New | Time to end the crisis in Syria: Stephen Hawking

Aristotle, one of the most famous Greek philosophers, believed the universe had existed forever. The reason he believed why we are not more developed was that floods, or other natural disasters, repeatedly set civilisation back to the beginning.

Today we are developing ever faster. Our knowledge is growing exponentially and with it, our technology. But as humans we still have the instincts, and in particular the aggressive impulses, that we had in caveman days.

Aggression has had definite survival advantages but when modern technology meets ancient aggression the entire human race and much of the rest of life on earth is at risk.

Today in Syria we see modern technology in the forms of bombs, chemicals and other weapons being used to further so-called intelligent political ends.

But it does not feel intelligent to watch on as 100,000 are killed or while children are being targeted. And it feels downright stupid to prevent humanitarian supplies from reaching clinics where Save the Children is reporting that children are having limbs amputated for lack of basic facilities and newborn babies are dying in incubators for lack of power.

What’s happening in Syria today is an abomination, one that the world is watching coldly from a distance. Where is our emotional intelligence; our sense of collective justice?

When I discuss intelligent life in the universe, I take this to include the human race, even though much of its behaviour throughout history appears not to have been calculated to aid the survival of the species.