Stephen Hawking has been in the news again of late, his comments about humans being 100 years or so from extinction setting tongues wagging.

Now he has clarified what he really meant, backtracking a little on just how impending human doom and gloom may really be. As it turns out he thinks that we may be living elsewhere within 100 years, although here’s Mashable with his full account:

Hawking said the the Earth faces a number of dangers including nuclear war, global warming and genetically engineered viruses, but believes that the threat of a widespread disaster is some time off — likely 1,000 or 10,000 years away.

By that time, he thinks humans will be spread out across space, meaning that what may seem like a doomsday scenario now might not be the end of the human race. By Hawking’s estimation, we’re 100 years away from going interstellar, or living in space, so we need to be mindful about not destroying our planet in the interim.

“Most of the threats we face come from the progress we’ve made in science and technology. We’re not going to stop making progress, or reverse it, so we must recognise the dangers and control them,” he said. “I’m an optimist and I believe we can.”

I’ve seen The Martian, I think a stint on Mars may go a long way to ridding the gene pool of some inferior intellect.

[source:mashable]