Stephen Hawking: There is no God and computers will overtake humans in the next 100 years

British physicist Stephen Hawking has said that there is no God and that computers will overtake humans within the next century. The 73 year old dismissed any notion that there is a God in an interview by stating that science is able to explain the origination of everything.

When asked by Spanish newspaper El Pais if scientists should believe in God, Hawking responded: "I use the word, God, in an impersonal sense, like Einstein did, for the laws of nature." This question was followed by: "Do you think humans would one day abandon religion and God?" to which he retorted: "The laws of science are sufficient to explain the origin of the universe. It is not necessary to invoke God."

The motor neurone disease sufferer went on to say that the future of the human race could be bleak. He said that if aliens come to Earth, they could take over our planet. Hawking: "Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach. To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

On the subject of artificial intelligence (AI), he added: "Computers will overtake humans with AI at some point within the next 100 years. When that happens, we need to make sure the computers have goals aligned with ours.

"I think the survival of the human race will depend on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe, because there's an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth. I therefore want to raise public awareness about the importance of space flight. I have learnt not to look too far ahead, but to concentrate on the present. I have so much more I want to do."

This isn't the first time that the theoretical physicist has denounced religion. In a June, 2015, interview, Hawking told Spanish newspaper El Mundo that science has brought us too far to believe in an all-powerful deity. "Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by 'we would know the mind of God' is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn't. I'm an atheist," he said.