Let's Go Screw Up Some Other Planets!

Some recent words from Stephen Hawking may be found reported upon here. I'm all for exploring space and the like.... And settling in new places? Sure.... But only when the time is right, and for the right reasons. If Stephen actually said what was reported (I can imagine that a lot was left out by the reporters, resulting in significant distortion), I'd have to disagree on his suggested motivations (largely fear, it seems), and the timing is just way out. Further, we've got stuff to do here, fixing up our messes here on earth.... we've no business spreading out more until we've grown up as a species, learning how to be less destructive and less prone to war. Right now we're a willful adolescent, at best. Probably a toddler. GrrlScientist has more to say, which is spot on. But what do you think? -cvj