Climate change, limited resources, hunger, disease, pollution... things don't sound very promising when we consider that Earth is the only one, and our treatment of it is far from ideal. Personally, I still believe we can change, but there are many experts who believe in a future with permanent settlements on other planets. One of them is Stephen Hawking, who essentially shares his opinion as a warning: We must abandon Earth within the next 100 years in order to survive.
Tomorrow's World Returns
The British series Tomorrow's World was one of the longest-running science and technology shows on television. The world learned about many advanced developments through its nearly 1,400 episodes, including the first touchscreens, the pocket calculator, and the mobile phone. The BBC cancelled it in July 2003 after 38 years without major interruptions. And now, it's about to return. Science needs communicators and spokespeople more than ever in this age of post-truth, climate change denial, vaccine rejection, and other horrors born in political breeding grounds. The new edition of Tomorrow's World will have very high-profile participants, and at the top of the list is Stephen Hawking... with a warning.
Expedition New Earth and Hawking's Warning
Hawking and one of his former students, Christophe Galfard, will be in charge of the new documentary Expedition New Earth, which will be broadcast during the next season of the series. The message Hawking plans to communicate to the audience is clear: Earth is running out of time, and if the human species plans to survive major catastrophic events like global warming, overpopulation, an asteroid impact, and uncontrolled epidemics, it needs to find a way to abandon this planet and colonize another within the next hundred years. All eyes are on Mars, especially since SpaceX and NASA announced their official plans, but there are other accessible options, starting with the Moon.
Everything seems to indicate that Expedition New Earth will be broadcast on BBC Two, and it definitely won't be alone. Other works available under the Tomorrow's World umbrella will be Fixing the Future, which will address the topic of antibiotic collapse; Operation, focused on medicine; and Toughest Job In The Universe, which will follow the training of twelve astronaut candidates.
Source: The Telegraph
BBC
