Stephen Hawking just gave a pretty scary prediction of how long humans have left on Earth

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GERMANY - OCTOBER 16: Stephen William HAWKING, English physicist and cosmologist, Since 1979 Lukasischer professor at the faculty applied mathematics and theoretical physics in Cambridge / Great Britain. (Photo by Ulrich Baumgarten via Getty Images)

Articles from YahooNews

Leave it to renowned physicist Stephen Hawking to be the bearer of incredibly interesting yet wildly depressing news about the state of the world. In his forthcoming documentary for BBC, Expedition New Earth, Hawking predicts that planet Earth will only survive for the next 100 years. In other words, the world as we know it will be gone in the next century.

This new documentary is all about the possibilities of life on Mars. Even more than that, it’s about colonizing Mars. Hawking has been talking about making Mars our new home for quite some time now. He thinks it’s more urgent than ever to consider an alternative planet, or as he calls it, “Planet B.”

Hawking is so serious about this claim that the BBC made a statement about it.

“Professor Stephen Hawking thinks the human species will have to populate a new planet within 100 years if it is to survive,” the BBC said.

“With climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly precarious,” they continued. Scared yet?

Furthermore, Hawking believes the development of artificial intelligence will significantly contribute to the demise of planet Earth and the human race.

“I think the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” he said in a speech in 2014.

He thinks humans won’t be able to compete with the technology it develops, and we’ll end up being pushed off the planet.

Okay, this is starting to sound like a horror movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal (hey, we’d watch it.)

Whether or not Hawking is right (has he ever been wrong, though?), this shows us the importance of taking care of the planet today, right now. Because it’s not something that will last forever. We shouldn’t take it for granted.