Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story'

[NeoGreen]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/may/15/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven


Stephen Hawking dismisses belief in God in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.
Photograph: Solar & Heliospheric Observatory/Discovery Channel

Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story'
By Ian Sample, Sun 15 May 2011 17.00 EDT

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist shares his thoughts on death, M-theory, human purpose and our chance existence.

The 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.

[defacto7]

1. K&R

[rurallib]

2. Just reading some Hawking quotes and I ran across this one

“I believe the simplest explanation is, there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realization that there probably is no heaven and no afterlife either. We have this one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe and for that, I am extremely grateful.”

was going to start a thread with it, but it fits well right here.

Edit to add a couple more:

"I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."

"There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win, because it works."

[lindalou65]

3. Great quotes by a great man

Those quotes are really excellent. What an incredible mind Hawking had and he will be greatly missed. In the face of all that he dealt with, he accomplished so much more than anyone would expect.

[FailureToCommunicate]

4. Heaven or not, Professor Hawking is free of gravity and now able to float among the stars

he so loved to study.