STEPHEN Hawking had a lot of time to think. Trapped in his steadily failing body, he let his mind roam the expanse of the universe - and the future of humanity itself. His final thoughts are about to be published. And they contain an ominous warning.

Civilisation as we know it is on the brink of being overrun by super-rich super-humans.

We have the technology.

It just didn’t arrive in time to save the 76-year-old theoretical physicist himself.

He died in March.

But the looming potential for humans to re-engineer themselves occupied much of Hawking’s thoughts in his last days. He put them down amid a collection of articles addressing what he called “the big questions” facing our future.

They will be posthumously published later this week in Brief Answers to the Big Questions.

SUPERHUMAN
“I am sure that during this century people will discover how to modify both intelligence and instincts such as aggression,” he writes.

And that poses a problem.

The technology is bounding ahead.

The DNA editing system CRISPR was only invented in 2012.

It allows defective strands of DNA to be cut out and replaced. It also allows DNA modules which control characteristics, such as those involving our eyes, to be replaced with enhanced versions.

It already has Australia’s defence force thinking of ways to enhance the concentration, awareness, strength, endurance and health of its soldiers.

And the race towards providing immortality - at a price - is gathering pace.

Human nature, Hawking says, makes it inevitable those seeking an ‘edge’ for themselves, or their children, will abuse this technology.

And those best placed to do this will have lots of money.

“Laws will probably be passed against genetic engineering with humans,” he writes. “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.”

Western society is built around the concept of progress, individual rights and competition.

So what happens if one already advantaged group in society benefits from a playing field tilted even further in their favour?

“Once such superhumans appear, there will be significant political problems with unimproved humans, who won’t be able to compete,” Hawking writes.

He also fears a return to the fascist world of Nazi Europe, where selective breeding - known as eugenics - was used in a bid to create a ‘master race’.

WISDOM, NOT INTELLIGENCE
It’s not the first time Hawking has warned humanity about the potentially dark paths that lay ahead.

He was a loud voice in the debate about the implications of artificial intelligence.

Hawking made it clear he was afraid that cold, calculating machine logic could lead them to take charge ‘for our own good’.

“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” he warned in 2014.

Hawking did not deny AI’s usefulness. He did, after all, use one himself to help translate his thoughts into words.

But that usefulness was itself its most significant threat, he warned. In the ever increasing race to produce better, faster, more self-learning intelligence than those of competitors - we could create a monster.

“It would take off on its own, and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate,” Hawking said.

“Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.”