Renowned¹ physicist² Stephen Hawking³ 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.

著名物理学家史蒂芬•霍金又发布了一条末日警告，这一次他预言，600年内我们的地球将变成一团火球。

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

霍金声称，如果人类不尽快离开地球，人口过多会加剧能源消耗，并导致人类灭绝。

But Hawking has a plan. Speaking at the Tencent WE Summit in Beijing, Hawking appealed to investors⁴ to back his plans to travel to Alpha Centauri. At around 4 light-years away, it’s the closest star system to our sun.

但霍金也有对策。他在北京的腾讯WE大会上发言时，请投资者们资助他前往半人马座α星的太空项目。半人马座距离太阳约4光年，是离太阳最近的恒星系。

The venture is called Breakthrough Starshot and it would use a tiny spacecraft⁵ that travels at the speed of light.

这个探险项目名为“突破摄星”，将开发和使用以光速旅行的纳米小型太空飞船。

Such a system could reach Mars in less than an hour, or reach Pluto⁶ in days, pass Voyager in under a week and reach Alpha Centauri in just over 20 years.

这种飞船可以在不到一个小时的时间内到达火星，几天内即可到达冥王星，不到一周就能经过“旅行者”号探测器，并可在20多年后到达半人马座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.

“突破摄星”项目负责人、曾任美国宇航局艾姆斯研究中心主任的皮特•沃登在大会上说：“如果一切进展顺利的话，也许在本世纪中叶后不久，我们就可以收到从半人马座发回的第一张行星照片，这颗围绕最近恒星运转的行星上可能会有生命。”

霍金一直很担忧地球和人类的命运，这不是他第一次提出末日说和地球毁灭论了。事实上，早在多年前，霍金就多次预言地球将毁灭，建议人类尽早移居到其他星球。此外，他对当前蓬勃发展的AI（人工智能）技术也是喜忧参半。来看看霍金的四大惊世预言。

预言一：机器人将拥有自主意识并超越人类智慧，如果不加以控制可能会对人类造成威胁。

The physicist told WIRED magazine he believes artificial intelligence will eventually become so advanced it will essentially⁷ be a "new form of life that will outperform humans."

霍金告诉《连线》杂志说，他认为人工智能最终会非常先进，成为“超越人类的一种新生命形式”。

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

“我认为，生物的大脑所获得的智慧，与计算机所能获得的智慧，并无本质区别。”

"It therefore follows that computers can, in theory, emulate⁸ human intelligence - and exceed it."

“因此，理论上，计算机可以模拟人类智慧并超越它。”

"Alongside the benefits, AI will also bring dangers, like powerful autonomous⁹ weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many."

“除了造福人类，人工智能也会带来危险，比如强大的自主武器，或是少数人用来压迫多数人的新工具。”

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

“而且，在未来，人工智能还可能发展出自己的意识——和人类的意志相冲突的意识。”

预言二：外星人很可能会乘坐“巨大飞船”进攻人类，占领地球，寻找外星人恐怕会惹祸上身。

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

霍金透露说，他坚信外星人的存在，并警告地球可能会受到外星人的进攻。

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

“在我的想象中，外星人住在巨大的飞船中，因为他们已经用尽了母星上的所有资源。”

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads¹⁰, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach."

“这些来自外星的高级生命体可能到处漂流，寻找并征服任何他们能到达的星球，将其变为自己的殖民地。”

It would be "too risky¹¹" to attempt to make contact with alien races, he concluded.

霍金总结道，试图和外星人取得联系“风险太大了”。

"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."

“如果有一天外星人来拜访我们，我认为结局会和哥伦布登陆美洲一样，对印第安人并不是什么好事。”

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

霍金说，大多数外星生命应该都是行星、恒星上或漂浮在太空中的小动物或微生物。

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

不过霍金表示，未来20年内，科学家不大可能寻找到有智慧的外星生命。

预言三：地球会在1000年到1万年内毁灭，人类必须尽快逃离地球，移居到其他星球。

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

霍金警告说：“如果不逃离这个脆弱的星球，我认为人类无法再存活1000年。”

"We face a number of threats: nuclear war, global warming and genetically¹² engineered viruses," said Prof Hawking, speaking to the Radio Times.

霍金告诉《Radio Times》杂志说：“我们面临许多威胁：核战争、全球变暖和转基因病毒。”

"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."

“尽管地球在某一年发生灾难的几率较低，但放在岁月长河中看，地球在未来1000年或者1万年内发生灾难几乎是肯定无疑的。”

"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."

“如果在那之前我们可以向太空扩张，移居到其他星球，那么地球的灭顶之灾不意味着人类的灭绝。”

"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，至少在未来几百年内，我们不可能在太空上建立可自给自足的殖民地，所以在这段时间内我们必须十分小心。”

预言四：大脑可脱离肉体独立存在，并可像程序一般复制到电脑上。

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，他认为大脑可以脱离身体独立存在，但俗世观念中的来生只是个童话。

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.

在记录其一生的纪录片首映礼上，霍金说：“我认为大脑就像是电脑中的程序，从理论上来说，大脑是可以复制到电脑上，从而在死后继续存在的。”

"However, this is way beyond our present capabilities¹³. I think the conventional afterlife is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark."

“不过，以我们目前的能力还远远做不到。我认为俗世观念中的来世只是个童话，是为了安慰那些怕黑的人。”