Martin Rees quotes

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. (Martin Rees)
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. View quote
Martin Rees
I'm a technological optimist in that I do believe that technology will provide solutions that will allow the world in 2050 to support 9 billion people at an acceptable standard of living. But I'm a political pessimist in that I am concerned about whether the science will be appropriately applied. View quote
Martin Rees
No one can say which approach is the right one - so no one can say how close we are to a solution. View quote
Martin Rees
We're all depressingly ‘lay' outside our specialisms - my own knowledge, of recent biological advances, such as it is, comes largely from ‘popular' books and journalism. View quote
Martin Rees
Once the threshold is crossed when there is a self-sustaining level of life in space, then life's long-range future will be secure irrespective of any of the risks on Earth (with the single exception of the catastrophic destruction of space itself). View quote
Martin Rees
Issues relating to global health and sustainability must stay high on the agenda if we are to cope with an ageing and ever-increasing population, with growing pressure on resources, and with rising global temperatures. The risks and dangers need to be assessed and then confronted. View quote
Martin Rees
Ironically, it is only when disaster strikes that the shuttle makes the headlines. Its routine flights attracted less media interest than unmanned probes to the planets or the images from the Hubble Telescope. The fate of Columbia (like that of Challenger in 1986) reminded us that space is still a hazardous environment. View quote
Martin Rees
Some claim that computers will, by 2050, achieve human capabilities. Of course, in some respects they already have. View quote
Martin Rees
All space projects push the frontiers of technology and are drivers of innovation. View quote
Martin Rees
Science isn't just for scientists - it's not just a training for careers. (Martin Rees)
I think a few hundred years from now we'll start having the 'posthuman' era of different species. View quote
Martin Rees
It's often better to read first-rate science fiction than second-rate science - it's far more stimulating, and perhaps no more likely to be wrong. View quote
Martin Rees
Indeed, our everyday world presents intellectual challenges just as daunting as those of the cosmos and the quantum, and that is where 99 per cent of scientists focus their efforts. Even the smallest insect, with its intricate structure, is far more complex than either an atom or a star. View quote
Martin Rees
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. View quote
Martin Rees
To most people in the U.K., 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 U.S. and Soviet space efforts to a scale that Western Europe had no motive to match. View quote
Martin Rees
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. View quote
Martin Rees
We need to broaden our sympathies both in space and time - and perceive ourselves as part of a long heritage, and stewards for an immense future. View quote
Martin Rees
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. View quote
Martin Rees
Campaigning against religion can be socially counter-productive. If teachers take the uncompromising line that God and Darwinism are irreconcilable, many young people raised in a faith-based culture will stick with their religion and be lost to science. View quote
Martin Rees
Everything, however complicated - breaking waves, migrating birds, and tropical forests - is made of atoms and obeys the equations of quantum physics. But even if those equations could be solved, they wouldn't offer the enlightenment that scientists seek. Each science has its own autonomous concepts and laws. (Martin Rees)
Collective human actions are transforming, even ravaging, the biosphere - perhaps irreversibly - through global warming and loss of biodiversity. View quote
Martin Rees
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. View quote
Martin Rees
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. View quote
Martin Rees
I hope that by 2050 the entire solar system will have been explored and mapped by flotillas of tiny robotic craft. View quote
Martin Rees