I agree wholeheartedly with Hawking's assessment. We have to travel into space now, and expand throughout the universe in the long run. Moon base? Easy. Mars base? Hard, but doable. "It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species," Hawking said. "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of." Indeed. With more and more individuals crazy enough to kill themselves and wipe out the human race in the process, the time is nigh to move. We have the capability.