Renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking recently said that disaster on Earth is almost guaranteed to happen in the next thousand or ten thousand years, with factors such as nuclear war and global warming all posing threats to the existence of the human race, according to the Telegraph.
"We face a number of threats: nuclear war, global warming and genetically engineered viruses," Hawking told the Radio Times. "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."
Interestingly, the biggest danger that he stressed was the rapid developments in science and technology and claims that the only chance of survival will likely be our colonizing of other planets in the solar system.
"Most of the threats we face come from the progress we've made in science and technology," said Hawking. "We are not going to stop making progress, or reverse it, so we must recognize the dangers and control them. I'm an optimist, and I believe we can."
Hawking, who turned 74 earlier this month, claims that his hope for life dwindled after he learned that he was suffering from a motor neuron disease at age 21, according to The Guardian, but claims that now, over 50 years since his diagnosis, he realizes that his condition was not a handicap in the areas of life that he valued most, such as theoretical physics. Furthermore, he believes that humor is one of the most important things for keeping positive spirits.
"It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can lose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general," he said.
