Chapter 6, Our Future?, Star Trek or Not? Summary and Analysis

Hawking wonders if humanity will ever reach a final state of science and technology. For nearly all of history, humanity has moved forward but at an ever increasing rate. Population, technological development, electricity consumption and the number of scientific articles are increasing exponentially, all doubling every forty years or less. But these patterns cannot continue forever, so what can we expect? We might wipe ourselves out, but Hawking is an optimist.

We might discover a final theory in the not-too-distant future. It will determine what is possible, such as Star Trek style warp drive. Right now, it looks like exploring the galaxy will be slow and tedious. And yet, we don't yet know how we can make use of the laws of physics as we know them, so many...