Stephen Hawking is one of the most renowned and accomplished living scientists. And he has issued a dire warning about what Trump will mean not only for the USA but also for the entire world.
The Most Dangerous Moment
In response to Trump’s election, Hawking wrote an article for The Guardian titled “This Is The Most Dangerous Time For Our Planet.” He addresses the scientific community’s concerns about environmental devastation and climate change:
“We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, acidification of the oceans.”
Trump, of course, has repeatedly denied the reality of climate change. He already has plans in place to dismantle many of the Obama administration’s accomplishments on climate issues.
Hawking expanded beyond this strictly scientific purview, however. In addition, he spoke about the many people who struggle under desperate material and economic conditions:
“The automation of factories has already decimated jobs in traditional manufacturing, and the rise of artificial intelligence is likely to extend this job destruction deep into the middle classes, with only the most caring, creative or supervisory roles remaining. This, in turn, will accelerate the already widening economic inequality around the world. The internet and the platforms that it makes possible allow very small groups of individuals to make enormous profits while employing very few people. This is inevitable: it is progress, but it is also socially destructive.”
Interestingly enough, Hawking is acknowledging that scientific and technological achievements aren’t always good for many people. Advancements that could be liberating are instead creating precarious conditions for the working and middle classes by automating many of their jobs.
He also notes that similar conditions and sentiments led to Brexit. And he recognizes which side of the intellectual and class divide he sits on, and what that means for the future:
“So the recent apparent rejection of the elites in both America and Britain is surely aimed at me, as much as anyone…It was, everyone seems to agree, the moment when the forgotten spoke, finding their voices to reject the advice and guidance of experts and the elite everywhere.”
A Call To Unity
In response to this populist rejection of the elite, Hawking says that humanity must find a way to come together. Indeed, the future of our species and our very planet depend on it. He says that it would be “a terrible mistake” to turn our backs on everyone in these populist movements:
“For me, the really concerning aspect of this is that now, more than at any time in our history, our species needs to work together…[W]e are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity. We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but have not yet developed the ability to escape it.”
He offers a clear call to action for leaders in the political, intellectual, and cultural realms:
“If we are to stand a chance of doing that, the world’s leaders need to acknowledge that they have failed and are failing the many…We can do this; I am an enormous optimist for my species; but it will require the elites, from London to Harvard, from Cambridge to Hollywood, to learn the lessons of the past year. To learn above all a measure of humility.”
