The first voyagers to the stars will be creatures whose life cycle is matched to the voyage: the aeons involved in traversing the galaxy are not daunting to immortal beings. By the end of the third millennium, travel to other stars could be technically feasible. But would there be sufficient motive? Martin Rees Read Quote
Space and time may have a structure as intricate as the fauna of a rich ecosystem, but on a scale far larger than the horizon of our observations. Martin Rees Read Quote
Post-human intelligence will develop hypercomputers with the processing power to simulate living things – even entire worlds. Perhaps advanced beings could use hypercomputers to surpass the best ‘special effects’ in movies or computer games so vastly that they could simulate a world, fully, as complex as the one we perceive ourselves to be in. Martin Rees Read Quote
Some of the ‘aha’ insights that scientists strive for may have to await the emergence of post-human intellects. Martin Rees Read Quote
The next humans to walk on the moon may be Chinese. Only China seems to have the resources, the dirigiste government, and the willingness to undertake a risky Apollo-style programme. If Americans or Europeans venture to the moon and beyond, this will have to be in a very different style and with different motives. Martin Rees Read Quote
The scientific issues that engage people most are the truly fundamental ones: is the universe infinite? Is life just a sideshow in the cosmos? What happened before the Big Bang? Everyone is flummoxed by such questions, so there is, in a sense, no gulf between experts and the rest. Martin Rees Read Quote
General writing about science, even if we do it badly, helps us to see our work in perspective and broadens our vision. Martin Rees Read Quote
The lives of those such as Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein are plainly of interest in their own right, as well as for the light they shed on the way these great scientists worked. But are ‘routine’ scientists as fascinating as their science? Here I have my doubts. Martin Rees Read Quote
It is astonishing that human brains, which evolved to cope with the everyday world, have been able to grasp the counterintuitive mysteries of the cosmos and the quantum. Martin Rees Read Quote
Just as there are many Jews who keep the Friday ritual in their home despite describing themselves as atheists, I am a ‘tribal Christian,’ happy to attend church services. Martin Rees Read Quote
