Stephen Hawking on Ted

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/stephen_hawking_asks_big_questions_about_the_universe.html

Hawking asks all the big questions. It's always interesting to hear him speak. The pauses as he constructs his own thoughts allow us to ponder his commentary. I loved his comment: "Maybe we should patent the Universe ...". He obviously doesn't believe we've been visited by UFOs because he comments that they appear only to "Cranks and wierdos". He also observes that SETI has found nothing yet. So are we alone? He thinks that we should ensure that we try to survive and continue in case we are. He sees our resource usage as growing exponentially and our genetic disposition towards aggression as being serious problems. He thinks we need to expand into space.

"If we want to continue beyond the next 100 years we should continue in space."

He views his disability as helping him by providing time to ponder the big questions.

Hawking was asked if he thinks if we are alone. It took him seven minutes to answer: "I think it quite likely that we are the only civilization within several hundred light years. The alternative is that civilizations don't last that long."

Excellent stuff.