We wish it grew there
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 ...
I walked through Schrodinger's wave equation once. That was enough.
I believe in fairies. Some of them are in Washington making our laws...
Hawking appears to be one of those sad, sorts of people.
I cannot think of anything so revolutionary in human history except maybe learning to control fire and the wheel.
Just like liberals are trolls on this conservative Free Republic - atheists are trolls on the Religion Forum.
Atheists are often tolerated on the RF so that the believing posters will have someone to preach "to" or to hone their arguments.
I will handle major offenses no matter who was offended - but if RF posters are merely rude to you, endure it or stay off the RF.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
There is only One who has created Heaven and Earth and knows its beauty, and I don’t think it is Mr. Hawking. And considering the other side, going to he!!, Heaven is very much a fairy tale life. I always wanted to live that fairy tale and live happily-ever-after.
A statement like “ the is no God” tells me everything I need to know about you. It also explains your juvenile reply. Speaking of atheist. Here are a couple Einstein quotes just for you,
“In the view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support for such views.”
and
“Then there are the fanatical atheists whose intolerance is the same as that of the religious fanatics, and it springs from the same source … They are creatures who can’t hear the music of the spheres.”
5.56mm
Atheist love to quote Einstein to say there is no God, but it’s a lie according to Einstein. Imagine that?
From what I have read he only had a brief period where he questioned the existence. Nonetheless, Einstein without a doubt believed in God most of his life.
The last thing Einstein was trying to figure out, but passed away. It was the Theory of Everything. When people would ask him what are you trying to do. Einstein reply was that he was trying to understand how God thinks.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from Einstein,
“I see a pattern, but my imagination cannot picture the maker of that pattern. I see a clock, but I cannot envision the clockmaker. The human mind is unable to conceive of the four dimensions, so how can it conceive of a God, before whom a thousand years and a thousand dimensions are as one?”
Science agrees to 10 Dimensions while we live in the 3rd. The 11th dimension is where you could see God. I think it’s amazing to think that is there 1000 dimensions. Perhaps from a sub atomic particle view point? I don’t know. It’s mind blowing without a doubt to think about.
I'm not sure there is an excluded middle between "not a Theist" and "atheist" in actual usage. Apparently you do, and that's a sensible position. I did not mean to imply he was an atheist, but in any sense in which believers in the God of Abraham would see God, he was not a believer.
I don’t know what book you read to give you such a distorted view of Einstein’s Theology, but you’ve got it deeply wrong. While it’s true that Einstein frequently used the word “God” in his writings and talks, it’s also completely clear from reading him that he’s absolutely not referring to a personal, conscious God.
To Einstein, God was the fundamental principles of the universe, the structure of the cosmos and the laws which underpin physical reality. He was smart enough to recognize that our understanding of those principles was sketchy and imperfect at best, hence his ‘utter humility’ at the majesty of those principles and his assertion that our ‘knowledge is but the knowledge of schoolchildren’.
It’s completely true that he was not a militant Atheist and there are several quotes of his where he distances himself from them, but at no point in his life did he ever make any statements indicating he believed in a personal God who actively involved Himself in the lives of people, answered prayers or experienced any kind of consciousness. If you’d actually read Einstein instead of just a book about him, you’d know that.
While I agree with you... and I very, very much agree... I want to point out one danger of this being the foundation of such an argument.
There was once an Arab man who made claims that APPEAR to be coming true (emphasis on appear).
That said, I think M.C. Hawking is a genius, but like all such brilliant minds something gets lost in the shuffle. In this case, it’s the rational, reasonable, LOGICAL argument that God and heaven are very, very real.
Okay THANK YOU for admitting that Einstein did believe in a high being (aka God).
Now as for his personal view about God... that does not really matter. The heart of the debate is does God exist or not. Like I said before I would not want to be on the opposite side (like Hawking) of Max Planck or Albert Einstein.
Their personal view is all up for debate between religions. Nevertheless, they believed in God which Hawking does not.
Is a thread on an Atheist, Stephen Hawking really an appropriate Religious Forum topic?
Yes.
Glad to know that you are a Pantheist.
Hawking is guilty of illogic....and you’re following him.
No, I’m not an agnostic...that’s lazy. I’m not an atheist...that’s foolish. I don’t just believe in God...I believe God.
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