Stephen Hawking: Threats to human survival likely from new science

Physicist Stephen Hawking has warned that new technologies will likely bring about “new ways things can go wrong” for human survival.

When asked how the world will end, Hawking said that increasingly, most of the threats humanity faces come from progress made in science and technology. He says they include nuclear war, catastrophic global warming and genetically engineered viruses.

But the University of Cambridge professor added that a disaster on Earth a “near certainty” in the next 1,000 to 10,000 years will not spell the end of humanity because by that time humans are likely to have spread out into space.

Hawking made the comments while recording the BBC’s annual Reith Lectures on Jan 7. His lecture will be broadcast on Jan 26 and Feb 2.