Acclaimed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has spoken out about the existential threats facing humanity. Best known for his work on general relativity and the mystery of black holes, Hawking has used his platform as the world’s most famous scientist to issue several stark warnings about humanity’s uncertain future, from global warming to devastating nuclear catastrophe. Many of these pitfalls stem from the constant push for technological advancement, and Hawking warned listeners of the dangers of artificial intelligence heading toward the singularity.
Hawking’s most dire warning came in a 2016 lecture at Oxford University, in which he claimed, “While the likelihood of a catastrophe on Earth in a given year may be quite low, the likelihood increases over time and is almost certain in the next 1,000 or 10,000 years” (via The Christian Science Monitor). This prediction is abstract compared to our own lives, but firmly and dauntingly within the confines of human history. Hawking combined this prediction with a potential saving grace, positing: “By then we should have spread into space and other stars, so catastrophe on Earth does not mean the end of humanity.”
In many ways, doomsday predictions and the solutions to match them illustrate the somewhat perverse rhetoric that characterizes much of the current space race. Billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have repeated similar sentiments, both in terms of the certainty of Earth’s demise and the prescription for interstellar travel as a necessity. Of course, such predictions take the inevitability of said disaster for granted, potentially pushing potential world-saving solutions to the side in favor of contingency plans that are all but inevitable. Therefore, this may prove that humanity’s search for technological solutions is over before the next chapter is written. So, is Hawking’s statement correct?
Read more: This is how most life on Earth ends
The doomsday clock is ticking
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Safety Board Members Unveil Doomsday Clock 85 Seconds to Midnight – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Unfortunately, the scientist’s statement may actually be too farsighted. In January 2026, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock—a tool started by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and other nuclear scientists to communicate humanity’s imminent self-destruction, or “midnight”—made the scariest announcement in its 79-year history, when its Science and Safety Committee set the clock to “85 seconds to midnight.” By contrast, the communiqué’s most optimistic prediction was to delay the clock to 17 minutes after the Soviet Union and the United States signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) anti-proliferation treaty in 1991.
Throughout his life, Stephen Hawking was outspoken about many of the concerns that drove the Gazette’s 2026 statement. For example, the scientist considers climate catastrophe an existential threat, saying in a 2016 interview with the BBC that climate change is approaching a “tipping point” that “could push the planet to the brink of collapse” (via BBC). Climate scientists now point to a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as an ill-fated barometer that will never return. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, temperatures increased by 1.41 degrees Celsius in December 2025 and are expected to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius in March 2029.
Of course, a major driver of the world’s environmental crisis is the unbridled rise of resource-hungry artificial intelligence projects. However, Hawking forewarned of another threat posed by artificial intelligence, fearing the singularity, or when artificial intelligence will surpass human control. For its part, the communiqué adds artificial intelligence warfare, specifically biological weapons, as a potential threat. Likewise, both sides have warned of the dangers of nuclear proliferation. In 2017, for example, Hawking told The Times that humans needed to quell their “innate aggressive instincts” before they could “destroy us all through nuclear or biological warfare.”
Is space the solution?
Stephen Hawking in a wheelchair, standing in front of a projection of Earth in space. -Countess Jemal/Getty Images
At the heart of both doomsday declarations are complex economic, environmental and security challenges that require international cooperation to address. Unfortunately, the Bulletin’s 2026 report is pessimistic about this possibility, noting that rising nationalism, weakening international cooperation, and increasing “winner-take-all great power competition” increase the “risk of nuclear war, climate change, misuse of biotechnology, potential threats from artificial intelligence, and other apocalyptic dangers.”
Nowhere is this more evident than in Hawking’s forbidden doomsday solution: space. Washington, Beijing, Moscow and the world’s largest companies are intensifying the race for space resources as NASA plans to deorbit the International Space Station. For example, lunar infrastructure, from nuclear power plants to research centers and mining facilities, has attracted widespread attention. The global space program also seeks to populate Earth’s orbit with satellite constellations, data centers and missile networks. Many of these projects, like the Trump administration’s Golden Dome, add to growing proliferation concerns as the world’s major nuclear treaties are set to expire. Then there’s artificial intelligence; the United States is developing plans to respond to China’s lead in the AI race, leading to a massive consolidation of financial, environmental, and technological resources that is more likely to exacerbate these problems than solve them.
As the world recognizes Hawking’s many concerns, attention needs to turn to addressing them directly. While climate change and nuclear proliferation are daunting, they are solvable problems with viable solutions that are more achievable and more equitable than large-scale space colonization. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that reorienting space will address the underlying threats that prompted mass migration in the first place. All in all, countering Hawking’s predictions will require immediate, broad-based collaborative solutions that are currently lacking on the international stage. Hawking ultimately remained optimistic, telling The Times, “I think humanity will rise to meet these challenges.” Hopefully he’s right.
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