Harald Lesch is a German astrophysicist, philosopher, science journalist, TV host and university professor. He teaches physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and philosophy at the Munich University of Philosophy.

This video is a reply to Stephen Hawking's latest statement, from one of Germany's most reputable scientists and philosophers.

Let me translate:

The most popular scientist of the world has now laid it on the line. He said the world will come to an end and we have to go to Mars within 100 years, all of us!

There, said it. Stephen Hawking spoke out. In 100 years it will happen. And to prevent our own extinction, we must go to Mars.

Is this doable? Can we engineer Mars to be something that would support human life? So that we can go on from there? Within 100 years? Is this realistic? I mean, the warnings about the fact, that humans are putting themselves in danger, suicide so to say, are very common. It's about climate change and conflicts, big conflicts, about the atomic holocaust we are on the verge of, again and again. Once the superpowers on the planet come too close together, with all their armed forces... and so on. I see it clearly. This is the potential to devastate the entire human race. Even in less than 100 years, actually every day.

But how do we get away from this? So, we have to make sure that these kind of conflicts won't happen and we also have to do the right thing, according to common sense. To save the environment, transition to renewable energy, desalinate sea water, more renewables and justness for everyone, and so on. Anyway...

We know exactly what we have to do here on earth.

I look over at Mars, wondering. What can we do over there? Mars is nowadays, and we know that for sure... We were there a few times. Well, not us but our machines and... It's a desert! An unparalleled desert! And yes, indeed, they say there is water but it's totally oversalted. And if at all then it is somewhere beneath the surface. Why, you ask? Well, it's because there is no atmosphere on Mars and Mars is only a tenth of earth's mass and we won't be able to change this. But no matter how we possibly could create an atmosphere on Mars, and we need one with oxygen, the question would still be: How long will it stay? Mars has no magnetic field. The solar flares would tear this atmosphere apart. And then gravity is so weak on Mars, that the gases in the atmosphere tend to dissipate anyway. And that's why we can't find any water on the surface of Mars. Because it just evaporates immediately.

But well, ok, let's simply assume that we would be able to sustain an atmosphere on Mars. What would that be like? Well, Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, surrounding Mars all the time and there is no atmosphere. If there would be one, what will happen? Do you know? Exactly, you're right! They will loose speed and then crash into Mars! And the surface of Mars is uninhabitable for another 10,000 years, at least.

And therefore, dear Stephen Hawking...

...it is problematic to combine an absolute valid warning with a recommendation, that is nothing but utter bollocks! Mars is not an option! Even with the help of the most advanced technologies humans may come up with, it will take many tens of thousands of years to make Mars inhabitable. It took planet earth millions of years to support life or just even have rain. So to put it briefly, all this geo-engineering of whole planets... It takes a while. This is no option for the near future. No quick rescue.

So, let me summarize. I'll call it...

The Olympic Challenges

Climate change, energy transformation, resource scarcity, demographic trends and immigration, these are all centered around global equity. These are the great challenges we're facing. And we have to solve them here on earth. ASAP! We must not go extinct!

And this little sphere called Mars won't help us. Who knows if we'll ever get there, definitely not anytime soon. But there is another sphere, which is way more important. It is our brains, common sense, reason, sanity.
This is what we need to focus on to solve all these problems. And we totally can! We just have to actually, finally set off... and not towards Mars but... to find ourselves again.

^{Harald Lesch}

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Time Magazine: Stephen Hawking Says Humans Have 100 Years to Move to Another Planet

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Thank you for your attention!

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