There are complex biological, social, political and whateverelse-ical problems to overcome.  No one person has complete control over it.  But if we go down, at least we dared to dream (and of course, play Elemental and follow-ons 'til our dying day ).  But one thing we can do - is treat others how we'd like to be treated, and be genuinely nice to people every day.  It may not seem so, but it makes a tangible difference to people's lives, here and now.  And while we can learn from the past, and plan for the future, the present is the gift that we can easily miss through the hustle and bustle of our lives.

Best regards,
Steven. 

Well said Steven, well said indeed.

Indeed. Sadly those are the cold facts of life for many more people then I'd care to think about. Human Greed has raped and pillaged our natural resources to the point that we are on the brink of mass crisis when the Oil Goes Dry which WILL happen within the next 10-20 years, GUARANTEED. I can't foresee any possible way to force man-kind to change it's ways other then the Actual Threat of extinction.

If you watch the episodes Dr Hawkings talks about what it may be like when we finally do have the technology to go to other solar systems and the number one thing that will hold the human race back is the COST of building the ship to get us off the Earth before our Sun turns into a Red Giant which Will Happen some time in the next 4 Billion Years. So, even 4 Billion years from now the number one problem that will stand in the way of us saving ourselves is Cost....you know, because there's actually a cost that's more important then Saving Our Species!!! WTF....COST?!?!?!

I would like to hope that if/when it does actually come down to us either giving up our systems based on wealth or dying off entirely that people would wake the f'k up and stop caring about money and having more stuff then everyone else. All the stuff or money in the Universe won't help you when the Earth can't support Human Life anymore...

Fixed it for ya.

Fascinating stuff! This man is a genius, that is for sure, however you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out, that there must be lot of alien species/other intelligent races living in other galaxies, or even in our galaxy.

Here is a simple example:

The Visible Universe

 Number of superclusters in the visible universe = 10 million
- Number of galaxy groups in the visible universe = 25 billion
- Number of large galaxies in the visible universe = 350 billion
- Number of dwarf galaxies in the visible universe = 7 trillion
- Number of stars in the visible universe = 30 billion trillion  (3x10²²)

Even if there was only a one in a million chance of any given star system containing life, that means millions upon millions of alien life forms/civilizations out there.

This series was awesome, my bf and I were watching it and then was totally bummed when we found out it was *only* 3 eps (we thought it was a full on series). Wish they would have made more.

Plus he played poker with Newton, Einstein, and Data. 

Ah but, intelligence manifests itself in different forms. Because someone is good at physics doesn't mean they can solve the planet's problems. It's the same with other intelligent people, like artists, mathematicians etc. Quite often intelligence is aimed in one particular direction only.

Take me as an example: I have a higher IQ than Hawking, as officially recorded by Mensa. Yet he is a brilliant physicist and I am a complete bum... Oh well...

Plus of course the world is driven by money and greed. The really intelligent people are outnumbered by selfish greedy morons, by millions to one...

Ahh but they do. There are even pictures of them taken with radio telescopes. Hold on let me see if I can find one real quick...

Here's one.

It's a artists rendering of the picture, but they have Actually found them and Know they exist for a fact. So, it has been proven today that they exist

Check out the article that talks about the discovery Here.

yeah I saw that interpretation of his aliens as well.......i just shook my head...C'MON STEVE..yr meant to have the brains.......

If you want the real picture of the black hole, go here: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1028/eso1028.pdf

But even then, it's not real "proof" that they exist, it's evidence that they exist. A lot of it is really semantics, and it's kind of a stupid argument anyway, but everything scientists have found is evidence suggesting they exist, not actual proof. We have not, to my knowledge, ever seen a star collapse into a black hole. All of the math that says they should exist is based off of theories. Granted, those theories make very accurate predictions, but they remain theories.

Don't get me wrong, they almost assuredly do exist; all the evidence and math says they do, and that isn't likely to be completely wrong. But until we directly observe one (almost impossible given the nature of a black hole) it can't be said with 100% certainty, beyond a doubt, that they exist. And even then, it would be horribly hard to prove any of the theories about what goes on inside of a black hole, but that's another discussion.

No, the example is fine. The problem is that you can't see a black hole, no matter how you try (visual light, x-ray, whatever). Hence the name You can see stuff going into them, until it goes past the even horizon, and you can see the affects of their gravity on surrounding stars and whatnot, but you can't see the black hole itself. It's kind of like doublespeak, and I know it's confusing. We're 99.9999% sure that black holes do exist. For all intents and purposes they might as well have been proven to exist. If that makes any sense.

He's spot on the money with his theory. The latest information they have brought to date about particles escaping a black hole is again correct. Aside from the Black hole seeding galaxies they can also seed universes. Amazing to be part of the internet at such a crucial point in history. Where the entire planet comes togeather to further our knowledge of the universe and nature. Highly recommend reading/watching any if not all of this mans theories. Einstein wasn't perfect either as he failed to finish many of his theories without quantum mechanics. The Hadron Super Colider will help prove some of these theories in future experiments. Einstein had to do it all by himself but today we have the world at our fingertips.