In his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, legendary astrophysicist Stephen Hawking had stated that God's existence might be possible as the creator stating that if we can discover a complete theory of the universe, we might be able to know the mind of God.
However, in his final book, Brief Answers To The Big Questions, published on Tuesday posthumously, the professor is certain that there is no god or afterlife and, most certainly, there is no place called heaven. Stephen Hawking's rare and unseen pics are here.
Shortly before Professor Stephen Hawking passed away, he had started working on the answers to ten basic questions that people had asked him most frequently, including "Is there God?", "Is time travel possible?" and so on. Brief Answers To The Big Questions comes across as the postscript of A Brief History of Time.
Professor Hawking has not only talked about the god in his last book but also about the superhumans and artificial intelligence as well and it appears that his last warning to mankind is rather dire.
In the book, the scientist warns the humans that artificial intelligence or AI could become "huge" in terms of improving the quality of human life, so long as it's properly supervised and restricted. "While primitive forms of artificial intelligence developed so far have proved very useful, I fear the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded," reads an excerpt of the book.
He also talked about manipulating the DNA or "self-designed evolution," as he calls it in the book. While it might sound like a dystopian world from a sci-fi movie; it's true that Hawking mentions that rich and influential people may opt for genetic editing and turn themselves into "superhumans," who will eventually rule the world and, perhaps, the universe.
"Once such superhumans appear, there will be significant political problems with unimproved humans, who won't be able to compete. Presumably, they will die out, or become unimportant. Instead, there will be a race of self-designing beings who are improving at an ever-increasing rate," mentions the book.
Stephen Hawking does mention, in his book, that the initial stages of DNA manipulation are going to be beneficiary, as it would be able to cure many diseases. However, gradually the humans "won't be able to resist the temptation to improve human characteristics, such as memory, resistance to disease and length of life," predicts the legendary astrophysicist. He also adds that this kind of technological feats will be achieved by the end of this century but will only be available to the rich.
"If the human race manages to redesign itself, it will probably spread out and colonize other planets and stars," he writes.
When Professor Stephen Hawking talks, you listen. There is no way that people are going to take this any less seriously than they are supposed to. So, the picture that he paints in the book of the future world includes a lot of chaos. However, while Professor Stephen Hawking and the likes of him can predict and see the future of this world; we can only wait and hope.
