Post #5- Hawking on the Human Future on Earth

Many of Stephen Hawking’s ideas don’t seem plausible without the ability to understand some of the most complex concepts of physics. One that doesn’t as much need mathematical equations as it does technological advancement. In an interview with Richard Alleyne, a science correspondent for the British website “The Journalist”, Stephen Hawking addresses the idea that humans need to leave planet Earth for a new planet within one-hundred years.

Hawking looks to problems such as major war and natural resource issues as a threat to our race if we don’t figure something out now. This is where the physics matters immensely.

In a interview with the astrophysicist Katherine Freese from the University of Michigan, She exclaimed to the website Big Think that “the nearest star [to Earth] is Proxima Centauri which is 4.2 light years away. That means that, if you were travelling at the speed of light the whole time, it would take 4.2 years to get there” – or about 50,000 years using current rocket science.

This quote brings back Stephen Hawking’s theory of time travel, where at extreme fast speeds time can be avoided. Hawking sees this possibility as the theory of wormholes. He believes that these possibly portals into future and past time are all around just too molecular to ever see. Actually being able to use the fourth dimension of a wormhole is what Hawking thinks could be the only way to save our resources. It would allow the ideas about society to be expressed to less developed times, perhaps saving their future, and our present. He says, there is another kind of length, a length in time. While a human may survive for 80 years, the stones at Stonehenge, for instance, have stood around for thousands of years. And the solar system will last for billions of years. Everything has a length in time as well as space. Traveling in time means travelling through this fourth dimension.”

Using time travel as a way to combat the Earth’s resource issue isn’t plausible for Stephen Hawking’s one-hundred year plan on fixing or leaving this Earth, so what else could he believe could work. Unbelievable amounts of power are needed to generate a major human society without a resource immediately in front or you. His thought is spreading into space. He believes that humans need a good amount of time to be able to do this, which means keeping ourselves from destroying the planet. Hawking when talking about the timetable states, “I see great dangers for the human race. There have been a number of times in the past when its survival has been a question of touch and go. The Cuban missile crisis in 1963 was one of these. The frequency of such occasions is likely to increase in the future.”

“But I’m an optimist. If we can avoid disaster for the next two centuries, our species should be safe, as we spread into space,” he said.

As far-fetched as it may sound, solutions such as the ones Hawking’s is presenting may soon be more of a reality if not in my lifetime but within a few generations. It’s going to take great minds similar the the likes of Stephen Hawking to tackle these great issues of our species and this will happen first through technological advancements and educational advancements in the area of physics, and other sciences and mathematics.

 

 

Post #4- Hawking’s Feelings on Religion

When writing this post I write not to try and fight the ones who accept and practice religion, but to show some insight into both sides of the story as someone most people respect (Hawking), see’s it. Also I will try to keep my opinion at bay as much as possible and present the facts of the matter.

When being interviewed by ABC news’ Diane Sawyer, Stephen Hawking replied to many questions about the universe and it included one about god. He responds, “What could define God [is thinking of God] as the embodiment of the laws of nature. However, this is not what most people would think of that God.They made a human-like being with whom one can have a personal relationship. When you look at the vast size of the universe and how insignificant an accidental human life is in it, that seems most impossible.” It is hard to make sense of the universe which brings people to looking for ways, searching endlessly possibly creating ways without knowing or receiving proof. This has always brought me to think maybe to create order religion was created to set some sort of rules.

Stephen Hawking was also asked in this interview whether or not he believes religion could co-exist with science he responds, “”There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.” Although he sounds snotty in saying this it brings me back to my other point, other than so called “miracles”, science is the only idea which can serve proof, other than per-say  the bible with some stories to scare little children.

In A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking states, “The quantum theory of gravity has opened up a new possibility, in which there would be no boundary to space-time and so there would be no need to specify the behavior at the boundary. There would be no singularities at which the laws of science broke down and no edge of space-time at which one would have to appeal to God or some new law to set the boundary conditions for space-time. One could say: ‘The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary.’ The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. It would just BE.” This is just some of the presented proof of the big bang. One can just say that god created the universe and the big bang, but one also cannot present proof. Instead, Hawking sees through some ideas and can think deeply enough to realize that if things started from one tiny and dense point while still expanding, it cannot be the creation of one god who only cares about human beings on the planet Earth. 

Post #3: Black Holes and Radiation

When Hawking was still first doing work in physics, he worked with a partner named Roger Penrose from Birkbeck College in London. These two collaborated to create mathematical techniques to study general relativity in the area of cosmology. Eventually Stephen Hawking wanted to take these ideas and study black holes.

Using his earlier methods Hawking was brought to a discovery. With quantum theory and general relativity, it was proven that black holes can emit radiation. Quantum Theory is about the absorption and emission of energy by matter with motion by particles. Using the scale of atoms, molecules, and even elementary particles, quantum theory is used for circumstances where very small amounts are needed. It is observed that all energy forms are released in a small unit or bundle called “quanta”.  This is similar to the theory of relativity where extreme speeds are involved.  These two theories together are the basis of modern physics.

For the sake of black holes this means that if a mass is compact enough, it can create a black hole. This is caused by the deformation of space time. These theories combined can be used in Stephen Hawking’s investigation of the big bang theory, where all of the universe came from a single central point.

Big Bang!

Using these two theories Hawking predicted that a massive amount of objects which could weigh as much as 10^9 tons could be created. The crazy thing about this is that they could be only the size of a proton. The massive yet tiny black holes would have a huge gravitational attraction which is governed by the theory of relativity, and at the same time quantum mechanics applying to objects of this small size. This would lead Hawking to a later discovery called the “no boundary proposal”. In Hawking’s words it is explained as, “that both time and space are finite in extent, but they don’t have any boundary of edge….there would be no singularities, and the laws of science would hold everywhere, including the beginning of the universe.”

Stephen Hawking Post #2: Thoughts and Theory of Alien Life

Stephen Hawking has always been known for his theories because of the evidence he gives to defend these statements. One of his most famous thoughts was that alien life may be more powerful and possibly closer than anyone could have ever fathomed. In his show, “Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking”, the idea of alien life and the limits of alien life were discussed showing just how powerful and ruthless other beings could be.

Explained is the advancement of the technology compared to our latest achievements. One major give away is that if other lifeforms were to find humans and the planet Earth, than they must have more advanced technology because we could not move major populations through space. A point given by the episode of Into the Universe was that you could compare our technology to the technology of cavemen, and that’s how we would feel when we saw an alien technology. We possibly wouldn’t be able to even understand the technology.

Another possibility is that the technology could possibly harness extreme amounts of energy. A species that was so advanced than us could possibly begin to travel similar to a nomad in order to keep the resources and power necessary to support a population. Hawking has talked about the technology to surround a star similar to our sun, and with thousands of huge mirrors take the entire energy of the sun and channel it by aiming it at one direct point. Doing this would then perhaps create a wormhole which could alter the entire universe as we see it.

Once a wormhole is created, the limits could be endless if the technology was present to take advantage of the situation. Going into a wormhole could be a huge advantage because in the blink of an eye transportation across a universe could be achieved. Stephen Hawking’s wormhole theory explains that when a wormhole exists it would be in the form a quantum foam, which would be the smallest environment in the universe. It involves a quick blink of existence between different areas which would be too fast for human usage. But if they were stabilized, they could possibly start a radiation feedback loop. This would destroy any tunnel where time travel would be possible. The time travel happens because according to the theory of relativity, time dilation occurs when accelerating at extreme speeds due to extreme velocity. This can be noticed with space missions the crews will age less than the people in mission control. Traveling at the speed of light can be explained by, “ ” which is relativistic gamma and c is the speed of light.

http://paranormalspy.com/news/wormholes-generate-new-kind-of-quantum-anticentrifugal-force.html

The scary part about aliens is that most likely this would be a species used to exploiting whatever resource it could get its hands on, just like our successful species. Stephen Hawking compares an encounter with aliens to Christopher Columbus when coming to the new world. In this situation we would be the native Americans who eventually were eradicated and with so many killed. He then states, “Let’s just hope that if aliens do find us, they will come in peace.”

Stephen Hawking Post #1: Biography and Achievements

Stephen Hawking was born in 1942 and was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 21. Despite his unfortunate disease, he still went on to do great things including graduating Oxford University in Britain, studying physics, and then onto graduate school in Cambridge. Throughout his life he obtained many awards for his educational achievements such as the Albert Einstein Medal in 1981, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, which is the highest civilian honor in the United States. He educated many throughout his life and was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1979 until 2009 at the University of Cambridge.

Throughout life Stephen Hawking has overcome all odds. He has a motor neuron disease connected to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which has progressed throughout the years. Because of this setback he at first could only be understood by close friends while slurring his words. This caused him to see other means which was built in Cambridge. It was a speech synthesizer which was powered by a computer keyboard that needed to be controlled by small body movements. Since his condition has progressed over time combined with his keyboard no longer being produced, he now is close to developing a new device. This device would recognize his small facial movements giving a much easier way to speak and write, which would be at the advantage of all who are trying to learn from his brilliant mind.

Lots of Stephen Hawking’s work involved black holes and the physics that envelop them. One calculation of his was “Hawking Radiation”, which says that black holes should emit their radiation until all of their energy is exhausted. Also with Carter and Bardeen he helped to propose four different laws of black hole mechanics. For example the first law states the  change of mass is also related to change of area, electrical charge, and angular momentum.In other fields, Stephen Hawking has said he believes alien life exist in places such as planets and even stars, one of his most interesting statements. Overall, Stephen Hawkings has made many exceptional additions to the world of physics with over ten different awards, while doing it with a disease that would sideline many people for the rest of their lives.

 

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