Stephen Hawking: Humanity Only Has Around 1,000 Years Left On Earth
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking says humans will need to vacate Earth or face extinction in the next 1,000 years.
“Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next 1,000 or 10,000 years… By that time we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race,” Hawking said in a talk at Britain’s Oxford University Union this week, entitled ‘The Origin of the Universe’.
He believes that the only thing that could save us from certain extinction is setting up colonies in a different place in the Solar System.
“[W]e must … continue to go into space for the future of humanity. I don’t think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet.”
This isn’t the first time the theoretical physicist has spoken of humanity’s impending doom suggesting that humankind must leave Earth in order to survive.
In January, during a BBC Reith lecture, Hawking said humankind is moving closer to demise, and it’s our fault. He blames the earth’s potential demise on a variety of man-created disasters such as nuclear war, depletion of its natural resources, genetically engineered viruses and global warming.
Hawking’s speech ended with him reassuring the students to stay inquisitive and told them to “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
