Physicist Stephen Hawking in an interview with TV presenter Larry King spoke about his attitude to world problems, women and artificial intelligence. A summary of the conversation held at the Starmus cultural and scientific festival (Tenerife, Canary Islands) is available on the Ora.tv website.
Hawking called the main problem of mankind an increase in the level of atmospheric pollution and an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide. The scientist is concerned that since his last interview with King (2010), the world's population has grown by 500 million and air pollution has grown by 8 percent.
King recalled that during his first interview with him, Hawking called women the greatest secret of the universe, and asked if the scientist had made any progress on this issue. The physicist answered the question with a question: King was married eight times to seven different women - does this fact mean the victory of hope over experience?
Talking about the danger of artificial intelligence, Hawking stresses that it is created by modern governments, investing huge amounts of money in autonomous weapons and aviation and not thinking about the "safety levers" of increasingly powerful computers.
Finally, King asked Hawking how he managed to maintain his strength despite a serious illness. “My loyalty to science helps me to live. There are still questions that I want to find an answer to,”the scientist said.
Stephen Hawking is known for his work on cosmology as well as the popularization of science. So, he first published an article where he reported on the possibility of black holes to evaporate. In his student years, when he was studying at Oxford University, the scientist was diagnosed with a rare disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), as a result of which Hawking's muscle activity has been reduced to a minimum. A computer system developed by Intel helps him communicate with others. It analyzes the movement of the scientist's pupils and suggests a suitable set of words.