霍金警告:600年後地球將變成“火球”

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking has issued yet another warning for Earth and this time, he says we have less than 600 years before the Earth turns into a sizzling fireball.

著名物理學家史蒂芬?霍金又發佈了一條末日警告，這一次他預言，600年內我們的地球將變成一團火球。

Hawking says that if we don’t leave Earth soon, overpopulation will increase energy consumption and pretty much kill us all.

霍金聲稱，如果人類不盡快離開地球，人口過多會加劇能源消耗，並導致人類滅絕。

But Hawking has a plan. Speaking at the Tencent WE Summit in Beijing, Hawking appealed to investors to back his plans to travel to Alpha Centauri. At around 4 light-years away, it’s the closest star system to our sun.

但霍金也有對策。他在北京的騰訊WE大會上發言時，請投資者們資助他前往半人馬座α星的太空項目。半人馬座距離太陽約4光年，是離太陽最近的恆星系。

The venture is called Breakthrough Starshot and it would use a tiny spacecraft that travels at the speed of light.

這個探險項目名爲“突破攝星”，將開發和使用以光速旅行的納米小型太空飛船。

Such a system could reach Mars in less than an hour, or reach Pluto in days, pass Voyager in under a week and reach Alpha Centauri in just over 20 years.

這種飛船可以在不到一個小時的時間內到達火星，幾天內即可到達冥王星，不到一週就能經過“旅行者”號探測器，並可在20多年後到達半人馬座α星。

"Maybe if all goes well, sometime a little after the middle of the century, we'll have our first picture of another planet that may be life-bearing orbiting the nearest star," Pete Worden, the former head at NASA’s AMES Research Center and Starshot Breakthrough director, said at the summit.

“突破攝星”項目負責人、曾任美國宇航局艾姆斯研究中心主任的皮特?沃登在大會上說：“如果一切進展順利的話，也許在本世紀中葉後不久，我們就可以收到從半人馬座發回的第一張行星照片，這顆圍繞最近恆星運轉的行星上可能會有生命。”

The physicist told WIRED magazine he believes artificial intelligence will eventually become so advanced it will essentially be a "new form of life that will outperform humans."

霍金告訴《連線》雜誌說，他認爲人工智能最終會非常先進，成爲“超越人類的一種新生命形式”。

"I believe there is no deep difference between what can be achieved by a biological brain and what can be achieved by a computer."

“我認爲，生物的大腦所獲得的智慧，與計算機所能獲得的智慧，並無本質區別。”

"It therefore follows that computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence - and exceed it."

“因此，理論上，計算機可以模擬人類智慧並超越它。”

"Alongside the benefits, AI will also bring dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many."

“除了造福人類，人工智能也會帶來危險，比如強大的自主武器，或是少數人用來壓迫多數人的新工具。”

"And in the future, AI could develop a will of its own - a will that is in conflict with ours."

“而且，在未來，人工智能還可能發展出自己的意識——和人類的意志相沖突的意識。”

Stephen Hawking has revealed he strongly believes in aliens and warned that Earth could be at risk from an invasion.

霍金透露說，他堅信外星人的存在，並警告地球可能會受到外星人的進攻。

"I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet."

“在我的想象中，外星人住在巨大的飛船中，因爲他們已經用盡了母星上的所有資源。”

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach."

“這些來自外星的高級生命體可能到處漂流，尋找並征服任何他們能到達的星球，將其變爲自己的殖民地。”

It would be "too risky" to attempt to make contact with alien races, he concluded.

霍金總結道，試圖和外星人取得聯繫“風險太大了”。

"If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans."

“如果有一天外星人來拜訪我們，我認爲結局會和哥倫布登陸美洲一樣，對印第安人並不是什麼好事。”

The scientist said that most alien life is likely to consist of small animals or microbes in planets, stars or floating in space.

霍金說，大多數外星生命應該都是行星、恆星上或漂浮在太空中的小動物或微生物。

Hawking said it's not likely that scientists will find intelligent alien life in the next 20 years.

不過霍金表示，未來20年內，科學家不大可能尋找到有智慧的外星生命。

"I don't think we will survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet." Professor Stephen Hawking has warned.

霍金警告說：“如果不逃離這個脆弱的星球，我認爲人類無法再存活1000年。”

"We face a number of threats: nuclear war, global warming and genetically engineered viruses," said Prof Hawking, speaking to the Radio Times.

霍金告訴《Radio Times》雜誌說：“我們面臨許多威脅：核戰爭、全球變暖和轉基因病毒。”

"Although the chance of a disaster on planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, becoming a near certainty in the next thousand or ten thousand years."

“儘管地球在某一年發生災難的機率較低，但放在歲月長河中看，地球在未來1000年或者1萬年內發生災難幾乎是肯定無疑的。”

"By that time we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so it would not mean the end of the human race."

“如果在那之前我們可以向太空擴張，移居到其他星球，那麼地球的滅頂之災不意味着人類的滅絕。”

"However, we will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period."

“但是，至少在未來幾百年內，我們不可能在太空上建立可自給自足的殖民地，所以在這段時間內我們必須十分小心。”

Stephen Hawking has said he believes brains could exist independently of the body, but that the idea of a conventional afterlife is a fairy tale.

霍金表示，他認爲大腦可以脫離身體獨立存在，但俗世觀念中的來生只是個童話。

Speaking at the premiere of a documentary film about his life, the theoretical physicist said: "I think the brain is like a program in the mind, which is like a computer, so it's theoretically possible to copy the brain on to a computer and so provide a form of life after death.

在記錄其一生的紀錄片首映禮上，霍金說：“我認爲大腦就像是電腦中的程序，從理論上來說，大腦是可以複製到電腦上，從而在死後繼續存在的。”

"However, this is way beyond our present capabilities. I think the conventional afterlife is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark."

“不過，以我們目前的能力還遠遠做不到。我認爲俗世觀念中的來世只是個童話，是爲了安慰那些怕黑的人。”