Stephen Hawking Says Humans Need to Leave Earth Within Next Century

by Aleks SimeonovaMay 6, 2017, 6:32 pmNews, News Feed >

Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking says that humans have to colonize a new planet in the next 100 years to avoid catastrophe.

Professor Hawking has recently finished filming a new documentary called Expedition New Earth for the BBC in which he theorises that humans needs to escape Earth.

Nuclear war, overpopulation, climate change, disease, and artificial intelligence are cited as the potential reasons for colonizing a new planet.

The documentary is part of a series called Tomorrow’s World, which was originally shown on the BBC 38 years ago.

“Professor Stephen Hawking thinks the human species will have to populate a new planet within 100 years if it is to survive,” the BBC said with a notable absence of punctuation marks in a statement posted online. “With climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly precarious.”

In November last year, the astrophysicist said he believes humans have 1,000 years left on the planet. He now believes our window is even smaller than that. However, he has always been for the expansion of space travel and exploration. “We must . . . continue to go into space for the future of humanity,” he said in a speech at Oxford University last November.