The man who once explained the origins of the universe now has a theory about what might cause the whole thing — or at least humankind’s role in it — to come to an end.
Us. Because we’re a**holes and show no signs of changing.
During an appearance on Larry King Now, Stephen Hawking told the CNN host that human beings have not really improved all that much since the pair last spoke six years ago. “We certainly have not become less greedy or less stupid,” Hawking told King. “Six years ago I was warning about pollution and overcrowding — they have gotten worse since then.”
He went on to say the population has risen by half a billion people in the last six years and will hit 11 billion by 2100 if it continues to increase at the current rate. During roughly the same time span, air pollution has gone up eight percent.
In addition to humankind’s stupidity, Hawking cautioned that we may eventually be threatened by our own creations, specifically A.I.-equipped machines. “Once machines reach the critical stage of being able to evolve themselves, we cannot predict whether their goals will be the same as ours,” he said.
But at least this so-called “theory” isn’t coming from the guy wrote the entire history of the universe or anything.
Image via 20th Century Fox
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
