Stephen Hawking is 75, so he’s not likely to join the convoy of spacecraft he says is needed to colonize other planets in the next 100 years.
But he hopes his warnings fly.
“With climate change, overpopulation, possible asteroid strikes, and the rise of unpredictable technology like artificial intelligence, a world-ending event occurring in the next century is not unimaginable,” said techradar.com. “In order to safeguard the continuation of the human race, it makes sense to have a second base.”
The “Brief History of Times” author makes the warning in a BBC show called “Stephen Hawking: Expedition New Earth.”
“Professor Hawking posits his theory that interplanetary colonization is necessary to ensure the survival of the human race,” techradar says.
Newsweek quotes the BBC as saying: “The journey shows that Prof Hawking’s ambition isn’t as fantastical as it sounds—that science fact is closer to science fiction than we ever thought.”
Southland billionaire Elon Musk has expressed hopes to establish a Mars settlement within the next few decades through his aerospace firm SpaceX.
“I don’t have a doomsday prophecy,” Musk said in 2016, “but history suggests some doomsday event will happen.