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Stephen Hawking Receives Copley Medal
smooth wombat writes "Stephen Hawking, Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, has been awarded the Royal Society's 275th Copley medal for his contribution to cosmology and theoretical physics. Other notables to receive the award, established by Stephen Gray in 1731 'For his new Electrical Experiments', include Charles Darwin, Louis Pasteur and Albert Einstein. In his remarks, Professor Hawking reiterated his previous comments that man must colonize other planets. The medal presented to Professor Hawking was sent into space onboard Space Shuttle Discovery and spent some time on the International Space Station in July of this year. Hawking has expressed an interest in going into space and commented, 'My next goal is to go into space, maybe Richard Branson will help me.'"
In space, no one can hear your voice synthesizer...
Stephen Hawking's theories of a donut shaped universe intrigue me, but I heard he stole them from someone else. D'oh!
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Sorry, can't read "Stephen Hawking" anymore without hearing "...and all my shootings be drive-by's..." in my head. (You down with entropy? Yeah you know me.)
I agree that transferring someone aspect of human consciousness off the planet has an aesthetic appeal. It would just feel wrong if, after all these years of striving, the human race just totally ceased to exist.
On the other hand, it is highly unlikely that the human race, in it's present form, will survive more than another few hundred years.
One possibility is that the human race will design a new species and raise this new species as it's children allowing itself to die off. This new species will look and act superficially human but it will be sufficiently different genetically that interbreeding with present day humans would be impossible. The main impetus for designing this new species will be to improve on and correct defects of existing humans. This species will be noticeably smarter and stronger and healthier.
Another possibility is that people won't bother with creating a new species at all and will instead transfer their consciousness to something like a computer. Everyone's consciousness will be sufficiently connected that the result will essentially be one collective consciousness.
A final possibility is that humanity will prove beyond any doubt that there is no purpose to its existence and simply allow itself to cease to exist.
Either way, enjoy it while you can - because you are likely to be one of the last generations of the human race in it's present form.
From MC Hawkings FAQ's:
Q: The song E=mc Hawking contains the line, "my power is my mass times the speed of light squared."
Even a first year physics student in high school knows that energy (not power) is mass times the speed of light squared. Power (the rate of energy) is mass times the speed of light squared, divided by time.
If the song lyric were true, time would be constant and, it goes without saying, the universe would collapse upon itself. Given that this has not occurred, the statement must be incorrect.
A: As I indicated in the above FAQ, I am not a physicist. So, if I had written the song the error could be attributed to simple ignorance. However, since MC Hawking wrote the tune there must be another explanation. Therefore, I passed this question on the MC Hawking himself. He had this to say:
Yo! Fuck you bitch. You wanna to step to the Hawkman on physics? You're in my house now punk! Check it, the rhyme doesn't say that power is mass times the speed of light squared, it says that my power is mass times the speed of light squared.
The song also says that, "E stands for energy, yo that's me...". So, my power is energy motherfucker.
Therefore, the equation can be expressed thusly (where e=energy, m=mass, c=the speed of light and x=my power):
x=mc2 AND x=e THEREFORE e=mc2.
Step-off bitch!
I laughed for hours, then spent a week trying to explain to other people why it was funny...
Sometimes a little too political, but still a great group. Nice to see them give the nod to Hawking!
"Yellow" was pretty good, too.
Ok, is it just me, or did anyone else first mis-read the title as saying "Stephen Hawking Receives Cosplay Medal"?
I must be tired...
Planet Zebeth - Metroid with a twist
Well that's just a shocking display of incompetence.
When will someone finally get around to creating a competent courier service that sends parcels straight to where they are supposed to be, rather than mis-directing them, and losing them for months on end.
It's a disgrace.
Z.