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.
Full Article at Guardian Science
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”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.
Beautifully elegant. I hope Hawking has plenty of years ahead of him.
I need to read Proff Hawkings books.. I need to stop holding on to the ‘fairy tale’ as layed out
http://dannydasoul.com/2011/04/18/science-v-religon/
I’d like get on with cutting hair and not pondering the fundamentals of existence.
what do you mean stephen, an infinite time of silence is heaven. Hell is now and its great!
Hawking committed an “elementary fallacy of logic”? And I won the Nobel prize for physics the same day.
It shouldn’t have taken a genius to say this.
And what was the elementary fallacy of logic of which Rabbi Sacks spoke? “The Bible simply isn’t interested in how the universe came into being.”, he says. That’s it? That’s the ‘elementary fallacy’? Which particular fallacy is that then?
Aren’r these learned theologians supposed to know what constitutes an argument and what the rules of engagement are?
Couldn’t have put it better myself. Bravo Mr Hawking!
I love how religious leaders try pulling the ‘logic’ card. Why can they never just say “this is my faith” and let scientists get on with it.
Another great piece of controversy stirring there by Stephen. If only more people were willing to stand up make these sorts of statements without worrying about the inevitable backlash from the superstitious.
Oh do be quiet! Ridiculously unhelpful so you are. A man of your standing and experience should be asking questions that go beyond empiricism by now, honestly! If you can’t see that the created universe has a harmonic pattern which we can attend to, work with and not try to dominate then you may go down the Swanee with the rest of the buffoonery and conceited nonsense. Human nature requires a recognition of something outside of itself, something bigger (get my drift?) to evolve and see the totality of existence. Get in touch with your feelings man and try to see beyond your self for God’s sake!
Of course there isnt.
Nope this man is wrong there is a heaven.
What a legend. I hope this does provoke another reaction similar to previous. Science said – I am the way the truth and the life. Religion said- Hey that’s my line!
What more gratification could one hope for than observing our beautiful universe in all its marvellous ways and feeling utterly utterly insignificant. Reminding myself of how small we really are is very refreshing. Thank you Steven Hawking for once again stating magnificent fact. Let’s hope people listen!
There is no heaven, however there is a hell. We’re living in it now and it’s great!
you’d think somebody who has conquered hel would know heaven when he sees it.
@Other Paul – I think *logic* was the “elementary fallacy”… It has no place in ‘faith’
D
no body knows if there is a heaven or hell, because no body knows what it is like to be dead. this means no technical science machine thingy (that humans created) will never give us a reliable answer.
I think I experienced once what it is like to be dead.
It was during a standard medical procedure, when the doc accidentally injected me an overdose. I fell into deep unconsciousness immediately, and awoke in an instant around 20 minutes later. It was no slow awakening like when anesthesia wears off, but: Conscious – *Click* – Unconscious – *Click* – Conscious again. Like a laptop being suspended, and resumed 20 minutes later. Mr. Hawkings analogy is quite to the point.
How were these 20 minutes like? Difficult to say… ‘nothingness’ or ‘non-existence’ would really describe it best.
And this is what I expect after death. The same feeling we all who are alive today had in the year 1700, this feeling into all eternity.
Charlott: In the absence of proof of a positive, I prefer to assume the negative. It’s easier than assuming countless unproven positives.
Steffen: Interesting. That’s how I’ve experienced anaesthesia the two times I’ve been under — I don’t so much awaken slowly, as ‘turn back on’ (although when I find I can’t properly move or open my eyes yet, I do the ‘turn off’ thing again, only to experience the sudden return of consciousness a second time). I do know that time has passed, but there’s no dreams to remember, just nothing. No confusion or anything either, just annoyance at the weak and sore feeling that surgery brings.
I like this way of looking at death. Thanks.
When we die, it is exactly as you are now. Only without a body. Or mind. But really life and death are the same thing…Thoughts.
I totally agree with the scientific mainstream there is no god. The real implication is not about god. The real implication is life is theoretically unlimited. Scientist should to turn to denying natural death. The god argument will spin on pointlessly whatever words anyone uses.
”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;
If my computer fails, I can re-create it on another hard drive. Identically.
If you really believe your brain is a computer ( as I do, because it is ) then you cannot discount the possibility that your life has been ‘backed up’ by some sort of wi-fi perhaps.
No religious thoughts were involved in the genesis of this comment.
maybe it impacts on a sense of ethics to consider that we are just machines…blindly reproducing. it probably makes it easier to create technology that can be used destructively rather than attend to the need to organise society in a more harmonious way. it certainly would remove the need to understand the mysterious connection between awareness and its effect on the world around it. if the “field” that events appear to occur within is “conscious”, then computeability is not so straightforward..what appears to be inanimate matter exists within your mind…all particles etc are an artifact of observing them… the universe is consciousness. computers and brains are lower-order nodes that filter out data not increase the awareness of it.
“I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years”.
Maybe, just maybe. You shouldn’t put so much faith in scientists mate.
Ancient religious texts have been around for a lot longer than Stephen Hawking. I’m not a religious person, and I think people are entitled to their opinions but I disagree with Stephen Hawking and as a mathematician and physicist who ought to know a bit about infinity, he shouldn’t be writing things off without irrefutable evidence to the contrary.
To the person that said we cannot prove that there isn’t a heaven, you cannot prove that there is. What’s more logical, “There’s a UFO!” or “There’s a plane!”
It’s common sense really, the idea of heaven is idiotic. It is truly only there for people afraid of death. It is a way for them to accept death by believing that death isn’t the end.
At the person that said if your brain is like a computer you can just back-up the hard drive, I like that idea. It’s like when you die, all your memories are stored on a universal cloud network.