Stephen Hawking agrees with me

Or at least with someone I said once. Awhile ago. On this blog. We're pretty far off on other things, seeing that he's so much smarter than me.

Hawking says that humans need to colonize space to survive. I suggested awhile ago that it was our moral duty to protect the only conscious life we are aware of in the universe. From the Chicago Tribune:

Humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40, the British scientist said.

"We won't find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system," added Hawking, greeted here Monday with a rock star's welcome. Tickets for his lecture Thursday are sold out.

Hawking said that if humans can avoid killing themselves in the next 100 years, they should have space settlements that can continue without support from Earth.

"It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species," Hawking said. "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of."