Space & Astronomy

Hawking: 'we must leave Earth before 2117'

By T.K. Randall
May 3, 2017

Image: Stephen Hawking
Credit: (PD) NASA Whether it be due to global warming, nuclear war, genetically engineered diseases or a rampant artificial intelligence - the next 100 years could prove disastrous for the human race.

Hawking, who is currently working on a new documentary entitled "Expedition New Earth" with former student Christophe Galfard, now maintains that in order for our civilization to survive, colonizing other planets sooner rather than later is going to be absolutely essential."Although the chance of disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time," he said back in November, while noting that "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."

It's difficult to fault his logic, after all - right now we really do have all our eggs in one basket.

Whether humanity can colonize other worlds within 100 years however remains to be seen.

Source: CNET.com

Tags: Stephen Hawking