Stephen Hawking: Our Stupidity Is Still Destroying Us

Humanity is still destroying itself with its own greed and stupidity, Stephen Hawking told Larry King on Saturday.

Reiterating the concerns he had expressed in 2010, the legendary scientist said on Larry King Now that human shortsightedness is still making the Earth warmer, more crowded, and more polluted every year.

“We certainly have not become less greedy or less stupid,” Hawking said in an interview on Larry King Now. “Six years ago, I was warning about pollution and overcrowding. They have gotten worse since then.”

That’s a bad sign, considering that he once warned those trends could make Earth’s climate more like that of Venus—not currently a habitable planet.

On a more positive note, Hawking told King he was still fascinated by the universe’s mysteries.

“Why do the universe and all the laws of nature exist?” he wondered aloud. “Are they necessary? In one sense they are, because otherwise we wouldn't be here to ask the question. But is there a deeper reason?”