Stephan Hawking believes that human extinction is inevitable if we don't leave Earth
Stephan Hawking is the most renowned astrophysicist who despite suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, has managed to formulate complex theories about spacetime, black holes, and the origin of the universe. The scientist's achievements have been acclaimed inside and outside the academic world.
Hawking now predicts that "climate change, increasingly frequent asteroid crashes, epidemics, and rapid population growth make the state of the Earth increasingly precarious" so what the human race will have they have to start colonizing other planets within the next 100 years to avoid their extinction.
The professor warned that the chances of humanity's extinction in this period of time are few, but that with the passage of time they will increase to the point of becoming a certainty. "
I hope that when that moment comes we are already in space and have colonized other stars, that way a disaster will not mean the end of humanity ." The scientist had estimated in January 2016 that humanity had 1,000 years left before extinction, now with the most recent events of human and natural disasters, its timeline has been shortened.
Hawking warned in that interview with the BBC that “the risks of a nuclear war, global warming, genetically modified viruses and artificial intelligence could lead humanity to extinction ”.
Hawking is not the only icon in the technological and scientific world that warns of the disappearance of human beings. The billionaire engineer Elon Musk, who leads the companies Tesla, Solar City and Space X, has said that humans must somehow merge with artificial intelligence to avoid becoming " obsolete ."
Musk, the CEO of the Tesla company that builds cars with technology that allows them to move without a driver, believes that paid drivers will find themselves out of work often as cars start to adopt his company's technology.
The businessman estimates that between 12 and 15% of jobs depend on drivers and that they will be useless within the next 20 years when autonomous cars have taken over the automotive market. Faced with a world that is unstoppable in the face of technological growth, if humans do not advance with it, we may not have a future, at least not one where we matter as much as machines.
