Stephen Hawking seriously ill

[transplant99]

Wonder if he is talking to god just in case?

Hope he is OK.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090420/...ritain_hawking

[flip]

Sweet. When he goes I'll finally move into first!

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Wonder if he is talking to god just in case?

Hope he is OK.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090420/...ritain_hawking

Actually, from what I've read of Hawking he doesn't deny the existence of a god, or god force. Hawking's view as I understood it was that science can only take things so far, and beyond that point a god force is the most logical explanation. He certainly doesn't suggest god is anything like the major religions try to portray he/she/it as (hell fire & brimstone, smoting in the name of love, 7-day creation, 3000 year old planet and all that). But he doesn't deny the existence of a god force either, unless I totally misinterpreted Hawking. As I understood it he views science as god's greatest work.

And yes, I certainly hope he's okay too. He's one of the few people who redeem our pathetic species.

[troutman]

Hawking's God:

http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/in...haw-frame.html

In his best-selling book "A Brief History of Time", physicist Stephen Hawking claimed that when physicists find the theory he and his colleagues are looking for - a so-called "theory of everything" - then they will have seen into "the mind of God". Hawking is by no means the only scientist who has associated God with the laws of physics. Nobel laureate Leon Lederman, for example, has made a link between God and a subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson. Lederman has suggested that when physicists find this particle in their accelerators it will be like looking into the face of God. But what kind of God are these physicists talking about?

Theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg suggests that in fact this is not much of a God at all. Weinberg notes that traditionally the word "God" has meant "an interested personality". But that is not what Hawking and Lederman mean. Their "god", he says, is really just "an abstract principle of order and harmony", a set of mathematical equations. Weinberg questions then why they use the word "god" at all. He makes the rather profound point that "if language is to be of any use to us, then we ought to try and preserve the meaning of words, and 'god' historically has not meant the laws of nature." The question of just what is "God" has taxed theologians for thousands of years; what Weinberg reminds us is to be wary of glib definitions

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by troutman

Hawking's God:

http://www.pbs.org/faithandreason/in...haw-frame.html

In his best-selling book "A Brief History of Time", physicist Stephen Hawking claimed that when physicists find the theory he and his colleagues are looking for - a so-called "theory of everything" - then they will have seen into "the mind of God". Hawking is by no means the only scientist who has associated God with the laws of physics. Nobel laureate Leon Lederman, for example, has made a link between God and a subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson. Lederman has suggested that when physicists find this particle in their accelerators it will be like looking into the face of God. But what kind of God are these physicists talking about?

Theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg suggests that in fact this is not much of a God at all. Weinberg notes that traditionally the word "God" has meant "an interested personality". But that is not what Hawking and Lederman mean. Their "god", he says, is really just "an abstract principle of order and harmony", a set of mathematical equations. Weinberg questions then why they use the word "god" at all. He makes the rather profound point that "if language is to be of any use to us, then we ought to try and preserve the meaning of words, and 'god' historically has not meant the laws of nature." The question of just what is "God" has taxed theologians for thousands of years; what Weinberg reminds us is to be wary of glib definitions

But that's just one person's interpretation. The meaning I took from Hawking was that science can take you right up to the Big Bang, but beyond the Big Bang you're staring at the face of God (paraphrasing as my nephew has my book at the moment).

[T@T]

He's done very well to last into his 60's. most thought he wouldn't reach his 40th birthday.

[JBR]

Originally Posted by Ford Prefect

And yes, I certainly hope he's okay too. He and Darryl Sutter are 2 of a few who redeem our pathetic species.

Fixed

[troutman]

What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary. [Stephen W. Hawking, Der Spiegel, 1989]

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by troutman

What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary. [Stephen W. Hawking, Der Spiegel, 1989]

Do you have a link to that article? I'd be interested in reading it in its full context.

As for the stuff from A Brief History of Time that I'm referring to, I wish I had my copy of the book so I could take a look at those passages again. There's excerpts with varying interpretations on the internet, but I'd like to reread several pages.

This is too deep for a game day anyway though. I'm neither a christian nor an atheist, so it's pretty much just whizzing in the wind for me to get into these debates.

[peter12]

Does it really matter if the guy is a deist or an agnostic? The man is an amazing person to have lived such a full life with such a debilitating condition. I just hope Professor Hawking gets what he wants at this stage, whether it be life or death.

[troutman]

The idea that space and time may form a closed surface without boundary also has profound implications for the role of God in the affairs of the universe. With the success of scientific theories in describing events, most people have come to believe that God allows the universe to evolve according to a set of laws and does not intervene in the universe to break these laws. However, the laws do not tell us what the universe should have looked like when it started -- it would still be up to God to wind up the clockwork and choose how to start it off. So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end: it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator? [Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1988), p. 140-41.]

[Thor]

Originally Posted by peter12

Does it really matter if the guy is a deist or an agnostic? The man is an amazing person to have lived such a full life with such a debilitating condition. I just hope Professor Hawking gets what he wants at this stage, whether it be life or death.

While I agree, opportunists often find moments when famous non believers die to spread lies of deathbed conversions or to attempt to turn well known historical agnostics/atheists into deists or religious.

I hope he pulls through, his life's work is so important to him and I'm sure he wants more than anything to be around to work on it some more.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Thor

While I agree, opportunists often find moments when famous non believers die to spread lies of deathbed conversions or to attempt to turn well known historical agnostics/atheists into deists or religious.

I hope he pulls through, his life's work is so important to him and I'm sure he wants more than anything to be around to work on it some more.

Yes, but from what I've read, both in his book and then refreshed by troutman's excerpts, there is really no conclusive evidence to go either way. Certainly, the man's head is in such an entirely different realm of thinking that his views on spirituality are his own and that is the way it should be.

I hate how atheists and theists alike try to "out" people for their beliefs. Like, oh Stephen Hawking believes/does not believe in God, another tick for our team.

Let's just honour the man's life and his brilliance and take it as a compliment to our own humanity that our species is capable of such accomplishment

[FlamesAddiction]

I claim Hawkings for the agnostics!

Seriously, I hope he recovers and gets to help us out a little longer.

[LChoy]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I claim Hawkings for the agnostics!

Seriously, I hope he recovers and gets to help us out a little longer.

Hope he gets well
His expertise in blackholes will be invaluable when the Swiss super smasher creates a dooms day blackhole

[Tyler]

I didn't know he was British!

His robot voice always sounded American to me.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Tyler

I didn't know he was British!

His robot voice always sounded American to me.

Huh. I always thought he was american and just happens to work at Cambridge Uni.

[Bobblehead]

Here's some great news.

A Cambridge University spokesman said: "Professor Hawking is being kept in for observation at Addenbrooke's Hospital... he is comfortable and his family is looking forward to him making a full recovery."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8010058.stm