Can The Human Race Sustain Another 100 Years?

In a world that is in chaos politically, socially, and environmentally, how can the human race sustain another 100 years?

The famous Cambridge Mathematician Professor Stephen Hawking had asked the above question which implied that he was worried about the future of the human race. In the long term, Professor Hawking feels that the humans will only survive if they colonise space or perhaps genetically engineer humans to make them less hostile. This dissertation is in conflict to Professor Hawkings’ views and the observations expressed are entirely mine.

The end or the beginning...

We all face worries sometime although most of them resolve themselves in a time-based situation. The old worries have always been there - political stupidity, corruption, religious bigotry, nuclear warfare and endemic diseases in addition to the new ones "global warming and the exhaustion of natural resources." For any grim-faced pessimist, this is a banquet of worries that can keep him unhappy until the day he dies.

These concerns are virtually unjustified as the human race is unlikely to take the route that the dinosaurs took. It is even more difficult to perceive that aggression will wipe out the human race, as the human race has the "survival of the fittest" character inbuilt into their gene structure. This means that the human species will find ways and means to adapt and survive to cope with whatever challenges that they may face. It is unlikely that we would wipe everyone off the surface of the planet, despite the number of weapons of mass destruction present. In other words, there would always be survivors as aggression augments the survival instinct and the side that insures the survival of its people would be the ones that colonises the space. Moreover, it is too early that the human race would spread and colonise space in the next 100 years.

In comparison, we are living in one of the most peaceful periods of human history. Ofcourse, there are skirmishes in Afghanistan, the Middle East and a few other parts with a few thousand people dying. However, this is very small when compared to the amount of the people dying in a planet that has a population of 6 billion. This is even less than the number of people who die due to natural calamities; certainly not something to be compared with the survival of mankind.

Perhaps the greatest immediate threat where I could perhaps agree with Prof. Stephen Hawking is the planet’s present breeding rate. Within a period of 40 years, the human population has literally doubled from 3 billion to more than 6 billion. Over-population creates disparities. With it comes poverty, warfare (through lack of space), pollution, and the depletion of natural resources. Over population must be controlled as no species can ever survive beyond certain limits of overpopulation. Either we limit our population sensibly and voluntarily, or Mother Nature will do it for us.

If we leave it completely to Mother Nature, then our numbers will be likely cut back by an epidemic. As we will be so closely packed, our resistance levels would have weakened, and that in turn will have lowered the efficiency of our immune systems. All it needs is a deadly new virus that will be able to spread like wildfire. If such a scenario occurs, then there will be an epidemic that will kill millions. Although millions may die, millions more will survive, and they will then start to re-build. As we would have spread to the remotest areas of this planet, the chances of the human race being wiped out is again remote.

Conclusion

In response to Professor Hawkings' question on how mankind can survive the next hundred years is that we need to recognise our current problems and confront them in the years to come. First, we require a vision for our world. We have to become aware of life and living it the right way. We have only rushed to improve our lifestyle and way of living but have never thought whether we were taking the right or wrong step. With the new vision and an improved way of life, we must be ready to take responsibility and which will bring us meaning, hope, and happiness. If this vision is "bigger" than the problem itself, it definitely helps in solving this crisis in the long run. Hence, Professor Stephen Hawkings' assumption that the world is facing chaos politically and socially is not true, as it is this very chaos that helps you to enhance your ability to live happily.

Professor Hawking is however correct in his identification of environmental chaos as one of the biggest threats to humanity. Although it is highly unlikely that humanity would make itself extinct within hundred years, the burdens imposed by the environmental pollution would continue to grow daily destroying much of mankind’s achievements and its wonders. However, the planet has sufficient advance warning and support systems, and is equipped to face most natural calamities. We even have the facilities to nuke an asteroid or a stray meteorite and hence we really should not be worried sustenance or colonizing other planets so as to ensure our survival.