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Stephen Hawking: "Humans Have Entered a New Stage of Evolution"

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Invisible Fan, Jul 4, 2009.

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  1. Invisible Fan

    Invisible Fan Contributing Member

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    http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblo...net-has-entered-a-new-phase-of-evolution.html

    Although It has taken homo sapiens several million years to evolve from the apes, the useful information in our DNA, has probably changed by only a few million bits. So the rate of biological evolution in humans, Stephen Hawking points out in his Life in the Universe lecture, is about a bit a year.

    "By contrast," Hawking says, "there are about 50,000 new books published in the English language each year, containing of the order of a hundred billion bits of information. Of course, the great majority of this information is garbage, and no use to any form of life. But, even so, the rate at which useful information can be added is millions, if not billions, higher than with DNA."

    This means Hawking says that we have entered a new phase of evolution. "At first, evolution proceeded by natural selection, from random mutations. This Darwinian phase, lasted about three and a half billion years, and produced us, beings who developed language, to exchange information."

    But what distinguishes us from our cave man ancestors is the knowledge that we have accumulated over the last ten thousand years, and particularly, Hawking points out, over the last three hundred.

    "I think it is legitimate to take a broader view, and include externally transmitted information, as well as DNA, in the evolution of the human race," Hawking said.

    In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, "an external transmission phase," where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. "But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage," Hawking says, "has grown enormously. Some people would use the term, evolution, only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes."

    The time scale for evolution, in the external transmission period, has collapsed to about 50 years, or less.

    Stephen-hawking Meanwhile, Hawking observes, our human brains "with which we process this information have evolved only on the Darwinian time scale, of hundreds of thousands of years. This is beginning to cause problems. In the 18th century, there was said to be a man who had read every book written. But nowadays, if you read one book a day, it would take you about 15,000 years to read through the books in a national Library. By which time, many more books would have been written."

    But we are now entering a new phase, of what Hawking calls "self designed evolution," in which we will be able to change and improve our DNA. "At first," he continues "these changes will be confined to the repair of genetic defects, like cystic fibrosis, and muscular dystrophy. These are controlled by single genes, and so are fairly easy to identify, and correct. Other qualities, such as intelligence, are probably controlled by a large number of genes. It will be much more difficult to find them, and work out the relations between them. Nevertheless, I am sure that during the next century, people will discover how to modify both intelligence, and instincts like aggression."

    If the human race manages to redesign itself, to reduce or eliminate the risk of self-destruction, we will probably reach out to the stars and colonize other planets. But this will be done, Hawking believes, with intelligent machines based on mechanical and electronic components, rather than macromolecules, which could eventually replace DNA based life, just as DNA may have replaced an earlier form of life.

    ------------------------


    One idea I've read is sending robots light years to search for life and once that happens, they colonize with human dna stored inside them. Maybe the robots will malfunction and decide to ditch the last part...
     
    #1 Invisible Fan, Jul 4, 2009
  2. aghast

    aghast Member

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    Hawking likes to get stoned and watch cartoons, too?

    <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/saxX-Z6w3p4&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/saxX-Z6w3p4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

    We're all Stephen Hawking, yo.
     
    #2 aghast, Jul 4, 2009
  3. SirCharlesFan

    SirCharlesFan Contributing Member

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    [​IMG]
     
    #3 SirCharlesFan, Jul 4, 2009
    2 people like this.
  4. ILoveTheRockets

    ILoveTheRockets Member

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    Most classless post I ever seen on this site. Just pure trash.
     
    #4 ILoveTheRockets, Jul 4, 2009
  5. Mr. Brightside

    Mr. Brightside Contributing Member

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    More like greatest post ever. You must not be a fan of the arts.
     
    #5 Mr. Brightside, Jul 4, 2009
  6. MadMax

    MadMax Contributing Member

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    If he's right, I'm glad I'll be dead.
     
    #6 MadMax, Jul 4, 2009
  7. TheBigAristotle

    TheBigAristotle Member

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    I'm down with the colonizing other planets idea one day though. That'd be prety sweet. That is if we don't obliterate ourselves before we can :)
     
    #7 TheBigAristotle, Jul 4, 2009
  8. Ziggy

    Ziggy QUEEN ANON

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    Thats what I don't get. Nobody is gonna wanna go to another planet unless it offers a high paying job or or something. I don't feel mankind has the desire to live on another planet. At least not ones we've found thus far. Whats the appeal?
     
    #8 Ziggy, Jul 4, 2009
  9. TheRealist137

    TheRealist137 Member

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    That's what people said about colonizing America
     
    #9 TheRealist137, Jul 4, 2009
  10. Wakko67

    Wakko67 Contributing Member

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    If its a relatively easy survival there is lots of appeal. A sense of adventure, pioneering spirit or even a strange attraction to the new planet. Plus there probably would be incentives. In the end, it would be a baby step. The Earth won't be around forever and we'll need to learn to move on.

    I think the most interesting idea so far for me has been the idea that our planet's legacy may be robotic life and not us. If we can make autonomous, concious, self replicating robots why would they want to use our DNA to bring us back? Slave labor? They could just produce new robots. We'd be useless as a man to Rosie O'Donnell.
     
    #10 Wakko67, Jul 4, 2009
  11. ryan_98

    ryan_98 Contributing Member
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    to be pioneers, to explore and expand. that's enough appeal for many people.
     
    #11 ryan_98, Jul 4, 2009
  12. Bullard4Life

    Bullard4Life Member

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    Right conclusion, wrong reason.

    We've entered a new stage of evolution because the Darwinian paradigm has been inverted. Natural selection now skews the gene pool towards the least capable in society. The advent of reliable birth control means that the best, brightest, and most responsible are likely to have less children, while those who are too ignorant/stupid/lazy to use a condom or other form of birth control are likely to have more. In today's society, having a large family is more likely a sign of low educational/economic standing.

    From The Onion:

    Study: Uneducated Outbreeding Intelligentsia 2-To-1
    CHICAGO—In a report with dire implications for the intellectual future of America, a University of Chicago study revealed Monday that the nation's uneducated are breeding twice as fast and twice as often as its educated. "The average member of the American underclass spawns at age 15, compared to age 30 for the average college-educated professional," study leader Kenneth Stalls said. "America's intellectual elite, as a result, are badly losing the genetic marathon, with two generations of dullards born for every one generation of cultured literates." Added Stalls: "At this rate, by the year 2100 there will be five smart people on Earth, swallowed whole by more than 12 billion mouth-breathers incapable of understanding the binary exponentiation that swamped the Earth with their like." High-school dropout Mandi Drucker, 16, said of the findings, "All I know is, we're in love."
    link
     
    #12 Bullard4Life, Jul 4, 2009
  13. CountyClerk

    CountyClerk Member

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    Curiosity
     
    #13 CountyClerk, Jul 4, 2009
  14. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    Amazing insight from Hawking -- I've heard this idea before though. Incredible to think that for just over a decade we've had a great deal of this information at our fingertips.
     
    #14 KingCheetah, Jul 4, 2009
  15. Franchise3

    Franchise3 Member

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    Oh yeah? Well, what do you think about this:

    [​IMG]
     
    #15 Franchise3, Jul 4, 2009
    1 person likes this.
  16. Poloshirtbandit

    Poloshirtbandit Member

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    I lolled.
     
    #16 Poloshirtbandit, Jul 4, 2009
  17. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    Just pure trash
    ______

    [​IMG]
     
    #17 KingCheetah, Jul 4, 2009
  18. Cowboy_Bebop

    Cowboy_Bebop Member

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    You need to take a good look at human history. It's like you're stuck on an island and all you can do is see another country or continents through your telescopes and you don't have the advance enough technlology to cross the great ocean. Imagine our curiosity to know what's over there and if we are alone.

    I have full respect for science and scientists. They are the one that will be able to advance our lives and survival. I mean Earth could end any day. All it need is a massive metories to crash on us. Or even for a Sun flare that could totally destroy our Earth. So it's good to be prepared for these disaster. Sooner or later our Earth will run out of resources.

    <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V7FVjATcqvc&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V7FVjATcqvc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
     
    #18 Cowboy_Bebop, Jul 4, 2009
  19. Cowboy_Bebop

    Cowboy_Bebop Member

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    I think God crippled Mr Hawking on purpose. The MAN himself didn't want Hawking to find out about his Creator. Not just yet...
     
    #19 Cowboy_Bebop, Jul 4, 2009
  20. BrooksBall

    BrooksBall Contributing Member

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    <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/B1BdQcJ2ZYY&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/B1BdQcJ2ZYY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
     
    #20 BrooksBall, Jul 4, 2009
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