Stephen Hawking, known as the preeminent theoretical physicist of Einstein' post-Einstein era, was born on January 8, 1942, the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death.
On March 14, 2018, a spokesman for the Hawking family said Hawking died at the age of 76.
Hawking's life is very legendary, when he was 21 years old, he suffered from a rare frostbite (ALS), most of his life was entangled in the disease, almost paralyzed, he sat in a wheelchair for decades, relying on the few fingers that could move to communicate with people.
When Hawking was diagnosed with frostbite, doctors thought he would not live to his 25th birthday because most of the patients with the disease were discovered after the age of 50 and died of the disease within 5 years of diagnosis.
Hawking not only miraculously survived the terrible curse of frostbite for more than half a century, becoming one of the most famous physicists of our time, but also had three children with his wife, Jane Wilderd.
Hawking, who devoted his life to exploring the mysteries of the universe, repeatedly challenged the human imagination with his amazing predictions, so what jaw-dropping prophecies did he make during his lifetime?
Hawking prophecy one: Artificial intelligence may lead to the demise of mankind
Hawking, who is accompanied by a wheelchair, after losing his language ability, the only tool to communicate with people is a computer sound synthesizer, although Hawking's life is inseparable from artificial intelligence, but he is very worried about the unlimited development of artificial intelligence.
Hawking believes that artificial intelligence can solve most of the world's problems, including human diseases, social problems, etc., but the unlimited development of AI by humans, if not properly deployed, once out of control, will threaten the survival of human beings.
Hawking claimed that in the next 100 years, humanity will face the challenge of smarter artificial intelligence than itself, smart machines can replace the jobs that humans are doing, and quickly eliminate millions of jobs.
As a result, human beings are limited by evolution and will not be able to compete with it, and he believes that the development of artificial intelligence needs to be controlled, and if it does not work exactly according to human consciousness, it may lead to the demise of human beings.
Hawking Prophecy II: "Aliens" may exist
On April 25, 2010, the "Discovery" channel in the United States broadcast a series of popular science documentaries "Understanding the Universe with Hawking", in which Hawking proposed that aliens could exist.
Hawking came to the mathematical point of view of the existence of aliens, arguing that the universe has 100 billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of millions of stars, the universe is so large that Earth cannot be the only planet with life.
Hawking was very worried about the safety of humans, claiming that "aliens" may not be friendly, and repeatedly warned humans not to provoke them, let alone take the initiative to greet them.
Hawking explained: "If aliens visit Earth, the consequences will be very similar to when Columbus arrived in the Americas, which is not a good thing for the Native Americans at that time." ”
Since it is currently impossible to know exactly what form extraterrestrial life exists, Hawking reminded humans not to try to contact these beings, and the result could be catastrophic for humans, and aliens may attack Earth and plunder Earth's resources and then rise up.
Hawking Prophecy Three: Humanity faces an existential crisis
Hawking was pessimistic about human reason and the forces of nature that were difficult to disobey, believing that humans could not survive to the next millennium.
He believes that mankind will face a severe existential crisis in the future, and the earth will become a place unsuitable for all animals due to nuclear war, greenhouse effect or environmental pollution.
Hawking said that if humans want to survive, they must migrate to other planets.
Hawking Prophecy IV: The earth will become a burning ball of fire
Hawking said: "Humanity has entered an increasingly dangerous period, experiencing many events of life and death. Because human genes carry the genetic code of 'selfishness and greed', human beings are plundering the earth more and more, and the earth's resources are being depleted little by little..."
As the earth's population grows, energy consumption will increase, and the earth will eventually be unbearable, and it will be destroyed within 1,000 years when a catastrophe turns into a burning fireball.
Hawking also stressed again that humans can't put all their eggs in one basket, and the best way is to explore the possibility of humans living on other planets, and if they move to space within 200 years, they may be able to avoid disaster.
Hawking predicted five: Genetically modified technology will bring devastating disasters to mankind
Hawking believes that the biological rather than physical fields will pose the greatest challenge to humanity, and unlike nuclear weapons research, which require huge facilities, but the research work on genetic modifications can be done in a small laboratory.
Humanity cannot control all the laboratories in the world, and the dangers we may encounter in the future are: either by chance or by deliberate, we ourselves have one day created a virus that will destroy humanity.
Hawking Prophecy Six: Humanity will eventually be able to travel through time
Hawking believed that there were small holes or cracks in everything in the universe, and so did time.
He called the narrow tunnels that exist in the universe connecting two different space-time holes (space-time holes), and one day in the future humans may be able to capture a wormhole and enlarge it enough for humans or even spaceships to pass through.
But Hawking warned: Even if time travel can be achieved in the future, never go back to the past, otherwise it will disrupt the structure of time, and the consequences are unimaginable.
Three prophecies are being staged
While many of Hawking's remarks are quite surprising, we have to admit at this time that three prophecies are playing out.
The safety of genetically modified products is of increasing concern, not only as a scientific issue, but also as a social one.
Artificial intelligence is developing at a crazy speed, some people even let artificial intelligence control their lives, from a smart phone to a factory automation equipment, the world today is full of a large number of unemployment, and even invented a "robot wife"...
For the future of the earth, Hawking said that disasters include war, resource depletion, overpopulation, etc., which are all expanding threats.
With the deterioration of the environment, the continuous consumption of resources, overpopulation and other issues becoming more and more prominent, how many years the earth can still carry human beings is indeed unknown, and the survival of human beings is facing severe challenges.
No matter what, what we can do now is to protect the earth on which we live, be kind to the earth, and be kind to life!