Hawking made the comments at the British Science Museum, while he was giving a tour for a Californian woman, Adaeze Uyanwah, who had defeated 10,000 entrants from around the world in a competition for a special trip to London as the guest of various celebrities.
She won the visit after creating a blog and video which described a “perfect day” in the British capital. She will also visit the Royal Opera House accompanied by Spanish opera singer Plácido Domingo and British ballerina Darcey Bussell.
The Mail Online reported that during the visit, Uyanwah, asked Professor Hawking what human flaws he would change and which characteristics he would emphasize instead. He replied,
“The human failing I would most like to correct is aggression. It may have had survival advantage in caveman days, to get more food, territory or a partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all.”
Hawking focused on the menace of nuclear war. “A major nuclear war” he predicted, “would be the end of civilization, and maybe the end of the human race.”
Instead, Stephen Hawking called on people to be more caring and understanding. The Independent quoted Hawking as saying,
“The quality I would most like to magnify is empathy. It brings us together in a peaceful loving state,” he said.
Following his statement, he went on to say that populating space was our only option, calling it “life insurance” for the human race.
“I believe that the long term future of the human race must be space and that it represents an important life insurance for our future survival, as it could prevent the disappearance of humanity by colonising other planets.”
“Sending humans to the moon,” he continued, “changed the future of the human race in ways that we don’t yet understand.”
‘It hasn’t solved any of our immediate problems on planet Earth,” he added, “but it has given us new perspectives on them and caused us to look both outward and inward.”
RT reported that Uyanwah said the chance to meet the professor was amazing.
“It’s incredible to think that decades from now, when my grandchildren are learning Stephen Hawking’s theories in science class, I’ll be able to tell them I had a personal meeting with him and heard his views first hand. It’s something I’ll never forget.” she said.
