Hello

Hello

Stephen Hawking has recently revised his ‘you have about one thousand years to get off the planet and find other planets to colonise’ prediction, to ‘eh…actually, you have really only got around one hundred years’.

 

He reckons that we have no real contingency plan for a large asteroid strike, or a pandemic or two, and also that the human species is a danger to itself. Unsurprisingly he is of course correct. (He’s no Eddie Redmayne, but he is quite smart).

 

Now, I’m also no Eddie Redmayne, or indeed a theoretical physicist & cosmologist, but I do believe that one hundred years is around about ten decades. That’s a really short time period. There are some TV shows that have been running for more than half that time. In fact its been suggested that some tortoises can live for more than two hundred years. If Stephen is correct, then we will have to have a viable new planet up and running before a newly born tortoise reaches middle age.

 

And whilst science has come along leaps and bounds in the last one hundred years, the planet still runs on several energy sources which are extremely inefficient, and which also create rather a lot of pollution. We don’t yet have warp drive, flying cars that run on garbage, and crucially, the cure for baldness.

 

However, on the bright side, we do have fridges that can automatically order food, phones that can take selfies, self-guiding vacuum cleaners, and of course the Kardashians on TV.

 

In relation to boldly going, Mr Hawking has been quoted as saying, ‘I hope it would unite competitive nations in a single goal, to face the common challenge for us all. A new and ambitious space program would excite…and stimulate interest in other areas, such as astrophysics and cosmology’.

 

The idea of uniting competitive nations in achieving a common goal is of course extremely laudable. However is that remotely possible?

 

Well, I suspect that I would have tended to answer no to that question on more than one occasion over the last few weeks. Twisted and evil ideology, apparent greed and neglect, and misguided allegiances, causing optimism to disappear like inhibitions and clothes at Glastonbury.

 

And yet, if ever there was anything positive to take from situations of such horror, it surely must be the response of the majority. That response has been truly inspiring. Most people do care, most people do want to get along with each other, most people do want a better future for themselves and for their children.

 

It is in the nature of humans to explore, to seek out those strange new worlds, but surely that would best be done not from a burning platform. It would I imagine, be better to solve things here in the first instance, because otherwise the chaotic nature of this today’s world might simply be duplicated elsewhere. (See the documentary Total Recall)

 

Is that possible? Perhaps not. However, everything need not be doom and gloom, it may just be the case that we can change things here, but it will require a shift. It will require all of us to look at ourselves, to be (brutally) honest, to recognise our shortcomings and where we might improve.

 

Crucially it will also require having leaders who are truly there to serve. I don’t know about you but it is pretty annoying (to say the least) to observe some so-called leaders, when an event ensues (tragic or otherwise, although it is particularly galling and despicable when it is tragic) attempting to position themselves in a positive light by spouting some pious set of (rehearsed) words whilst pointing the finger elsewhere (often to the individual or group who is a threat, or whose power they covet).

 

However, people are getting wise to this, and annoyed. It’s a little bit like the movie Predator, where suddenly their true nature and intentions are revealed, stark and ever so slightly sinister. ‘I see you’.

 

We require more leaders who understand that they are there to serve, and who are simply being themselves. Leaders whose true nature and intentions are benevolent, but who are no less inspirational because of it. In fact, their ability to lead is enhanced by their obvious humanity. That type of leader with that level of authenticity is scarce, and yet is desperately needed.

 

We can’t make these changes at a snail’s pace right (or for that matter a tortoise’s pace). We need to be developing these new leaders right now.

It’s also likely that those leaders will need to be just a little bit brave.

 

Perhaps that leader could be you?

 

Best wishes

Mike

 

The link to the podcast for June can be found below: