Stephen Hawking dismisses afterlife as "fairy story"

[klr]

Good on Ya, Stevie ...

Q. What is the value in knowing "Why are we here?"

A. The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can't solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive. We assign them higher value.

Q. You've said there is no reason to invoke God to light the blue touchpaper. Is our existence all down to luck?

A. Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.

Q. So here we are. What should we do?

A. We should seek the greatest value of our action.

Q. You had a health scare and spent time in hospital in 2009. What, if anything, do you fear about death?

A. 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. 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.

Q. What are the things you find most beautiful in science?

A. Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Examples include the double helix in biology, and the fundamental equations of physics."

Full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -no-heaven

[hiyymer]

I like Stephen Hawking. He is intellectually courageous. But I do find disturbing the intermingling of science and subjectivity. He is speaking as a scientist, yet he says "we should seek the greatest value of our action". This from a man who says the evidence supports the view that our actions are determined by our brain according to the known laws of science and not by some agency acting outside of those laws (see "The Grand Design" Hawking/Mlodinow). The scientific answer to "what should we do?" is that science has identified no material "we" acting outside of the laws of science, and no material "should", and life is just happening. The scientist speaking as a scientist should answer the question as a scientist. It is no wonder that the average layman thinks science is competing with religion.

[Coito ergo sum]

Kirk Cameron tells us, "Professor Hawking is heralded as 'the genius of Britain,' yet he believes in the scientific impossibility that nothing created everything and that life sprang from non-life." http://www.tmz.com/2011/05/17/kirk-came ... oes-exist/

LOL - isn't that what Kirk Cameron believes? Life sprang from non-life (humans were created out of the dust of the earth)?

[Atheist-Lite]

He should stick to his subject.

[Animavore]

@Coito.

Actually - no.
Cameron believes that life can only come from life so the first life had to have been created by life. In his case God who is life itself. Remember it was God who breathed life into Adam's nostrils animating him. This is not the same as life from nothing by brute emergence.
I guess creationists, like when they talk about 'evil', think that 'life' is something tangible rather than an abstract.
Of course using the theological claim that life comes from life can be used against them as God, by their own rules, must've came from life.
That's where the special pleading comes in.

[Feck]

a fairy story for people who are afraid of the dark

[Atheist-Lite]

a fairy story for people who are afraid of the dark

He knows the system.

[Coito ergo sum]

@Coito.

Actually - no.
Cameron believes that life can only come from life so the first life had to have been created by life. In his case God who is life itself.

Cameron believes God created life, not that life COMES FROM god or that god gave birth to life. The Bible says that god fashioned man from the dust of the earth. Life from non-life.

Remember it was God who breathed life into Adam's nostrils animating him.

Sounds like life from non-life. If we breathe electricity into a robot, we aren't giving birth to a robot. We fashion it into a robot. According to the Bible, God took material, dust, and made it a man, and then made it alive.

This is not the same as life from nothing by brute emergence.

Sure it is. In the Beginning the earth already existed, according to the Bible. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was upon the face of the waters, but it was there. The "let there be light" bit is not the creation of the earth, the earth is already existing and apparently it is just there along with God, who hovered over the waters. No mention is made of god actually creating the earth. It's there. So, either it always existed, or god created it but it's not recounted in the Bible.

Either way, the earth is there, and god then separates the land from the waters. He doesn't create the dirt, he separates the land from the water. The dirt is already there, apparently. Then he takes the dirt, and fashions it into a man and turns it into a living being. That sounds like life from non-life to me.

[mandy]

how on earth can Hawkins know there is no Hell?

hell is not a scientific field. its absurd even to make such a claim. its crazy.

i reckon the old man maybe losing it.

Hawkins should keep his nose out, or else he will get his butt fried.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Bella Fortuna]

Nice to see you took to heart previous advice about getting back into the italics and lack of punctuation. Much more to type now. And still boring.

[Coito ergo sum]

how on earth can Hawkins know there is no Hell?

hell is not a scientific field. its absurd even to make such a claim. its crazy.

i reckon the old man maybe losing it.

Hawkins should keep his nose out, or else he will get his butt fried.

He is probably getting deadly radiation from the Van Halen radiation belts...

[Bella Fortuna]

how on earth can Hawkins know there is no Hell?

hell is not a scientific field. its absurd even to make such a claim. its crazy.

i reckon the old man maybe losing it.

Hawkins should keep his nose out, or else he will get his butt fried.

He is probably getting deadly radiation from the Van Halen radiation belts...

And the poor guy can't even follow their direction to "Jump!!" to avoid it....