Stephen Hawking: Human Aggression Could End Civilization; Space Exploration is Vital

Professor Stephen Hawking believes aggression threatens civilization and that our ability to explore space is crucial to the survival of the human race, the Daily Mail reported on Friday.

Hawking revealed his perspectives while escorting Adaeze Uyanwah, 24, a teacher and creative writer from Palmdale, California, who won a tour of London's Science Museum after creating a blog and video on what could be a "perfect day" in the U.K. capital.

Answering a question raised by Uyanwah on what human failures need to be changed and which virtues need to be improved on, the 73-year-old Hawking said aggression should be replaced by empathy to avoid a major nuclear war that would end civilization.

"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 partner with whom to reproduce, but now it threatens to destroy us all," he said.

"A major nuclear war would be the end of civilization, and maybe the end of the human race," he warned.

"The quality I would most like to magnify is empathy. It brings us together in a peaceful, loving state," the theoretical physicist said.

Hawking also said human space exploration is "life insurance" for the human race and should be continued. "Sending humans to the moon changed the future of the human race in ways that we don't yet understand," the professor told Uyanwah.

"It hasn't solved any of our immediate problems on planet Earth, but it has given us new perspectives on them and caused us to look both outward and inward.

"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 colonizing other planets," Hawking said.

Uyanwah bested over 10,000 contestants worldwide to win The Guest of Honour competition, which was organized by VisitLondon.com.

"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.

In December last year, Hawking warned that artificial intelligence could pose a threat to the human race. "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race," the famed physicist told BBC.