Stephen Hawking spent his final years urging humanity to become a multi-planet species within this century, warning that staying on Earth put all of human civilization at risk. He cited specific threats: climate change, nuclear war, pandemics, asteroid impacts, and artificial intelligence. At the time, many dismissed his views as alarmist. But in the eight years since his death in 2018, each of these risks has intensified. Global temperatures have surpassed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, CO2 concentrations have hit 422 ppm, and AI development has outpaced safety measures, with experts now estimating just 18 minutes to midnight on the AI Safety Clock. While planetary defense against asteroids has improved, other areas show growing fragility.

Hawking’s core argument was probabilistic: stacking multiple high-impact, low-probability risks on a single planet makes long-term survival unlikely. He didn’t predict doom, but stressed that spreading humanity beyond Earth was the only viable insurance. Once seen as fringe, this view is now gaining traction among risk researchers and AI safety advocates who see off-world expansion not as escapism, but as a rational safeguard.

Today, the conversation has shifted. It’s no longer about whether Hawking was right, but how little time remains to act. His final message — that we must not drop the basket — remains in our hands, though the wobble grows harder to ignore.