The horror! It was the most dangerous time for our planet?

2017-10-10 16:43

The horror! It was the most dangerous time for our planet?
Stephen Hawking is terrified.

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The famous theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking writes articles for the British newspaper the Guardian, reports Rus.Media.

There is no doubt that the decision of the British electorate about withdrawal from the European Union, and elect Donald trump President is the cry of anger of people who felt that the leaders abandoned them.

I warned before the vote on withdrawal from the EU that it will damage scientific research in the UK, it is a step back, but was not heard by the electorate — like many other political leaders, trade unionists, artists, scientists, businessmen and celebrities who tried to give society similar advice. And now important, more important than the actual choice made by the British and the Americans, how the elites will react to it.

Should we, in turn, reject these voices as the gross manifestation of populism, rejects the facts? Should we try to find workarounds or to limit the consequences of choices made? I bet it would be a terrible mistake.

The problems that underlie the protest vote, is absolutely clear. They are connected with the economic consequences of globalization and accelerating technological progress.

Automation of the factories already decimated jobs in traditional manufacturing and through the development of artificial intelligence this destructive trend, probably, will seriously affect the middle class, retaining only those occupations that are more related to creativity, management, taking care of others.

This, in turn, will accelerate the already high growth of economic inequality in the world. The Internet gives the opportunity to make huge profits with very small groups of people. It is inevitable, this is progress, but, unfortunately, socially destructive.

All this happens against the background of the financial crisis, which showed that very few workers in the financial sector can obtain huge profits, while other people are merely a means to their success.

We live in a world of growing financial inequality, where most people don’t just break up with the habitual level of life, but also lose the ability to earn a living at all.

In addition, due to the global spread of the Internet and social networking, a sharp inequality was much more obvious than in the past. For me the ability to use technology for communication has become a dismissal and a positive experience. Without them I could not continue my work for all these years.

But it also means that anyone with a smartphone can observe the life of the richest people in the most prosperous parts of the world. And since people with smartphones in the world than people with access to clean water in Africa, very few people on our crowded planet will be able to avoid the bumps.

Now the most dangerous moment in human development.

Now we have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but we haven’t figured out a way to leave her. Perhaps in a few hundred years we will create a colony among the stars, but now we only have one planet and we must work together to protect her.

To do this, we need to break down the barriers within countries and between countries, and not to build new. If we want to use your chance, world leaders must recognize that they failed and failed a lot. Resources are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small number of people, and we must learn to truly share them.

Disappear not only jobs, but entire industries, and we need to help people find new skills for a new world and to support them during the transition period. If countries are unable to cope with the current level of migration, we need to stimulate the global development, as it is the only way to make the millions of migrants looking for a happy future at home.

We can do this: I have tremendous optimism about the future of humanity. But it requires elites to learn from the past year. And first learn modesty and humility.