STEPHEN HAWKING: I DON’T FEEL WELCOME IN U.S.
Stephen Hawking says he no longer feels welcome in the U.S., now that President Donald Trump is in power.
The renowned British scientist and theoretical physicist spoke Monday on Good Morning Britain about his views on artificial intelligence, climate change and Trump — whom he once called a demagogue.
“The reaction to the election of Donald Trump may have been overdone, but it represents a definite swing to a right-wing, more authoritarian approach,” Hawking said about the response to Trump’s election.
Of the United States, he said: “I have many friends and colleagues there, and it is still a place I like and admire in many ways. But I fear that I may not be welcome.”
Leading up to the U.S. presidential election, Hawking was asked whether he could explain Trump’s rise to presidential candidacy.
“I can’t,” Hawking said in May. “He’s a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator.”
Asked now about that statement, Hawking elaborated on Trump’s victory and his first two months in office.
“Trump was elected by people who felt disenfranchised by the governing elite in a revolt against globalization,” Hawking said Monday. “His priority will be to satisfy his electorate, who are neither liberal nor that wellinformed. We have already seen this in the promise to build a wall along the Mexican border and the sanctioning of two oil pipelines and the appointment to the Environmental Protection Agency of Scott Pruitt, a man who does not believe carbon dioxide causes climate change.”
When asked what he most wanted to say to Trump, Hawking said he would tell the president that Pruitt should be replaced as the EPA chief, adding that “climate change is one of the great dangers we face, and it’s one we can prevent.”
Hawking also expressed concerns about Trump’s travel ban, explaining how it should be done.
“His travel ban brands as Islamic State terrorists all citizens of six mainly Muslim countries, but not including America’s allies such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which allegedly help finance Islamic State,” he said.
Hawking was asked for his opinion on artificial intelligence, a topic about which he has expressed grave concerns.
“Ever since the start of the industrial revolution, there have been fears of mass unemployment, as machines replaced humans,” he said Monday. “Instead, a demand for goods and services has risen in line with the increased capabilities . ... But there is a greater danger from artificial intelligence if we allow it to become self-designing, for then it can improve itself rapidly, and we may lose control.”