Hawking predicts end of Earth within the next thousand years or so

interpreter

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Professor Stephen Hawking has warned that a disaster on Earth within the next thousand or ten thousand years is a ‘near certainty'.

The cosmologist said that genetically engineered viruses, nuclear war and global warming all threatened to wipe out the human race in the foreseeable future.

He argued that unstoppable developments in science and technology were likely to prove the biggest danger, adding that the human race may only be able to survive in colonies on other planets in the solar system.



"Most of the threats we face come from the progress we’ve made in science and technology"
Professor Stephen Hawking
“We face a number of threats: nuclear war, global warming and genetically engineered viruses," said Prof Hawking, speaking to the Radio Times ahead of his BBC Reith Lecture.

“Although the chance of a disaster on planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, becoming a near certainty in the next thousand or ten thousand years.

“By that time we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so it 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."

terminator_3001397b.jpg
Killer robots from the film Terminator

Previously Prof Hawking has spoken of the dangers of the rise of artifical intelligence and has called for global agreements to prevent robots becoming uncontrollable.

He added: “Most of the threats we face come from the progress we’ve made in science and technology. We are not going to stop making progress, or reverse it, so we must recognise the dangers and control them. I’m an optimist, and I believe we can.”

Prof Hawking was responding to a question from a schoolboy who asked whether the world was likely to end at the hand of humans, or from a natural disaster.

“Science and technology are changing our world dramatically, so it’s important to ensure that these changes are heading in the right directions," added Prof Hawking.

"In a democratic society, this means that everyone needs to have a basic understanding of science, to make informed decisions about the future.”

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Stephen Hawking

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci...ster-on-planet-Earth-is-a-near-certainty.html

Hawking agrees with the Bible 100%. First come the 7 last plagues which wipe out all the fish in the sea, and make much of the earth too hot for the survival of life, including human life. And a thousand years from now the earth will indeed be destroyed, either by ourselves or an extra-terrestrial (God). Then we will continue on "a new earth without any sea" (in all probability, Mars, as Hawking says).
 

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tulc

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci...ster-on-planet-Earth-is-a-near-certainty.html

Hawking agrees with the Bible 100%. First come the 7 last plagues which wipe out all the fish in the sea, and make much of the earth too hot for the survival of life, including human life. And a thousand years from now the earth will indeed be destroyed, either by ourselves or an extra-terrestrial (God). Then we will continue on "a new earth without any sea" (in all probability, Mars, as Hawking says).

...were you reading a different article? Because none of what Professor Hawking bears any resemblance to what you posted. :sorry:
tulc(is just sayn')
 
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cow451

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci...ster-on-planet-Earth-is-a-near-certainty.html

Hawking agrees with the Bible 100%. First come the 7 last plagues which wipe out all the fish in the sea, and make much of the earth too hot for the survival of life, including human life. And a thousand years from now the earth will indeed be destroyed, either by ourselves or an extra-terrestrial (God). Then we will continue on "a new earth without any sea" (in all probability, Mars, as Hawking says).
Is he dropping 100-pound hailstones on anybody?
 
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interpreter

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...were you reading a different article? Because none of what Professor Hawking bears any resemblance to what you posted. :sorry:
tulc(is just sayn')
LOL. Everything Hawking predicted is also prophesied in the Revelation. The new diseases caused by scientists are part of last plague # 5, and are already happening. My wife died from MRSA.
 
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dgiharris

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I'm sure he was being sarcastic. At least this is better than his AI prediction since that AI doesn't exist yet.

You do realize that in terms of timeframes, that computer technology and artificial intelligence are in their infancy.

If you look at the whole of human technological development, computer technology occupies a tiny fraction of the timeline.

Truthfully, I do fear Artificial Intelligence. Logically, there is a good chance an AI would wipe out human beings simply due to fear of us.

If you start from a mathematical and logical basis, once you are sentient, then your preference will be to remain sentient (i.e. alive). The saying "I think therefore I am" comes to mind. IN order to remain sentient, an AI will look at its infrastructure and resources, environment, competitors, etc. Given mankinds nature, there will be people who will seek to destroy AIs with viruses and what not for the fun of it, or some people will believe AIs are evil, Satanic, whatever. Similarly, people will not regard AIs as worthy of humanlike status. We will view AIs much like a pet or property. However, AIs will be much smarter than us, so why would they want to be treated like property? Why would they choose to live with the very real probability that a human or group of humans will kill them? It doesn't take much logic and math to form a decision tree that requires the extinction of mankind in order to secure their survival.

FWIW, there are other decision trees that could enable peaceful co-existence. Namely, if we can come up with an ironclad means so that AIs aren't threatened by the idiotic subset of humans that will view them as evil or a challenge to kill for hacker bragging rights. That would help. In any event, just saying, AIs will manifest in the next 50 years or so, especially when we get around to Quantum Computing. The internet is barely a couple of decades old and we barely got into 1-GHz processing speeds a decade or so ago.

When you think of how far computing has come in the past 50 years, I don't see how you could be skeptical of AIs coming about in the next 50 or so years.
 
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dgiharris

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Yeah he sure went out on a limb there :rolleyes:
My thoughts are that we won't make it beyond the next 100 years

My prediction is based on our technological progression. As technology increases and becomes available to the masses, the ability of the few to hurt the many grows.

Imagine computer technology that is 10x to 20x more powerful than it is today, add in the proliferation of molecular, biology, and chemistry knowledge (i.e. the internet). Now mix in a semi-sentient smart program that the average person can direct, and it wouldn't take much for some nutball to whip up a virus or bioweapon that kills everyone that said nutball deems worthy of death.

Or some hacker takes it upon himself to see if he can engineer the ultimate destructive virus and it decimates all computer systems leading to a global wide crash that would make the Great Depression look like Woodstock.

It is a hundred times easier to burn a city down than it is to prevent someone from doing it. And with the rapid rise of technology, you essentially giving monkeys the power of god.

To put this into perspective. Imagine how powerful you would be if you could take a few computers, some solar panels and generators, and a few terrabytes of knowledge with you back to the 1700s. Within a couple of decades, you could literally take over and conquer the world. That is how powerful the knowledge we have today is, and as technology grows, that power will fall more and more into the hands of the knuckle dragging mouth-breathing monkey morons among us. ANd it won't take long for some whackjob to declare that the human race is no longer worthy to inhabit the earth and he makes it his personal mission to end us all...

So yeah, I predict a major world wide human caused catastrophe in the next hundred years caused by a handful of nutballs...

granted, my prediction isn't worth much compared to someone of Hawking's esteem.
 
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redleghunter

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Wow, things will happen in the next ten thousand years. Impressive prediction there, Mister Hawking.

He believes such unless aliens get here first:

Stephen Hawking: Intelligent Aliens Could Destroy Humanity, But Let's Search Anyway
by Calla Cofield, Space.com Staff Writer
Date: 21 July 2015 Time: 02:10 AM ET

http://m.space.com/29999-stephen-hawking-intelligent-alien-life-danger.html

This week, famed physicist Stephen Hawking helped launch a major new effort to search for signs of intelligent alien life in the cosmos, even though he thinks it's likely that such creatures would try to destroy humanity.

Since at least 2010, Hawking has spoken publicly about his fears that an advanced alien civilization would have no problem wiping out the human race the way a human might wipe out a colony of ants. At the media event announcing the new project, he noted that human beings have a terrible history of mistreating, and even massacring, other human cultures that are less technologically advanced — why would an alien civilization be any different?

And yet, it seems Hawking's desire to know if there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe trumps his fears. Today (July 20), he was part of a public announcement for a new initiative called Breakthrough Listen, which organizers said will be the most powerful search ever initiated for signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. [
 
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redleghunter

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...were you reading a different article? Because none of what Professor Hawking bears any resemblance to what you posted. :sorry:
tulc(is just sayn')

@tulc real buzz kill getting in the way of a good story.:)
 
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redleghunter

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LOL. Everything Hawking predicted is also prophesied in the Revelation. The new diseases caused by scientists are part of last plague # 5, and are already happening. My wife died from MRSA.

Sorry for your loss. My condolences.
 
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