The end of the world is a grim subject, yet, according to late Stephen Hawking, it may come sooner than any of us anticipates.

Hawking was a visionary physicist and one of the most celebrated scientists of the modern era. He gained fame for his groundbreaking work on black holes and relativity.

Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time remained at the top of the Sunday Times best-seller list for four years and was translated into 40 languages, sold in millions of copies.

The book dealt with ideas about space and time, the future, and the existence of God. Hawking wrote several more books.

At the age of 21, Hawkins was diagnosed with ALS and that changed his life forever.

“When you are faced with the possibility of an early death, it makes you realize that life is worth living and that there are lots of things you want to do,” Hawking told New York Times.

“In my last year at Oxford, I noticed I was getting increasingly clumsy. I went to the doctor after falling down some stairs, but all he said was, ‘Lay off the beer,’” but he knew the beer wasn’t the problem.”

Once they determined he suffered from ALS, or known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, Hawking was given two and a half years to live. But he proved doctors wrong and lived a fulfilled life until 76 during which he worked on groundbreaking research that helped scientists explore deep space, understand quantum mechanics, and push the limits of human knowledge.

Hawking, however, was more than a brilliant scientist; he was also a warning voice for the future of mankind.

He frequently talked about the real threats that could endanger our existence and his warnings, which are perhaps even more relevant today than when he first expressed them, were driven by science. Hawking encouraged people to be aware of problems such as global warming, the dangers of nuclear meltdown, and the risks of uncontrolled technological progress.

One of the fields he talked about most passionately was artificial intelligence, where he warned that if AI is allowed to progress towards “singularity” unchecked, it could pose completely new dangers. Hawking never held back when it came to making big predictions, many of which came with deadlines.

On the other hand, he was sure that if we take these threats seriously, we have the power to create a better and more sustainable world. In this sense, the fame of Hawking was not only used to uncover the secrets of the universe, but also to help us cope with the challenges of living in it.

The Science Behind Stephen Hawking’s Predictions of Earth’s Demise

According to Hawking, the issues of overpopulation and the greater need of energy could eventually turn the Earth into an uninhabitable planet. The fact that the world’s population doubles every 40 years and puts pressure on the planet’s resources could turn it into what he described as a “giant ball of fire.” More people mean more energy consumption, which leads to global warming. The world’s cities are growing and becoming overly populated, while forests are shrinking, and habitats are being destroyed. Factories, homes, and power plants consume enormous amounts of fossil fuels, causing the earth’s temperature to rise.

“This exponential growth cannot continue into the next millennium,” Hawking said in his computer-synthesized voice at the Tencent WE Summit in 2017. “By the year 2600, the world’s population would be standing shoulder to shoulder, and the electricity consumption would make the Earth glow red-hot.

“This is untenable.”

If current trends continue, we could face a world where resources are stretched to the breaking point and extreme weather becomes the norm.

The rise of temperatures could force millions of people to abandon their homes in search of livable conditions, even beyond Earth, and the lack of water and floods could trigger wars, putting entire nations at risk.

During the discussion, he also highlighted the Breakthrough Starshot project, which aims to launch tiny, beam-powered spacecraft on a scouting mission to Alpha Centauri, the closest star system beyond the Sun.

“Such a system could reach Mars in less than an hour, or reach Pluto in days, pass Voyager in under a week, and reach Alpha Centauri in just over 20 years,” he said.

Also, late Hawking believed that technology holds the key to solving the problems if it is used in the right way. He spoke of investing in renewable energy, sustainable farming, and responsible resource management in order to slow down the process, but this would require global collaboration.

If this is not achieved, solutions could come too late. The problem is not only to avoid disaster but to ensure that the world that is left is one that is still livable in the future. The warnings from Hawking are not meant to frighten us but to alert us to the fact that the future is something that we can control, but only if we act now.

Hawking spoke of what he called a tipping point, where global warming would become irreversible. “We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. Trump’s action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees, and raining sulphuric acid,” he told BBC News.

Billionaires Elon Mush and Jeff Bezos have also been warning of the dangers our planet is facing and the need for space travel as the ultimate escape plan for humanity. However, the notion that disaster is inevitable might just mean that the solutions that we can actually pursue on our own planet are being overlooked in our quest for some high-tech escape plan.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

When it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI), late Stephen Hawking was a leading voice in discussions about how humanity could harness IT for good, but he also believed that developing thinking machines may put our very existence at risk.

“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” he told BBC.

In fact, Stephen Hawking had a uniquely nuanced view of artificial intelligence. He believed that in the short term, the effects of AI depend on who is in control, and on long term, on whether it is even possible to control it at all. Hawking also referred to AI as a “dual-use” technology which has the potential to do a lot of good but also the potential to cause catastrophic damage.

Although he was afraid of the potential for superhuman AI to exceed human intelligence, Hawking’s own life was sustained but much simpler AI, which was developed with the help of Intel and Swiftkey, and learned how Hawking thought so that it could predict the words he wanted to say, enabling him to speak and write despite having ALS.

Hawking was aware of the great potential of AI but also advised against it. Even AI much inferior to human intelligence had the potential to solve some of the biggest problems facing the world today, including disease, poverty, war, and climate change. However, if that same technology isn’t controlled properly, it can eventually become uncontrollable.

“It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate,” he said.

Nuclear Warfare

When Adaeze Uyanwah, a 24-year-old student from California who toured the London’s Science Museum accompanied by Hawking, asked him which human trait he would most like to change, he said “aggression.”

“The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression. It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all,” Hawking answered, according to the Independent. “A major nuclear war would be the end of civilization, and maybe the end of the human race.”

Conclusion

Stephen Hawking probably never tried to paint the future as a lost cause, and his warnings and predictions are still based on the conviction that the humanity still have choices, and those choices are important. The dangers he warned about, from climate change to nuclear weapons, and artificial intelligence are slow-burning and inextricably linked. And while they don’t come with a bang of collapse, they are fueled by neglect, short-sightedness, and a lack of coopeartion.

Ultimately, what the great Hawking was advocating for was responsibility. He knew that science, combined with ethics and global cooperation could help us avoid the worst consequences.

The question isn’t whether disaster is ordained into our future, but whether we are prepared to do something before the warning signs become insurmountable damage. Stephen Hawking’s predictions of disaster are a challenge humanity needs to answer to.

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