following a Long Now discussion of his new book ON THE FUTURE: Prospects for Humanity.
Some juicy quotes:
“We are most likely to find electronic alien intelligence.”
Q: If you were 25, what would you devote your life to researching?
A: “Exoplanets and the origin of life. And computer intelligence.”
“Space is a great place for robots. Space is where change will happen the fastest and should worry us the least.”
“The future of human space flight lies with privately funded initiatives.”
“The Great Leap Forward will be footsteps on Mars not just the moon.”
“We need to save Earth’s climate. There is no planet b. But we should cheer on the Mars explorers. They will usher our post-human future. Mars will move beyond our regulators. It will offer the first step toward our divergence into a new species. Mars will spearhead the post human era.”
“Rodney Brooks argues it will be a long time before AI is a greater worry than general stupidity.”
“For the first time in 47 million centuries, the fate of the planet is in the hand of one species.”
“Research into clean energy should be resourced as much as medical research.”
“Artificial meat is a wonderful new technology.” [go Memphis Meats, go!]
“Mass extinction is the sin that future generations will least forgive us for.”
“We’ll need continental-scale DC grids.”
“Pandemics, natural ones, could have far more impact on humanity today. In the past, people muddled on with huge death rates. Today, we would face serious unrest once hospitals break down, and that would happen before a 1% were infected.”
“The global village will have its village idiots, and biotech gives them global range.”
Our dinner gathering was particularly fond of his prior book Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape The Universe
And Alison van Diggelen interviewed Martin Rees last night and had a lively and humorous conversation. Here’s the
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