Quotes from book
Our Final Hour

Our Final Hour

An astrophysicist theorizes that the human race may not survive the twenty-first century, citing the ways in which technology could potentially destroy the human species and the universe itself with engineered viruses, nano-machines, and other threats. 100,000 first printing.


Martin J. Rees photo

“Once the threshold is crossed when there is a self-sustaining level of life in space, then life's long-range future will be secure irrespective of any of the risks on Earth (with the single exception of the catastrophic destruction of space itself).”

Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning (2003) <!-- | date = 2003-03-18
Context: Once the threshold is crossed when there is a self-sustaining level of life in space, then life's long-range future will be secure irrespective of any of the risks on Earth (with the single exception of the catastrophic destruction of space itself). Will this happen before our technical civilisation disintegrates, leaving this as a might-have-been? Will the self-sustaining space communities be established before a catastrophe sets back the prospect of any such enterprise, perhaps foreclosing it for ever? We live at what could be a defining moment for the cosmos, not just for our Earth.

Martin J. Rees photo

“We live at what could be a defining moment for the cosmos, not just for our Earth.”

Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning (2003) <!-- | date = 2003-03-18
Context: Once the threshold is crossed when there is a self-sustaining level of life in space, then life's long-range future will be secure irrespective of any of the risks on Earth (with the single exception of the catastrophic destruction of space itself). Will this happen before our technical civilisation disintegrates, leaving this as a might-have-been? Will the self-sustaining space communities be established before a catastrophe sets back the prospect of any such enterprise, perhaps foreclosing it for ever? We live at what could be a defining moment for the cosmos, not just for our Earth.

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