Hawking would consider assisted suicide

Mary Bowerman | USA TODAY Network

Physicist and overall science superstar Stephen Hawking said he would consider ending his life through assisted suicide, but only if he had "nothing more to contribute."

"To keep someone alive against their wishes is the ultimate indignity," Hawking told Dara O'Briain during an interview that will air on the BBC, The Guardian reported.

Hawking said he would only consider ending his life if he were becoming a burden on those around him. He added that he doesn't think that day is coming anytime soon.

"I am damned if I'm going to die before I have unravelled more of the universe," he said.

Hawking was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease when he was 21, and has been confined to a wheelchair for decades. The world-renowned scientist communicates with the help of a speech synthesizer.

Hawking disclosed that life can be very lonely "because people are afraid to talk to me or don't wait for me to write a response."

Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the United Kingdom though Hawking has been an outspoken proponent of legalizing assisted suicide in the past.

In 2013, he likened assisted suicide to the humane euthanasia of animals, "We don't let animals suffer, so why humans," he asked the BBC.

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