Save the universe!

"I think the odds are no better than 50-50 that our present civilization on Earth will survive to the end of the present century," says Sir Martin Rees, Britain's astronomer royal. He warns in his recently published Our Final Hour (Basic Books) that technological catastrophes could kill millions or billions of people in the next 100 years and society may need to consider restricting specific types of scientific research. Evil amateur scientists working alone might ravage civilization using biotechnology, computer technology and nanotechnology, contends Sir Martin, one of the world's leading authorities on black holes and the evolution of the universe. He also looks at far-out risks, such as those from a Long Island particle project, begun in 2000, to create quark-gluon plasma. Critics fear the work might create a black hole or cause a rip in the space-time continuum, writes Keay Davidson in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Even if the odds against such a cosmic disaster are vanishingly small - one estimate is one in 50 million - are the potential benefits of the experiment worth risking the worst-case outcome, namely the annihilation of the Earth and the entire universe?"

Toronto Globe and Mail, April 18, 2003.

Compiled, developed and maintained by Philip Smith