STEPHEN Hawking helped revolutionise theoretical physics while also predicting time travel and warning against the threat of a robot apocalypse.
In his ground-breaking book A Brief History of Time, Professor Hawking discussed how travelling at the speed of light could propel humans into the future.
This is based on the Albert Einstein’s Theory of Special Relatively, published in 1905, in which an object moving at the speed of light would experience time slowing down.
Oxford-born genius Hawking, who died today aged 76, echoed the movie franchise Back to the Future in predicting that a person moving fast would see their clock slowing down while time would stay the same for people who were moving normally.
Prof Stephen Hawking: “Time travel was once considered scientific heresy. I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a crank. But these days I’m not so cautious. In fact, I am obsessed by time.”
He also believed that wormholes could act as cosmic highways – transporting humans from one point in space to another instantly.
This idea was theorized in 1916 and was again developed from Einstein’s relatively theory.
One of Hawking’s most startling predictions was that, much like in the terrifying Terminator films, artificial intelligence could “destroy” the human race.
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Speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon last year, Hawking said: “We cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it.
“AI could be the worst invention of the history of our civilisation, that brings dangers like powerful autonomous weapons or new ways for the few to oppress the many.”
“AI could develop a will of its own, a will that is in conflict with ours and which could destroy us. In short, the rise of powerful AI will be either the best, or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity.”
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