Stephen Hawking recommends we humans colonize other planets as soon as possible, just in case of a full collapse here on Earth.
"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 thousand or ten thousand years," he said via text to speech technology during a recent radio interview,
the BBC reported.
"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. However, we will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period."
Chief among Hawking's list of credible threats are nuclear war, global warming, and genetically-engineered viruses.
"We are not going to stop making progress, or reverse it, so we have to recognize the dangers and control them. I'm an optimist, and I believe we can," he explained.
Qz.com reported that Hawking has warned the world about global annihilation before, specifically in regard to artificial intelligence.
"The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race," he once said.
While the world awaits the rise of the robots, however, Hawking has said that humanity stands a better chance of survival if it teaches more math and science.
"It's important to ensure that these changes are heading in the right directions. In a democratic society, this means that everyone needs to have a basic understanding of science to make informed decisions about the future," he said.
Hawking has been chosen to give this year's annual BBC Reith Lectures, which are expected to talk about the science of black holes, among other topics.
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