Posted on 05/15/2011 7:58:19 PM PDT by Steelfish
Stephen Hawking: 'There Is No Heaven; It's A Fairy Story' In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist shares his thoughts on death, M-theory, human purpose and our chance existence
Sunday 15 May 2011
A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a "fairy story" for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said. In a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts, Britain's most eminent scientist said there was nothing beyond the moment when the brain flickers for the final time.
Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21, shares his thoughts on death, human purpose and our chance existence in an exclusive interview with the Guardian today.
The incurable illness was expected to kill Hawking within a few years of its symptoms arising, an outlook that turned the young scientist to Wagner, but ultimately led him to enjoy life more, he has said, despite the cloud hanging over his future.
"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he said.
"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he added.
Hawking's latest comments go beyond those laid out in his 2010 book, The Grand Design, in which he asserted that there is no need for a creator to explain the existence of the universe. The book provoked a backlash from some religious leaders, including the chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, who accused Hawking of committing an "elementary fallacy" of logic.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Mr. Hawking, you forgot to include the element of 'soul' in the equasion upon which you base your statement.
The soul does not 'fail' and the soul is what separates mankind from animals, therefore the 'computer' aspect of brain cannot stop working, irregardless of whether the mortal flesh that encases it does or not.
If the aspect of 'soul' is not considered, there is still the unanswered question of who designed the human brain to be the computer it is with not nearly enough evolutionary time to explain its advanced state, or why the eye of a hummingbird is more advanced than a human eye?
Einstein was - at most - deist and made this very, very explicit a number of times throughout his life. He did, at times, make reference to ‘God’ - most famously in the line “God does not play dice with the Universe” in relation to Bohr (and Plancks) Quantum Theory (and in which case he has been proved wrong) - but Einstein’s “God” bears absolutely no relation to a Theistic God and is, in fact, used as a synonym for “The Universe”. Whenever Einstein speaks of God, what he’s talking about are the fundamental physical principles of the Universe - which he believed to be entirely materialistic. To make any kind of claim that Einstein believed in a personal God is absolutely ridiculous.
“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly.” - Albert Einstein, The Human Side, 1954 (1 year before his death).
“A man’s ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.” (Religion and Science, New York Times, 1930)
“I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism, cherish such thoughts.” (The World as I See It)
"Data" is not the plural of "anecdote."
And Amen.
Of interest ping.
Sure, why not?
Just because our brains demand all questions be answered in ways our brains can comprehend, does not require the universe to operate in such a fashion.
So I ask again, why cannot matter come from nothing?
That is perfectly stated and perfectly true.
After he takes his last breath he’ll know the reality of what is on the other side.
It looks like his soul has become as badly afflicted as his body.
True, then he will have one last chance, to bow or go to hell. I hope he bows.
I just think it’s curious that Einstein used the word God, if as you say, he meant “the universe”. That’s not logical.
if matter can come from nothing, and if the first cell came from nothing, and then another and another and another, then why has that phenomenon never been observed to have occurred again?
‘People think I'm smart because I talk with a computer voice”.
‘Nuff said!
Any way it has probably been hell living in his condition for 50 years, there were stories of abuse by his family, it's probably hard for him to believe in much of anything.
Sorry, Stephen. Must choose wisely. You did not. See ya!
This is contradicted by one of his famous aphorisms, "What interests me the most is whether God had any choice when He created the universe." ( from memory )
I have to suppose that there is a special place in Hell prepared for those who disparage the suffering of Stephen Hawking.
Nowadays we think of “The Heavens” as a poetic construction, but it was not always so. The pious, if they could stretch their minds so far as to even consider the question, would have to recognize that the thinking of Paul and the Apostles is utterly remote from them. For them, “The Heavens” was heaven, most literally. Modern thinking has banished heaven from “The Heavens”, but where then did it go? It’s a bad joke.
Whether or not Hawking goes to Heaven or Hell isn’t in humanity’s hands. Stephen will have to make his case to a Higher Power than found on this puny planet.
If you would say he was not devout, I would agree. But as he so freely and naturally referred to God, as in “Raffiniert ist der Herr Gott ...” it’s hard to tag him as an atheist.
Stephen doesn't live on this puny planet.
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