British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking believes that this is "the most dangerous time for our planet." The column of the scientist with the corresponding title was published by The Guardian.
In his publication, the physicist draws the readers' attention to the growing gap between the elites, in particular politicians, and the middle and working class. In his opinion, the robotization of production, the absence of the need to obtain high incomes in a large number of human resources lead to misunderstanding between various groups of society.
“The Internet and the platforms that make this (accelerating economic inequality - Lenta.ru note) possible allow very small groups of people to make huge profits when hiring a very small number of people. This is inevitable, this is progress, but it is also socially destructive,”the scientist writes.
The result of the fact that some people do not accept the changes in modern society, according to Hawking, were the results of the presidential elections in the United States and the vote for Brexit in the UK. “I feel like my ivory tower is getting taller,” the scientist writes.
These problems, according to Hawking, can only be solved by joint efforts of all countries and sectors of society. “We may have been organizing human colonies around other stars for several hundred years, but now we only have one planet and we must work together to protect it,” Hawking writes. "To do this, we need to break down, not build up barriers within and between countries."
