Stephen Hawking, in a new documentary ("Stephen Hawking: Expedition New Earth") due out this year, warns of mankind's impending extinction. According to the physicist, our only hope for survival is to colonize another planet – within 100 years – or we can kiss our species goodbye.
Elon Musk, Jack Ma, and Stephen Hawking have all warned us about the dangers of new technology, epidemics, and asteroids.
In his new BBC documentary, Hawking's predictions explain why humanity only has 100 years before we need to find another planet. He goes on to explain that climate change, population growth, epidemics and overdue asteroid strikes put our planet in danger.
Hawking had predicted humanity had more time
It wasn't that long ago that Hawking had predicted humanity had more time – around 1,000 years – before we had to evacuate our planet. However, his timeline has now been shortened by several hundred years or so. In the past few years, the renowned physicist had several warnings about the future of our species.
In 2016, it was a nuclear war, global warming, genetically-engineered viruses and artificial intelligence (AI). In a BBC interview, during the same year, Hawking said that the chance of a disaster to planet Earth adds up over time.
We should find a new planet
Hawking's hope was that within a thousand years or so we would find a new planet and spread out into the vast unknown we call space. Then, we could leave our current home and move to other stars so that a certain impending disaster would not mean the end of the human race. He was also careful to add that colonizing a new planet would not be possible for the next hundred years, so we all need to be careful until such a time.
Billionaire Elon Musk had his own warning for our global society.
He warns that humans risk becoming useless in the age of artificial intelligence or AI. However, Musk, along with being the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, started a new company called Neuralink. Coincidently, Neuralink is a company that is designed to replace humans in the workforce.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, recently gave his own warning. Ma warns humanity that new technology and the internet could cause a decade of pain to society due to disconnection.
In conclusion, Hawking has also warned about the use of technology, although he could not survive without it. In an interview with BBC, the physicist said that AI could mark the end of humanity.