Stephen Hawking’s final fear was that DNA manipulation would lead to a master race of superhumans, it has been revealed.

The physicist, who died in March aged 76, thought the development could destroy the rest of humanity.

His last prediction is revealed in a new book of his collected articles and essays called “Brief Answers to Big Questions.”

He feared rich people would soon be able to edit their children’s DNA to improve attributes like memory and disease immunity.

And he said that would pose a crisis for the rest of the world even if politicians tried to outlaw the practice. In an extract published by The Sunday Times in the United Kingdom, he wrote, “I am sure that during this century people will discover how to modify both intelligence and instincts such as aggression.

“Laws will probably be passed against genetic engineering with humans. But some people won’t be able to resist the temptation to improve human characteristics, such as memory, resistance to disease and length of life.”

He said that would cause huge problems for humans who have not undergone the same process, leaving them unable to compete.

The professor even warned it could lead to the extinction of humanity as we know it.

He said of normal humans, “Presumably they will die out, or become unimportant.

“Instead, there will be a race of self-designing beings who are improving at an ever-increasing rate.”

The “Brief History of Time” author also refers to techniques like Crispr, which enables scientists to modify harmful genes and add in others. Although such procedures could be a boost for medical science, some critics are concerned they could lead to a eugenics-style movement, where the weak are weeded out of society.

The new book, published by Hodder & Stoughton on Oct. 9, also collects his writings on what he thought were the big questions facing science and wider society.

In it, he examines whether aliens exist, how to colonize space and whether humans will ever go beyond our solar system.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【预言】yùyán prediction a thing predicted, a forecast

【优生学】yōushēngxué eugenics a set of beliefs and practices that aims at improving the genetic quality of the human population

据说斯蒂芬·霍金最后的担忧是：操纵DNA将催生超级人类优等种族。

已故物理学家霍金认为这一发展趋势可能毁灭其余人。霍金于今年三月去世，享年76岁。最近出版的霍金文集《重大问题简答》一书披露了他的最后预言。

他担心，过不了多久，富人将能够编辑子女的DNA改善某些功能，例如提高其记忆力和免疫力。他还说，即使政治家设法用法律禁止这种做法，它仍将对其他人群带来危机。

在《星期日泰晤士报》发表的一篇文章节选中，霍金写道：“我敢肯定本世纪之内人们将找到改变智力和攻击性等天性的办法。”

“人们可能会制定法律禁止人类基因工程。但是，有人肯定抵制不了诱惑，想要改进一些人类特征，比如记忆力、疾病抵抗力和寿命。”

他表示，这将给未修改基因的人带来严重问题，导致他们没有竞争力。

霍金甚至警告说，这可能导致我们所熟悉的人类走向灭绝。

他谈到普通人是说：“他们可能会绝种，或变得可有可无。”

“取而代之的是一种不断加速改进的自主设计人类。”

霍金，《时间简史》的作者，还提到了相关基因编辑方法，比如“规律成簇间隔短回文重复系统（Crispr）”，科学家可以借此修复有害基因并加入其它基因。

尽管这类方法可能促进医学发展，但是一些批评者担心它也可能导致优生学式的运动，弱势群体将被社会淘汰。

新书还收集了霍金的其它文章，涉及他对科学与广义社会所面临的重大问题的思考。这本书由霍德&斯托顿出版公司于10月9日出版。他在书中探究了外星人是否存在，如何开拓太空殖民地以及人类最终是否能够走出太阳系。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)