[famouswaffles]

Who said anything about physically forcing the cat in the box? The point of Hawkings cat is is the lack of physical embodiment for AI. So get someone else to do it. Millions of people put cats in boxes without any force just fine. Or do you classify it as 'force' because it went beyond speaking? You can't actually speak to cats (unlike humans) so acting like anything more than words is brute force is strange.

Who was Hitler to most people ? Just a persuasive powerful voice on the radio, or words on a paper. So not even two way communication and yet he inspired armies that killed millions. Hawkings wouldn't even need to pay anyone. There would be plenty of people willing to get the cat in the box for Stephen Hawkings.