Hawking: Lessons to Learn from Brexit and the US Elections

Stephen Hawking, the British physicist, issued a "serious warning" in an article published this week in The Guardian regarding the state of the Earth following Brexit and Donald Trump's election as President of the United States. He states that due to living in Cambridge, a small university town in Britain, his associates are often from the educated elite of society, and he is aware that his profession and his illness (which has deprived him of speech and movement) have caused him to become very isolated from the world around him. Therefore, the recent uprising of people against the educated elite, which occurred during the two significant votes in 2016—Brexit, which led to the UK's exit from the European Union, and Trump's election—was a "wake-up call" for him. He asserts that regardless of how we view the results of these two votes, there is no doubt that they represent a "cry of anger" from people who feel abandoned by their leaders. According to him, these "forgotten" people expressed their protest by rejecting the advice of specialists and intellectuals. Hawking, who had warned against Brexit before the vote, believes that what is now important is the response of the intellectuals to the voices of the people. He states that dismissing the people's vote on the grounds that they were deceived by a bunch of demagogues and "circumventing or restricting" them is the worst mistake that can be made by the intellectuals. The underlying concerns behind these votes regarding the economic consequences of globalization and rapid technological change are entirely understandable. The mechanization of factories has already led to the loss of traditional jobs, and the growth of artificial intelligence technology will eliminate middle-class jobs, leaving only care, creative, or managerial jobs. According to this prominent theoretical physicist, this trend will not only continue but will accelerate, exacerbating class divides in societies: "We live in a world where divides are widening, not diminishing. People see that their quality of life and their ability to achieve this quality is declining. Therefore, it is not surprising that they are seeking a new 'deal': something that Brexit or Trump attempted to offer them." Another point that Hawking mentions in his article is the effect of social media and the pervasive internet worldwide. He notes that the number of people using mobile phones in the Horn of Africa exceeds those who have access to clean drinking water, stating, "Now, images of the lives of the wealthy are in front of everyone. Therefore, it is not surprising that the world is facing the problem of economic migrants. Poor people in urban outskirts endure the suffering and dangers of migration to reach these images." He added, "For me, what is most alarming about the current state of the world is that more than ever in history, we need to cooperate with each other. We are facing the great danger of climate change. Dangers such as global warming, food production, the daily increase in population, the extinction of other species, pandemics, and ocean acidification." Hawking states that we are at the most dangerous time in human history: "We now have the technology necessary to destroy the Earth without having yet found a way to escape it. Perhaps in a few hundred years, we will be able to establish colonies on other planets, but for now, we only have this Earth, and we must work together to protect it." This prominent cosmologist recommends that instead of building new barriers, different human societies should work to eliminate what currently separates them: "When not just one job, but an entire industry disappears, individuals need to be retrained and economically supported to prepare for new jobs." He ultimately expresses great optimism about the future of humanity: "But it is necessary for intellectuals from London to Harvard, from Cambridge to Hollywood to learn from the lessons of this past year."