Stephen Hawking was perhaps one of the most brilliant men who ever lived. His entire life was an act of courage when you think of how he not only beat the odds of Lou Gehrig’s disease, but also beat the odds of how much one man could accomplish in his life.
Sadly, Hawking passed in 2018, but his memory and his brilliance live on. One thing that Hawking did do within the time he had on this planet, was speculating as to some of the ways our planet could end up meeting its own demise. He had six theories on how this could happen, one of which was made around the time of his death. Below, I will cover six of those theories.
1. Global Warming.
Climate change is a great threat to us, and Hawking believed that as well. He stated that we are close to the tipping point of no return. “We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. Trump’s action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees, and raining sulfuric acid,” he explained to BBC.
2. AI takeover.
Many great scientific minds believe that AI will be detrimental to our universe. “The genie is out of the bottle. We need to move forward on artificial intelligence development, but we also need to be mindful of its real dangers,” Hawking commented in 2017. “I fear that AI may replace humans altogether. If people design computer viruses, someone will design AI that replicates itself. This will be a new form of life that will outperform humans.”
3. Genetically modified vaccines.
Vaccines have been a topic of a massive controversy over the years. Many of our current medicines are a combination of human and cow DNA. However, Hawking warned against this, because he believed it could entirely alter humanity as we know it.
4. Alien invasion.
While many of us joke about aliens, Hawking warned that if aliens came, it may not end well for us. “If Aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.”
5. The end of the universe.
Hawking’s last work was called ” A Smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation,” which predicted the end of the Universe. Not only did it predict the end, but it also stated that it was likely going to happen sooner rather than later. His theory was that our stars would run out of energy, resulting in eternal darkness.
6. Nuclear weapons
Hawking was a proponent of nuclear weapons and made his stance very clear. Not only did he believe they were terrible for the environment, but he also believed that they could end the world. He continued to stand by this until the day he died.