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Are we our own worst enemy?

It seems that celebrity scientists and entrepreneurs are big news these days and the media seems to hang on their every word.

When Elon Musk came out in support of a theory that we are nothing more than a computer simulation his opinion was reported around the world and I saw media reports that gave a 98% probability he was correct.

When Stephen Hawking suggested that visiting aliens would only be interested in conquering and eating us, once again the media decided that this was big news and should be widely reported.

And now, the theories of celebrity scientist Brian Cox are being rolled out to an eager audience.

Brian Cox, a popular British celeb-scientist has suggested that the reason we can't find any evidence of other intelligent life in the universe is because they've already destroyed themselves.

Actually, what Cox is saying makes a lot of sense.

Evolutionary pressures mean that only the toughest survive and therefore, those who do survive may not necessarily be the most intelligent or altruistic -- in fact the opposite is more likely.

Cox points to the potential for mankind to annihilate themselves by way of damage inflicted on the ecosystem through carbon emissions or even by the effects of nuclear war and suggests that these issues would confront any intelligent species evolving on a planet of fixed resources. Apparently, the odds are that mankind and other intelligent life forms in the universe are more likely to use up all their energy reserves and choke the planet long before they develop alternative technologies or the ability to colonise new worlds.

Is Mr Cox right?

Well to be honest, I can see a lot of merit in his assertions. If we look at exactly where we are now it is very clear that we run the risk of poisoning the very planet that provides us with life and we're still a very, very long way from becoming space colonists.

Even if someone does roll out a non-polluting fusion reactor this afternoon, and thus eliminates the need for polluting fossil fuels, we still face the very real risk of WW3 and the almost guaranteed nasty effects of radioactive fallout. Such a conflict might not kill every person on the planet but it would send us right back to the iron age in terms of our technological progress.

So yes, I agree with Brian Cox. I think we are our own worst enemies when it comes to survival.

And of course, even if we don't kill ourselves -- visiting malicious aliens will likely eat us as a snack on their way to colonise the galaxy, won't they Stephen? ;-)

What do readers think?

How long will it be before we either destroy ourselves? Will we survive long enough to colonise other worlds?

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