Don’t know how true it is, but I’ve heard rumors he had lost all ability to communicate (locked-in syndrome) since the at least the late 1990’s and his family had the University he was affiliated with essentially just been using him as a stage prop for publicity and to keep the gravy train flowing. All his books and papers were being ghost written by interns at the university and his “speeches” were just programed into his voice synthesizer.
You know what? That seems totally plausible.
He really didn’t put out anything past the mid 90s, at least nothing like he did before.
But who knows? He wasn’t expected to live as long as he did, so he could have defied expectations here as well.
I never bought into that it was he who was talking. I thought the same...he was used as a prop, esp. after he started going down the global warming rabbit hole. Anyone who is that intelligent, supposedly, would completely understand basic astrophysics, Keppler’s laws, etc.
Okay, that’s a scary idea. Sinister, if true.
Thats my favorite one to throw out to folks when his name pops up!