STEPHEN HAWKING FALLS SEVERELY ILL BEFORE SUPER ROBOT BODY COMPLETED

April 21 2009

Cambridge, England – The news that renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has fallen ill and been rushed to hospital brought international concern. The 67-year old scientist, author, and teacher is reportedly suffering from a serious respiratory ailment which may or may not have been exacerbated by his existing health problems, specifically amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou
Gehrig’s disease. Doctors report that Hawking is resting and expected to survive, a relief to many who have been holding out hope that a robotic exoskeleton will be completed in time to preserve the mind many people consider to be one of the brightest ever.

Hawking’s first major interaction with the machine world came in the late 1960’s when he was first diagnosed with ALS, essentially confining him to a wheelchair. By 1985, a tracheotomy robbed him of his speech which prompted the development of a synthesizer which enabled him to speak through a keyboard. With his age increasing though, and the continued degradation of his body, the physicist has been looking to deposit his brain into a robot body enabling him to live forever. This latest illness as well as the plodding pace of super robot development has now put those hopes in peril.

“There’s little debating the importance of Stephen Hawking. Little else can really be
said about his scientific contributions and his status in the public realm. It will be a sad day when he passes on if we indeed are unable to push robotics to the point where we can integrate human consciousness. Unfortunately cryonics probably wouldn’t be viable for him due to the damage ALS has done to his body,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “There is always the possibility of preserving his head cryogenically but we are still left with the problem of losing his influence until such a time when we can safely unthaw him. Outside a robotic body, the best option might be a living stasis similar to the system used on ‘Futurama’”

While scientists continue to develop more and more advanced artificial intelligence and robotics – doubling every six months – many see sentience amongst machines or even the full integration of man and machine as decades off if it proves possible at all.

“We have made significant advances in all of these fields and have moved forward in the realm of cyborg technology but unfortunately we are not quite there yet. Our reliance on machines has become more and more ubiquitous in recent years – even the President can’t live without it – but that doesn’t mean we are at the stage of full integration with human tissue and the truth is we may not achieve that in Hawking’s lifetime and this illness is a reminder of that,” continued Poe. “No doubt that people will sit down and enjoy watching the massive robot war in the big summer movies this year but wishing something true and having come true are quite often different things. Unfortunately even for someone as advanced as Hawking, he may have to live with the reality of mortality.”

Both ‘Terminator: Salvation’ and ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ will be released this summer.
Both films feature sentient robots, though no cybernetic creatures.

“Transformers and Terminator are both franchises from the 1980’s so you would think we would have been able push things a little closer to where those creators imagined things would be but like many things, technology just doesn’t turn out the way you expected it,” continued Poe. “Perhaps a more realistic movie robot would be Robocop. He is a cyborg after all so that may prove to be a better model. A remake is apparently in development so maybe Professor Hawking should get together with Hollywood to try and preserve his life forever.”

Hawking is expected to fully recover from his recent illness. It is not immediately clear if he will continue to seek a mechanical body or if he will begin to pursue suspended animation in his efforts to live forever.  

Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent