London - A new form of genetically redesigned and improved human being will emerge in the next millennium, according to Prof Stephen Hawking, of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University. He said genetic engineering on humans was almost bound to happen.
But he said the Star Trek view of the future, where humans appear in a largely recognisable form, was probably wrong. Prof Hawking was speaking at a lecture in Cambridge to mark the start of National Science Week.
He said the key to the redesign of humans would be scientists rapidly increasing understanding of DNA. "I am not advocating human genetic engineering as a good thing. I am just saying it is likely to happen in the next millennium whether we like it or not," he said.