One of the world's most well-known theoretical physicists, Stephen Hawking,
who passed away seven months ago, had issued a warning against a new race of
"superhumans" created through genetic engineering that may destroy humanity
from beyond the grave.
Following his passing in March at the age of 76, the British author of the
seminal "A Brief History of Time," who was infamous for frequently denying
the possibility of time travel, made one last prediction about terrifying
superhumans in a final collection of articles and essays that will be
published the following week.
There will undoubtedly be significant political issues with unaffected
individuals, who won't be able to compete, Hawking wrote, "as soon as such
superhumans arrive."
They are likely to disappear or stop being useful.
Instead, there will be a race of self-designing creatures that are
improving at an ever-increasing rate, said the researcher, who had an
electric motor neurone disease that had almost rendered him completely
paralyzed for most of his life.
The collection of articles he referred to as "the vast inquiry" was still
being prepared for publication as a book on Tuesday.
Hawking says in "Quick Answers to the Big Questions" that wealthy
individuals will soon have the option to choose to change their own and
their children's DNA in order to create superhumans with improved memory,
condition resistance, intelligence, and even extended life.
People would learn how to alter both IQ and emotional responses like anger
over this century, he said.
Regulations against human genetic alteration are likely to be passed.
However, some individuals won't be able to resist the desire to enhance
human qualities like memory, resilience to disease, and length of life, he
adds.
Hawking's idea makes reference to methods like Crispr, a DNA-editing device
that enables researchers to introduce new genes or modify hazardous
ones.
It was just created six years ago, yet it is now in use all around the
world. Many scientists applauded Hawking's predictions as a way to prevent
the destruction of Earth.
According to Chris Rapley, professor of environment scientific research at
College London, "human beings have actually probably reached a defining
moment."
We are now altering the world's actual metabolic process on a global scale
rather than just impacting it on a local level.
All indications point to the fact that we are unable to overcome the issue
due to the limitations of our intellect, both individually and
collectively.
This makes the future seem quite bleak, he said.
The Stephen Hawking Foundation and John Murray Publishers will offer
Hawking's last body of work next week in the form of a "Brief Answer to the
Large Questions."
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