek it overseas, joining the ever greater numbers of economic migrants in search of a better life. These migrants in turn place new demands on the infrastructures and economies of the countries in which they arrive, undermining tolerance and further fueling political populism.
“For me, the really concerning aspect of this is that now, more than at any time in our history, our species needs to work together. We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, acidification of the oceans.
“Together, they are a reminder that we are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity. We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but have not yet developed the ability to escape it. Perhaps in a few hundred years, we will have established human colonies amid the stars, but right now we only have one planet, and we need to work together to protect it.
“To do that, we need to break down, not build up, barriers within and between nations. If we are to stand a chance of doing that, the world’s leaders need to acknowledge that they have failed and are failing the many. With resources increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, we are going to have to learn to share far more than at present.
“With not only jobs but entire industries disappearing, we must help people to retrain for a new world and support them financially while they do so. If communities and economies cannot cope with current levels of migration, we must do more to encourage global development, as that is the only way that the migratory millions will be persuaded to seek their future at home.
“We can do this, I am an enormous optimist for my species; but it will require the elites, from London to Harvard, from Cambridge to Hollywood, to learn the lessons of the past year. To learn above all a measure of humility.”
Hawking outlines the problems that the world faces eloquently, and even admits that he, and those like him (the “Hawking” types of this world), are part of the problem,
“As a theoretical physicist based in Cambridge, I have lived my life in an extraordinarily privileged bubble.”
Although the Humanity Party® appreciates this type of candor and reflection, Hawking and his peers are a huge part of the reason why our world does not change for the better.
Human nature is such that its vanity, its frailties, and its foolishness are often masked by one being seen and accepted as “educated.” We think, as also the educated think, that they are wise. But they fail to listen to the core of our humanity. They often set humane propositions aside, supposing that they know what’s best for the world. Yet, in spite of the millions of college degrees and accolades awarded to the educated, our world seems to be getting worse in regards to basic human rights.
“The measure of humility” to which Hawking refers would be, one would assume, that which convinces the educated that they must use their time and their efforts in a better way for humanity. Their investigations into theoretical observations, of which they laud each other for coming up with theories, should be concentrated more on insightful and real truths that support human rights.
None of these so-called “educated” ones can challenge THumP®’s proposals for humanity. And few, if any, take the time to consider these proposals, because they did not come from Cambridge or any of the other “world’s great universities.” They came from the hearts and minds of people who do not live in isolation inside these “extraordinary privileged bubbles.”
Nothing will change until the “elites” of this world consider the “least among us,” as the greatest cause for which they should concentrate the focus of their education.
THumP® has the solutions. Sadly, no one else does.
Stephen Hawking: ‘This is the most dangerous time for our planet’