Stephen Hawking, the world's most influential scientist, said that with threats such as potential nuclear terrorism, climate change, and the rise of artificial intelligence potentially outcompeting humans, we are facing danger of extinction - unless we find another planet to live on.
"I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as a sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go to space," he said.
Artificial Intelligence May Overtake Human Beings
Hawking said that he believes artificial intelligence could destroy our society by overtaking humans. "Artificial intelligence is now progressing rapidly. Recent landmarks such as self-driving cars, or a computer winning at the game of Go, are signs of what is to come. Enormous levels of investment are pouring into this technology. The achievements we have seen so far will surely pale against what the coming decades will bring. It therefore follows that computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence - and exceed it," the scientist said.
It Is Going To Be A Scary Future For Our Children
The 74-year-old professor said that our future would be a robot where our children battle climate change. To save our children, we must look for new discoveries while saving the world.
"I don't think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet. There are a lot of children here and I would like to speak about what the future will be like when they are older. They have many things to look forward to such as the development of robots, driverless cars and computers that will win every game you play. They will also face many challenges such as climate change and the effect that this will have on the world. I am sure the next generation will rise to these challenges," Hawking told an audience at the Cambridge University's David Attenborough Building
