That being said, I think it's high time we started planning to get as many of us off planet Earth as possible.

And just to let you know that I'm not the only nut…er…person thinking that we need to do that, let me introduce you to Professor Stephen Hawking. Yes, that Stephen Hawking, the great modern scientist from England's Cambridge University who wrote the best-selling "A Brief History of Time" and is about to come out with it's follow-up, "The Universe in a Nutshell." He thinks we need to start colonizing space, too.

Providing his reaction to the September 11^th terrorist attacks on America and the subsequent anthrax cases, Hawking told The Telegraph of London that the human race is more likely to be wiped out by a doomsday virus than by nuclear weapons or even protracted wars, such as the one we are now fighting against terrorism.

He said that while September 11^th was a terrible day, it didn't threaten every human being on Earth. Long term, Hawking believes that—either purposefully or accidentally—a super-virus will be created that will destroy the human race. His answer to make sure as many humans survive as possible? Get off the planet, colonize space, and keep moving outward.

If we don't, says Hawking, there might not be a human race by the end of this new millennium we just started.

While I can't fault Hawking for espousing such an idea based on alarming reasons, I think we need to start moving into space for much more practical reasons.

There is no doubt in my mind that humans are heading for overpopulation. There are over a billion people each just in China and India alone. We'll probably reach the seven billion mark planet-wide before too long. I just don't feel that the Earth was meant to hold, feed, and nurture that many people at once. Not without completely raping the planet, anyway. Mind you, I'm not so much of a tree-hugger that I want to close off every single remaining undeveloped area on Earth, but wouldn't you rather have a planet with at least some wilderness than none at all?

Sure, we might be talking about scenarios that are decades, if not generations or even centuries away, but why not start planning now?

Overpopulation leads to various conditions, but two in particular I'd like to point out. First, of course, is the problem of food and other consumption. The more people there are on the planet, the more of the planet's resources have to go to feed, clothe, house, transport, and otherwise support those people. There are very few resources I can think of, if any, that are inexhuastable. Eventually, even if it's not for well beyond our lifetimes, those resources will run out. What will we do then?

By beginning to move a significant portion of the population off the planet, especially if there's some way for us to reach other Earth-like planets, those resources would not be depleted as quickly, possibly pushing the survival timeline for the human race significantly further into the future.

The other reason we need to get going into space is a bit more socio-political. The more crowded we get, the more we bump up against each other, the more likely humans seem to go after each other's throats. Wars are primarily, in my mind, a function of "you've got what we want, so we're going to take it" mentality. If Earth's population were significantly reduced through emigration, and, as I said before, demand for resources were lowered, maybe we wouldn't feel so pressured to swipe things from our neighbors. Don't get me wrong; I'm no Pollyanna. I know that colonizing space won't make war obsolete. Even "out there" war's bound to pop up. But maybe, just maybe, easing the pressure here will make things a little easier for everyone.

Both Hawking and I agree that space travel isn't going to be easy. Until some kind of Star Trek-style "warp drive" is created, getting to the next habitable star system will take years. Hawking even suggests that we get into a little genetic engineering to help make humans more adaptable to long-term space travel. Perhaps even create cyborgs—humans with computer parts so that computers themselves don't take over.

Again, a little on the fantastic side, perhaps, but in my opinion nonetheless worthy of consideration.

In the meantime, let's all try to keep in mind that while we're being scared out of our wits about anthrax, things could be a lot worse. At least, at the moment, we have time to prepare to get off the planet before something really nasty hits. It could have been smallpox or Ebola that was being sent through the mail. There aren't any NASA ships right now fast enough to get us away from that.