Stephen Hawking made an extraordinary prediction about the world's end.
It's not something you want to think about but the reality is that the world and everything we know will come to an end one day.
One of the most accomplished and prestigious scientists of all time, the astrophysicist once made a harrowing prediction about humanity's future if we were to continue on our current trajectory.
When Hawking spoke, people listened, and the Brit was never shy to make predictions about the future, though this may be one of his most chilling claims.
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The Theory of Everything author spoke about what may cause the Earth to end during a summit held in November 2017, just a year before his passing.
Apparently, our grisly end is set to come in just under 600 years, as he mentioned population growth and energy consumption as factors that could transform our planet into a 'giant ball of fire' unless we make changes now.
The former University of Cambridge mathematician explained that because the world's population up to that point was doubling every 40 years, our impending doom.
Speaking at the Tencent WE Summit, he said: This exponential growth cannot continue into the next millennium.
“By the year 2600, the world’s population would be standing shoulder to shoulder, and the electricity consumption would make the Earth glow red-hot.
“This is untenable,” the black hole specialist stated in his iconic computer-generated voice.
It was first believed that NASA backed this point up, though a spokesperson would point out to Newsweek: "NASA has not made this claim."
Despite not backing Hawking's exact words, the space agency has long worried about global threats to humanity, adding that their 50+ years of work has provided information which will benefit humanity.
They explained that they have produced 'observations that can only be gathered in space that address some of the areas that Hawking mentioned'.
It's now been eight years since his claims but if you're thinking it's too late, this is what the physics icon had to say to the BBC in 2016: "Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or 10,000 years."
Speaking about issues such as climate change, the greenhouse effect, and global warming, Hawking said these would lead us to the end.
Unfortunately, humanity hasn't changed much in the years since Hawking's death, though he said that the threat of nuclear war, development of AI and pandemics could push us closer to the edge.
Well that sounds like... the world today.
Topics: Stephen Hawking, Science, Global Warming
Joshua Nair