He said these things at a press conference upon arriving in Hong Kong ahead of a lecture today at the University of Hong Kong. * Hawking received a rock star reception * Considers writing a children's book
The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe, due to the ever-increasing risk that some disaster will destroy the planet. This is what world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said in a speech in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Humans can build a permanent colony on the moon within 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years. Hawking said at a press conference.
"We won't find a planet as comfortable as Earth anywhere unless we end up in another star system," said Hawking, who arrived in Hong Kong on Monday and received a rock star welcome. Tickets for his scheduled lecture on Wednesday are already sold out.
He added that if humans can avoid killing themselves in the next hundred years, they need to establish space colonies that can continue to exist without support from Earth.
"It is essential that the human race spread into space for the survival of the species," says Hawking. "Life on Earth is at an increasing risk of extinction in catastrophes such as global warming, nuclear war, genetically modified viruses and other dangers we have not even thought of yet.
The 64-year-old scientist, author of the multi-volume book "A Brief History of Time" is confined to a wheelchair and functions with the aid of a computer due to the ALS disease from which he suffers.
Hawking also said that he is teaming up with his daughter to write a children's book about the universe aimed at children of the ages that the Harry Potter books appeal to.
