Hawking and Carl Sagan in the same sentence.
That hurt.
I don't think much of Hawking, but he deserves better than to be equated with media phony Carl Sagan.
Carl Sagan was a professor at Cornell (Ivy League) in astro physics. His wife and co-author has similar credentials. What is wrong with science or "scientific community"? Can't we all get along? You should read Dan Brown's Deception Point and Angels and Demons (reconciles science and religion...maybe.)