Stephen Hawking Predicts Humans Won't Last Another 1,000 Years On Earth

Renowned British physicist and author Stephen Hawking has a dire prediction for humanity: We will not survive another millennium unless we colonize another planet. "I don't think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping beyond our fragile planet," Hawking said in remarks delivered at Sydney's Opera House last weekend. His addresses on Saturday and Sunday were his first in Australia, but were delivered via hologram from his office in Britain. We must continue to go into space “for the future of humanity,” he added. “I want to encourage public interest in space." Hawking has made similar comments in the past, suggesting that technological improvements in space travel could make colonizing a new planet feasible in the future. "Sooner or later disasters such as an asteroid collision or a nuclear war could wipe us all out," he told BBC radio in 2006. "But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe." In 2010, he said humanity's future "must be" in space. Hawking also answered several pre-submitted questions during his Sydney appearance, including a surprising one about Zayn Malik's departure from pop band One Direction. "Finally, a question about something important," he said. Hawking used the opportunity to share his thoughts on the possibility of multiple universes. "One day there may well be proof of multiple universes," he said. "It would not be beyond the realms of possibility that somewhere outside of our own universe lies another different universe. And in that universe, Zayn is still in One Direction." huffingtonpost