Stephen Hawking Makes Urgent Call for Humanity to Leave Earth or Face Extinction
Stephen Hawking warns that humans must leave Earth and colonize another planet within the next few hundred years or face extinction. The world's smartest man makes the prediction in a new BBC documentary called "Expedition New Earth" where he lays down arguments supporting his premise.
Hawking presents several scenarios that endanger humanity including climate change, asteroid strikes, solar radiation, epidemics and population growth. These factors make humanity at great risk of mass extinction that they need to become multi-planetary species to ensure their survival.
Where can humans go? His best bet is on Mars. Hawking explores the latest advances in astronomy, biology and rocket technology that will make it possible for humans to live on the Red Planet. The program seeks to prove his theory "isn't fantastical as it sounds."
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For years, Hawking has declared that humanity's future lies in colonizing space. He spoke two weeks ago at the Starmus Festival, a scientific conference in Trondheim, Norway where he cited several reasons like nuclear war and genetically engineered viruses for escaping Earth.
According to the renowned astrophysicist, humans have outstripped the planet of its resources with nowhere left to explore and the destruction is now felt through climate change."The Earth is becoming too small for us, our physical resources are being drained at an alarming rate," he added.
But Hawking's most rational argument was mankind's inherent nature to explore. With only a few places on Earth left to explore, he explained that the only option left for man is to keep going beyond the solar system. "There is no utopia around the corner, we are running out of space and the only places to go to are other worlds," he said.
"Columbus did in 1492 when he discovered the new world, but now there is no new world," he added. "There is no utopia around the corner, we are running out of space and the only places to go to are other worlds," Hawking went on to say. He concluded by saying that man has no choice but to leave Earth.
