 |
 |
Stephen Hawking speculates about the next millennium WASHINGTON (March 6, 1998 10:36 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -- Cosmologist Stephen Hawking says technology won't be the only thing more advanced in the next millennium -- people will be, too. "I don't believe science fiction like 'Star Trek,' where people are essentially the same 400 years in the future," the Cambridge physicist said Friday night during a lecture in the East Room of the White House. Hawking said the combination of advanced science and technology will inevitably bring together incredible changes -- including genetically engineered human beings. "Unless we have a totalitarian world order, someone will design an improved human somewhere," he said, clarifying that he wasn't passing judgment on such changes. "I am just saying that it is likely to happen in the next millennium whether we want it or not," he said. President Clinton invited Hawking, author of the bestseller "A Brief History of Time," to speak as part of the presidential "Millennium Evenings" series. His speech to several dozen people, including many fellow physicists and other scientists, touched topics ranging from "closed loop histories of particles" to "Moore's Law," in which the speed and complexity of computers doubles every 18 years. Even the program's moderator joked about needing an interpreter to understand some of the concepts in Hawking's speech. The evening was telecast live through satellite connections and cybercast over the Internet. Mir astronaut Andrew Thomas appeared briefly via satellite to welcome Hawking and Vice President Al Gore also participated -- through the Internet -- by submitting the evening's final question. He asked for Hawking's opinion about the recent discovery of antigravity, a mysterious force that may be causing the universe to expand at a constantly accelerating rate. "If it is there at all, it must be very small," Hawking answered. But he said that scientists won't know for sure until future observation from satellites sheds light on the question. Hawking, 56, has Lou Gehrig's Disease, which affects the motor skills, and speaks by touching a computer screen that translates his words through an electronic synthesizer. He is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, a post once held by Sir Isaac Newton. Hawking opened his lecture by showing a scene from the former television series, 'Star Trek, The Next Generation,' in which he, Newton and Albert Einstein are playing poker with the show's android character. Hawking wins the game. By EUN-KYUNG KIM, Associated Press Writer Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 The Associated Press janet paterson 50-9 / sinemet-selegiline-prozac almonte-ontario-canada / [log in to unmask]