Science isn't just for scientists - it's not just a training for careers. Martin Rees More Quotes by Martin Rees More Quotes From Martin Rees All space projects push the frontiers of technology and are drivers of innovation. Martin Rees innovation technology space In the case of climate change, the threat is long-term and diffuse and requires broad international action for the benefit of people decades in the future. And in politics, the urgent always trumps the important, and that is what makes it a very difficult and challenging issue. Martin Rees issues long people I hope that by 2050 the entire solar system will have been explored and mapped by flotillas of tiny robotic craft. Martin Rees solar-system tiny crafts I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms that we can't conceive. And there could, of course, be forms of intelligence beyond human capacity-beyond as much as we are beyond a chimpanzee. Martin Rees intelligent life science Science is a part of culture. Indeed, it is the only truly global culture because protons and proteins are the same all over the world, and it's the one culture we can all share. Martin Rees share culture world The U.S., France, Germany and Canada have all responded to the financial crisis by boosting rather than cutting their science funding. The U.K. has not. Martin Rees canada germany cutting In this century, not only has science changed the world faster than ever, but in new and different ways. Targeted drugs, genetic modification, artificial intelligence, perhaps even implants into our brains - may change human beings themselves. Martin Rees drug technology brain Collective human actions are transforming, even ravaging, the biosphere - perhaps irreversibly - through global warming and loss of biodiversity. Martin Rees global-warming action loss The extreme sophistication of modern technology - wonderful though its benefits are - is, ironically, an impediment to engaging young people with basics: with learning how things work. Martin Rees benefits technology people To most people in the UK, indeed throughout Western Europe, space exploration is primarily perceived as 'what NASA does'. This perception is - in many respects - a valid one. Superpower rivalry during the Cold War ramped up US and Soviet space efforts to a scale that Western Europe had no motive to match. Martin Rees space europe war During the 20th century, we came to understand that the essence of all substances - their colour, texture, hardness and so forth - is set by their structure, on scales far smaller even than a microscope can see. Everything on Earth is made of atoms, which are, especially in living things, combined together in intricate molecular assemblages. Martin Rees atoms essence together In our interconnected world, novel technology could empower just one fanatic, or some weirdo with a mindset of those who now design computer viruses, to trigger some kind of disaster. Indeed, catastrophe could arise simply from technical misadventure - error rather than terror. Martin Rees design errors technology I think all countries need to aim to cut the CO2 emissions per person, taking account of externalities like imports and exports. Martin Rees cutting country thinking The politics is far harder than the science. And even if we accept the science we have a big issue of how to deal with it. Martin Rees issues accepting bigs One of the computer models for a four degree temperature rise would give rise to a 10 degree temperature rise in Africa. And bear in mind also that in the depth of an ice age the mean temperature drop compared to the present was five degrees. Martin Rees ice giving mean The important point there is that when people talk about a mean temperature rise of say two, three or four degrees that's a sort of global average which really is a signature of large scale change in climatic patterns. Martin Rees average two mean I'm not a specialist in the science but I have followed it fairly closely and it seems to me that there is among the experts a clear consensus that potential climate change is something to worry about. Martin Rees climate experts worry The study of exoplanets is perhaps the most vibrant field of astronomy, we now know that most stars are orbited by retinues of planets; there may be a billion planets in our galaxy resembling the Earth. Martin Rees science We don't know much about aliens, but we know about humans, if you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced. A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria. Martin Rees science This was a failure, but a heroic failure. Martin Rees science
