The future of humanity looks bleaker by the minute (or by the tweet from our president-elect). But that's near-future. The longterm future of humanity is also dicey on the health front. According to Stephen Hawking, renowned physicist and general pessimist, obesity is "one of the most serious public health problems of the 21st century."
That statement comes from the perspective of a brilliant man who sees the universe on a different plane, at a far greater scope, than most. He understands the big picture for the human life: how we are looking down the barrel of an impending climate disaster, how we have maybe 1,000 more years before extinction. That's a lot for obesity to compete with. But as Hawking says in an ad for Swedish non-profit GEN-PEP for its anti-obesity campaign, "Humanity faces a major challenge, and millions of lives are in danger."
That statement also comes from the perspective of a man prematurely committed to an immobile life. "For what it's worth, how being sedentary has been a major health problem is beyond my understanding," Hawking says.
The solution Hawking proposes is changes in diet and more exercise.
And preferably in the next 1,000 years.
