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Stephen Hawking, Who Examined the Universe and Explained Black Holes, Dies at 76 (nytimes.com)

Stephen W. Hawking, the Cambridge University physicist and best-selling author who roamed the cosmos from a wheelchair, pondering the nature of gravity and the origin of the universe and becoming an emblem of human determination and curiosity, has died at his home in Cambridge, England. He was 76. From a report: A family spokesman announced the death in a statement to several news media outlets. "Not since Albert Einstein has a scientist so captured the public imagination and endeared himself to tens of millions of people around the world," Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, said in an interview. Dr. Hawking did that largely through his book "A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes," published in 1988. It has sold more than 10 million copies and inspired a documentary film by Errol Morris.

The 2014 film about his life, "The Theory of Everything," was nominated for several Academy Awards and Eddie Redmayne, who played Dr. Hawking, won the best-actor Oscar. Scientifically, Dr. Hawking will be best remembered for a discovery so strange that it might be expressed in the form of a Zen koan: When is a black hole not black? When it explodes.
A brief history of Stephen Hawking: A legacy of paradox.

153 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. damn by Sniffy2 · · Score: 1

    dam dam dam.

    1. Re:damn by nospam007 · · Score: 2

      " Dreamed of stars, told of stars, made of stars.
      ^ What kind of drivel is this? Sad."

      I guess she knew him only as a guest-actor in the Big Bang Theory.

  2. I'm still optimistic... by ihaveamo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I reckon most of his smarts was derived from AI in the wheelchair anyways. He was probably dead for years. How would anyone know. Sort of a "Weekend at Bernie's" deal. Not as funny... just more boring and science-y. Too soon? Sorry I'm not good with Social queues.

    1. Re:I'm still optimistic... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think you mean cues, social queues are the lines outside of clubs.

    2. Re:I'm still optimistic... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sorry I'm not good with Social queues.

      I think you mean cues, social queues are the lines outside of clubs.

      Stephen got to skip those - and the ones at Disney World.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    3. Re:I'm still optimistic... by Memnos · · Score: 1

      Social queues are cocaine?

      --
      I don't trust atoms -- they make up stuff.
    4. Re:I'm still optimistic... by michelcolman · · Score: 2

      That kind of reminds me of a short story by Iain Banks, "Descendant", part of "The State of the Art". Astronaut in an intelligent mechanical suit after a spaceship crash, trying to get to a base hundreds of kilometers away, the suit doing its best to keep him alive while doing most of the walking itself.

    5. Re:I'm still optimistic... by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 2

      That's lines INSIDE clubs.

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    6. Re:I'm still optimistic... by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      There's no lines inside clubs because clubs are made of sliced cooked poultry, fried bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  3. Thanks for all the fish by evil_aaronm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    An imperfect person, he still made humanity that much better off.

    1. Re:Thanks for all the fish by Luckyo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Something to think about: he showed that even a person as crippled as he was physically could have strengths in other fields that would make it profitable for entirety of human kind to invest massively into keeping him alive.

      It makes for an interesting statement on value of human life itself.

    2. Re:Thanks for all the fish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Crippled people should be kept alive only when we consider them to be profitable?

    3. Re:Thanks for all the fish by monkeyxpress · · Score: 1

      I get your point, but the UK is not a subsistence society. There are people who drive around central London in £400,000 Rolls Royce phantoms as their work cars. I would like to think our society still feels it is a decent thing to help out those born into the other end of the luck spectrum.

    4. Re:Thanks for all the fish by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      There was a moving interview this morning with the chairman of the (Dutch) ALS foundation, about how Hawking served as an inspiration for them. In more ways than one he was an extraordinary human being.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    5. Re: Thanks for all the fish by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      ...why not just disallow babies? See how easily that train of thought falls apart.

      No, not really. But I can see how you might be getting confused.

    6. Re:Thanks for all the fish by Goose+In+Orbit · · Score: 1

      There are people who drive around central London in £400,000 Rolls Royce phantoms as their work cars.

      They're all being sent back to Russia, any day now...

    7. Re: Thanks for all the fish by tbannist · · Score: 1

      Wow, and thus ends humanity...right there in that statement. Once we begin to think of worth in terms of contributions then it inevitably calls into question; what is a contribution? Babies don't contribute anything to society...why not just disallow babies? See how easily that train of thought falls apart.

      Bah humbug. You're just jealous because those babies still have a higher net contribution than you...

      But never fear, you can still turn it around until the crystal in your palm goes black. You've got plenty of... never mind.

      --
      Fanatically anti-fanatical
    8. Re:Thanks for all the fish by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm with Nietzsche on this one: He posited that the disabled are like a societal inoculation against becoming too hard-nosed, losing compassion, empathy, etc., in our fellow human beings. The disabled help us to become more humane and improve the whole of society for everyone. (Nietzsche was a stretcher bearer during the Franco-Prussian war and so witnessed, first-hand, the opposite of compassion and empathy).

      --
      Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
    9. Re:Thanks for all the fish by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      One of the best inventions is universal education system, and other methods of removal of systemic obstacles. We no longer live in the society where birthright is everything. That was the time of the aristocracy, and it's long gone.

      It's telling how well we have done when "poor" are people who have housing, heating, never go hungry and can afford smartphones.

    10. Re:Thanks for all the fish by Trogre · · Score: 1

      Indeed. If he was in utero today, and a genetic test revealed his condition he would likely have been aborted without a second thought.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    11. Re:Thanks for all the fish by Trogre · · Score: 1

      In a society that utterly lacks compassion, yes.

      I feel very privileged I do not live in such a place.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    12. Re:Thanks for all the fish by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      If you think it's "slightly better", you are either utterly ignorant of reality just a hundred years ago, much less a few centuries ago. Or you're trolling.

  4. Hawking can't die. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's just moved to the other side of an event horizon.

    Respects, Dr Hawking.

    1. Re:Hawking can't die. by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      I agree - he did a lot of contributions to move science ahead.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
  5. Things that make you go hmmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
  6. Time Travel Party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Well now my only chance to meet him is to go to his Time Travel Party in 2009.
    Who's with me?

    p.s. Ok. I'm back. That party was a drag. He was already black out drunk when I got there. :(

    1. Re:Time Travel Party by Coisiche · · Score: 2

      So go again and arrive earlier.

  7. RIP, good sir. by thegreatbob · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And with that, the average IQ of the human species dropped a few points :.(

    --
    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    1. Re:RIP, good sir. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Actually, it rose. Without Hawking hogging one of the top spots, we all moved up a place. That is just the nature of the Q in IQ.

    2. Re:RIP, good sir. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Shouldn't the average IQ be constant 100?

    3. Re:RIP, good sir. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Actually, if that's your definition, then the average is the same as before. We might all have moved up a bit, but we removed the outlier so the average is still 100 (as is the median).

    4. Re:RIP, good sir. by mrthoughtful · · Score: 1

      Wish I could mod parent up. Yes, you are exactly right - and you know it.

      --
      This comment was written with the intention to opt out of advertising.
    5. Re:RIP, good sir. by CSMoran · · Score: 1

      It's both, as the assumption is of a Gaussian distribution.

      --
      Every end has half a stick.
    6. Re:RIP, good sir. by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      As others have noted, 'intelligence' would've been a better term than IQ, for various reasons.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    7. Re:RIP, good sir. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Altho the average IQ is by definition set at 100 points, points is some contexts also means percent, and it is possible that where 100 points is aka the average change a few percent.

      To change the average IQ by 2% when there are 7 billion people (with an average of 100 points as you note), would require the death of someone with an IQ of 14 billion.

  8. It's turtles all the way down by The-Pheon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the tortoise standing on?" "You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"

    - Stephen Hawking - 1988 - A Brief History of Time

    1. Re:It's turtles all the way down by mrthoughtful · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Chukwa the world turtle, is swimming through the Ocean of Milk (aka the milky way(. It's only necessary to have something for the turtle to stand on if one already asserts the relatively modern idea of empty space as we know it. "turtle's all the way down is" a misinterpretation (the story a fabrication), attempting to make the believer look foolish. A sensible answer to "What is the tortoise standing on?" would be "The turtle is swimming", or "The ocean of milk, which is bottomless".

      It is about as humorous as asking a Christian creationist - "So, what day was it before Monday" - and the reply being - "Oh, every day was a Monday before that". Quite funny, if you aren't a creationist.

      If we accept the Chukwa myth on it's metaphorical basis, then it's not dissimilar from all those marbles-on-mattresses pictures used to show the curvature of space-time under gravitational fields, If we were to cross-pollinate the metaphor, we could say that the child Chukwa is swimming around a whirlpool caused by the mighty Surya-Chukwa (the sun-turtle), while the baby Chandra-Chukwa (moon) is swimming around a similar 'whirlpool' created by our own Chukwa.

      So, just because current science prefer marbles and mattresses, it doesn't make it particularly funny if someone else uses turtles and oceans. What makes it sad is when someone takes another myth and ridicules it in a short-sighted, and arrogant, manner. Moreover, the (rather tired) scientific misogyny comes out in naming the person in question as being a woman.

      --
      This comment was written with the intention to opt out of advertising.
    2. Re:It's turtles all the way down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Fuck! That's the first time a Slashdot comment (or possibly any website comment) has caused me to re-examine my outlook on something.

      Well played.

    3. Re:It's turtles all the way down by Geeky · · Score: 1

      The plate - or "disc" - is actually on the elephants on the turtle's back. And the turtle's name is A'Tuin. Enjoy your visit and don't go in the Mended Drum.

      --
      Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
    4. Re:It's turtles all the way down by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Simply because everyone is giving too much credence to an unobserved hypothesis. When you don't know anything or think in depth about your existence it is easy to blow your mind.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    5. Re:It's turtles all the way down by ChatHuant · · Score: 1

      Enjoy your visit and don't go in the Mended Drum.

      What kind of fool would go to the Mended Drum when they can see Dixie "Va Va" Voom's show at the Skunk Club in Brewer Street and riot afterward?

    6. Re:It's turtles all the way down by FormOfActionBanana · · Score: 1

      Wow. I got trolled hard.

      --
      Take off every 'sig' !!
  9. Farewell, Professor Hawking by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Informative

    His life was remarkable in many ways - one of which was surviving with ALS for so bloody long.

    My dad died from complications of ALS way back in the 1990s. Having seen first-hand how the disease progresses, I marvel at how Hawking managed to live with that disease for so many decades. Yes, they called it "slow onset", but that seems to be mostly a hand-waving attempt at explaining a disease they still don't really understand. Even with support devices like a respirator, it's hard for me to wrap my head around it - those things bring with them their own complications.

    Godspeed, Dr. Hawking.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Farewell, Professor Hawking by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He was an inspiration to those of us who whinge and lie in bed when we get a head cold or tummy ache. Dude faced the ultimate physical challenges and seemed to go on with good spirits. Plus, from all accounts he was pretty bright.

      Walk free, Dr Hawking.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    2. Re:Farewell, Professor Hawking by sconeu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I have the same feelings, 93. My wife passed away from ALS five years ago. The fact that Prof. Hawking not only survived for over 40 years with the disease, but did so much amazing science during that period is incredible.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    3. Re: Farewell, Professor Hawking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      He pushed understood boundaries in many ways. Just imagining life from his perspective has made me proud to be human.

    4. Re:Farewell, Professor Hawking by Megane · · Score: 1

      As did my dad from '78 to '85. Clearly Hawking had a variant with a much slower onset than usual. He also went full respirator, which added a lot of time along with the slow onset. But Hawking was also 76 on top of all that, and as being born is known to be fatal, we'll all go eventually.

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
    5. Re:Farewell, Professor Hawking by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      "the erectile system is completely different and not under the conscious control of the mind." ...and yet our whole society hinges and twirls on this uncontrollable autonomic response. That is why aliens do not visit.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    6. Re:Farewell, Professor Hawking by thegreatbob · · Score: 2

      Cases like his are why I go to lengths to kick myself in the ass and bootstrap every day, even when I feel I would normally just shrivel up and rot away... a lot to live up to. (context: historically an anxiety/depression sufferer)

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    7. Re:Farewell, Professor Hawking by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      Cases like his are why I go to lengths to kick myself in the ass and bootstrap every day, even when I feel I would normally just shrivel up and rot away... a lot to live up to. (context: historically an anxiety/depression sufferer)

      Good for you, brother. I hope the struggle gets easier for you.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  10. Sad Day! by Duckeenie · · Score: 1

    Mourning the death of somebody one has never met is a strange feeling.

    1. Re:Sad Day! by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      You think this is bad....wait until Ozzie dies.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  11. Why no Nobel Prize? by BigDukeSix · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How is it that Stephen Hawking won every prize there is except the Nobel? Discovering something revolutionary about black holes would seem to qualify.

    1. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by slew · · Score: 5, Informative

      How is it that Stephen Hawking won every prize there is except the Nobel? Discovering something revolutionary about black holes would seem to qualify.

      Unfortunately, Hawkings only theorized his signature Hawkings-radiation. Although it is an elegant theory, I don't think anyone has developed a way to validate it yet and the Nobel committee generally isn't persuaded by elegant theories that may or may not turn out to be wrong...

      Also Hawkings has been notably wrong before. He bet against the Higgs particle. He bet that information was lost in a Black Hole. He also wasn't initially convinced that the surface area of a black hole event horizon was a measure of entropy (although Jacob Beckenstein was able to convince him).

      Don't get me wrong, I think he's quite an amazing theoretical physicist in that he has a very good intuition on how things might work, but the physical world doesn't respect intuition about how the world might work, it demonstrates it to us. As a result, not all intuition about the physical world (as elegant as it may be) turns out to be correct about the world in which we actually live...

    2. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by Camembert · · Score: 1

      Yeah right. Typical kneejerk reaction from a wanker whose own life realisation amount to nothing much.

    3. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Just like Einstein, it will be decades after his death that we discover just how smart he really was.

    4. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Nice way to show that you have no idea by who and how the Nobel prizes are awarded. The Peace prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which is basically a political body, whereas the prize in Physics is awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences.

    5. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by ByteSlicer · · Score: 1

      Although it is an elegant theory, I don't think anyone has developed a way to validate it yet and the Nobel committee generally isn't persuaded by elegant theories that may or may not turn out to be wrong...

      Some researchers created an acoustic version of a black hole, that followed the same mathematical model, and exhibited Hawking radiation.

      Not exactly the same thing, of course, but if our current modelling of black hole physics is correct, they should also exhibit Hawking radiation.

    6. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Anyone should be able to contribute, but celebrity status forcing a disproportionate level of attention in a field someone is unfamiliar with can be extremely damaging

      I do not want to speak ill of anyone (least of all the dead), but amen to that! And that goes for the "field" of politics as well.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    7. Re: Why no Nobel Prize? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You're just sore because there have been so few Russians on the list recently.

    8. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      How is it that Stephen Hawking won every prize there is except the Nobel?

      Well, the Nobel Prize is only awarded to folks who are still living. Stephen Hawking was supposed to die "tomorrow" for most of his adult life.

      I always thought that this was the Nobel Prize committee's way of keeping him alive. They didn't want to give him the prize . . . because then he would die. The hope of receiving the prize kept him alive for so long, despite an illness that would have finished off most folks much earlier!

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    9. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

      There is only one Nobel prize in physics per year. Picking the one prize for a specific year does not mean other discovers were not important or were not contenders for that award.

    10. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by Goose+In+Orbit · · Score: 2

      How can an AC be a wanker... given they have no balls?

    11. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      This should be expanded on even further, to make sure everyone here knows what is what.

      Nobel Peace Prize - While an original prize from Alfred Nobel, it is still utter bullshit and doesn't mean anything.

      Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics - Created in 1968 by Swedish national bank. The worst of the lot of them, it is utter utter bullshit, and doesn't mean anything.

      Nobel Prize in Literature - An original from Alfred Nobel, but due its subjectiveness and politicization, it too is utter bullshit.

      Right, the rest of them are in chemistry, physics, and medicine. To win one of those three you must have made a significant discovery before anyone else. Those three awards actually mean something, while the rest are just shit.

      PS: Note there are many scientific fields not represented in the Nobel prizes, such as geology and computer science, as well as mathematics. That's life, if you want to win one of these things, do physics, chemistry, or medicine.

    12. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      Hi did not discover a black hole. Jesus fuck.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    13. Re:Why no Nobel Prize? by datavirtue · · Score: 1

      I just threw up in my mouth.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  12. It has been an honor to be alive by shuz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It has been an incredible honor to be alive at the same time as Stephen Hawking. His idea's and his story impacted so many people around the world. The impact he made on science will likely be remembered and studied for thousands of years. The Maya, Plato, Copernicus, Einstein, Hawking. These are just a few. Hawking is now and we all got to live in his time! Thank you Dr. Hawking, you will be greatly missed and always remembered.

    --
    There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
    1. Re: It has been an honor to be alive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      They invented Mayannaise, dumbass.

  13. Stephen Hawking will never die. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Long after rappers and reality TV stars and tinpot despots and kings and presidents are dust and forgotten, Stephen Hawkings name will be remembered.

    He joins Einstein and Newton as a giant.

    Hawking is dead, long live Hawking !

    1. Re:Stephen Hawking will never die. by scottrocket · · Score: 1

      Yes remembrances belong to the living, and then passed on.

      RIP, Dr. Hawking. : (

    2. Re:Stephen Hawking will never die. by jimtheowl · · Score: 1

      "long live Hawking !"

      Typically, you would say that about the person taking over to replace the person that has just passed. To say it about the person that just died is nonsensical, but I guess you were trying to say something that sounded solemn.

      He will be missed though.

    3. Re:Stephen Hawking will never die. by bazorg · · Score: 1

      Long after rappers and reality TV stars and tinpot despots and kings and presidents are dust and forgotten

      I guess he was hedging his bets ...
      All my shootings be drivebys

    4. Re:Stephen Hawking will never die. by houghi · · Score: 1

      What does an old Apple device have to do with all this?

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    5. Re:Stephen Hawking will never die. by apoc.famine · · Score: 2

      I read one of his last lectures, where he postulated about what we can know about the universe prior to the start of time. While I wish he had been able to come up with even more brilliant ideas, it does seem kind-of fitting that he explored the concept of physics of the universe outside of time before he passed. Escaping the bounds of time seems to me the most fitting definition of immortality, and Hawking got there before he died.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    6. Re:Stephen Hawking will never die. by Mal-2 · · Score: 1
      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  14. He IS the Guide Mark II in the new HHGTTG by NZheretic · · Score: 5, Informative
    Seven reasons we love Stephen Hawking

    Professor Stephen Hawking unexpectedly materialises as The Guide Mark II in the new series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "I have been quite popular in my time," he proclaims, and he's not wrong. Here are just seven of the reasons why.

    1. Re:He IS the Guide Mark II in the new HHGTTG by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      Coincidentally, I was listening to him count down the seconds to his battery depletion death as the guide mark II at nearly the exact time he died in real life.

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  15. An Unlikely Tribute... by beheaderaswp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Usually I'm not the person to gush over a public figure or cast strangely intimate condolences at a person I've never met.

    In this case I'll make an exception.

    Back in the day- it was Dr. Hawking's book "A Brief History of Time" which drew me into a lifelong love of physics. Many books on the subject have followed. The basic knowledge of the universe learned form those books increased the quality of my life. Going to bed at night knowing what is true, what is not true, and what I do not yet know is a very comforting experience.

    His life was an example of devotion to a principle called the "Scientific Method". Perhaps the ultimate measure of truth in a world everyone thinks they know everything without the knowledge of what they do not know. For all his brilliance, like Einstein before him, he admitted he did not know everything. He was simply an explorer through an environment which could only be experienced in the mind because it is beyond the human senses.

    And he had to make a case for these truths to many people who would not accept his ideas. He did it only with logic, math, and a passion for finding what is true.

    No man lives forever. Hopefully his inspiration of others will last forever. Hopefully we will learn his lessons of science, humility, and good humor.

    He was such a good human, it was worth losing him, just to have him. Hopefully, his waveform continues elsewhere.

    --
    Another consultant who stuck it out.

    "We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx..."
    1. Re:An Unlikely Tribute... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      His life was an example of devotion to a principle called the "Scientific Method".

      Properly, he used rationalism and left the work of empirical science for others to do.

    2. Re:An Unlikely Tribute... by houghi · · Score: 1

      He even stated at one point that one of his ideas was wrong. I can not even accept I am wrong when I am lost and drive in the not-correct direction.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  16. His Last Words by rh2600 · · Score: 5, Funny
  17. Re:No Beginning to the Universe by gl4ss · · Score: 1

    that's more of a philosophical outing than saying that matter, time or whatever was there before that.

    like what did big bang happen or from kinda.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  18. Stephan Hawking has died by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    but his voice will live on..

  19. My condolences by cubicle · · Score: 2

    My Condolences to his family, first and to Humanity second. He was a giant among men, and a beacon of hope to all.

    --
    To err is to be human, to really screw up takes a computer and a human.
  20. Re:paywall by crreimer · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, here you all go since the paywall is breaking things. Stephen W. Hawking, the Cambridge University physicist and best-selling author who roamed the cosmos from a wheelchair, pondering the nature of gravity and the origin of the universe and becoming an emblem of human determination and curiosity, died early Wednesday at his home in Cambridge, England. He was 76.

    His death was confirmed by a spokesman for Cambridge University.

    “Not since Albert Einstein has a scientist so captured the public imagination and endeared himself to tens of millions of people around the world,” Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, said in an interview.

    Dr. Hawking did that largely through his book “A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes,” published in 1988. It has sold more than 10 million copies and inspired a documentary film by Errol Morris. The 2014 film about his life, “The Theory of Everything,” was nominated for several Academy Awards and Eddie Redmayne, who played Dr. Hawking, won the Oscar for best actor.

    Scientifically, Dr. Hawking will be best remembered for a discovery so strange that it might be expressed in the form of a Zen koan: When is a black hole not black? When it explodes.

    What is equally amazing is that he had a career at all. As a graduate student in 1963, he learned he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neuromuscular wasting disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was given only a few years to live.

    The disease reduced his bodily control to the flexing of a finger and voluntary eye movements but left his mental faculties untouched.

    He went on to become his generation’s leader in exploring gravity and the properties of black holes, the bottomless gravitational pits so deep and dense that not even light can escape them.

    That work led to a turning point in modern physics, playing itself out in the closing months of 1973 on the walls of his brain when Dr. Hawking set out to apply quantum theory, the weird laws that govern subatomic reality, to black holes. In a long and daunting calculation, Dr. Hawking discovered to his befuddlement that black holes — those mythological avatars of cosmic doom — were not really black at all. In fact, he found, they would eventually fizzle, leaking radiation and particles, and finally explode and disappear over the eons.

    Nobody, including Dr. Hawking, believed it at first — that particles could be coming out of a black hole. “I wasn’t looking for them at all,” he recalled in an interview in 1978. “I merely tripped over them. I was rather annoyed.”

    That calculation, in a thesis published in 1974 in the journal Nature under the title “Black Hole Explosions?,” is hailed by scientists as the first great landmark in the struggle to find a single theory of nature — to connect gravity and quantum mechanics, those warring descriptions of the large and the small, to explain a universe that seems stranger than anybody had thought.

    The discovery of Hawking radiation, as it is known, turned black holes upside down. It transformed them from destroyers to creators — or at least to recyclers — and wrenched the dream of a final theory in a strange, new direction.

    “You can ask what will happen to someone who jumps into a black hole,” Dr. Hawking said in an interview in 1978. “I certainly don’t think he will survive it.

    “On the other hand,” he added, “if we send someone off to jump into a black hole, neither he nor his constituent atoms will come back, but his mass energy will come back. Maybe that applies to the whole universe.”

    Dennis W. Sciama, a cosmologist and Dr. Hawking’s thesis adviser at Cambridge, called Hawking’s thesis in Nature “the most beautiful paper in the history of physics.”

  21. March 14 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Died on pi day

  22. Did IQâ(TM)s just drop sharply while Inwas aw by vvk · · Score: 1
  23. He was also an actor and narrator by bobstreo · · Score: 2

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm037...

    He accomplished so many things in spite of his physical issues.

  24. Science advances ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    One funeral at a time.

  25. First thought by Kokuyo · · Score: 1

    While I mourn the loss of opportunity every living year of such a genius represents... I have to admit that I am interested to see what the Big Bang Theory makes of this.

    1. Re:First thought by NoSleepDemon · · Score: 1

      Whatever it is, you can rest assured that it will be some puerile pop culture joke about how geeks are unable to communicate with women. That show died several seasons ago.

  26. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  27. Well done, old chap by ET3D · · Score: 2

    It has never occurred to me that Stephen Hawking was getting old. He's always felt kind of ageless to me. And frankly, 76 is a pretty good old age, certainly for one with ALS.

    He was an impressive individual, and I'm really glad that he was around and managed to live and contribute for so long.

  28. Re:Celebrity by narcc · · Score: 1

    How about anyone else? Everything Tyson has done publicly should be proof enough that he's the wrong person to fill the role of "celebrity scientist".

  29. Does this mean by Tsolias · · Score: 1

    ...that we finally won't get any of those uneducated opinions about AI and what not any more?
    Now we have to put up with the rest of the e-celeb scientists, like elon musk and a few others.
    I don't think that he actually contributed anything after he suffered the severe consequences of his disease, he just had a recognizable label that's why he "wrote" and "published" that many books.
    Now that he is dead, I expect his discography to be re-released.
    Wait, what?

  30. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by mrthoughtful · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because nothing in this world was ever accomplished through competition that couldn't have been done far better through cooperation.
    But also, socialism (by it's name) requires us to understand and empathise with those who aren't ourselves (or extensions of ourselves). That itself supports a pluralist stance, which itself weakens the traditional conservative / libertarian ethical foundations.

    Socialism is a natural conclusion of the agora - when we are in the agora, we must deal with the fact that our views and beliefs are just one way of being - and we must work with those who hold differing - and even heterogenous views.

    The Conservatism/Libertarian Right is an artefact of the rural, where strangers are to be feared rather than to be welcomed as trading partners.

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  31. Re:paywall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    they would eventually fizzle, leaking radiation and particles, and finally explode and disappear over the eons.

    A black hole ends in a bang? So, if a black hole got big enough to swallow the entire known universe, it would end in a... Big Bang.

    And thus it all starts over.

  32. Poor Steven by dremon · · Score: 1

    Those bloody Russkies did it again.

  33. Go beyond the event horizon in peace... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    A few more generations of physicists will have to go by before we can know Hawking's place in the ranks of the great, but his status as a popularizer of science is already established.

  34. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 2

    > Because nothing in this world was ever accomplished through competition that couldn't have been done far better through cooperation.

    Please, if you've not read it, read Darwin's work "On the Origin of Species". Or if you'd like entertainment as well as old theories, I'd suggest David Brin's book "Earth". The idea that species change dynamically due to ordinary competition is critical: many contemporary scientists consider the evolution of economies, societies, or even of thought itself to have the same foundations, in competing for resources to survive by reproducing successfully. Competition is critical to such evolution. Even the scientific method is a form of competition, where ideas are tested and those which are effective survive. Eliminating competition is as dangerous as voting on physical reality. A cooperative consensus may be reached, but but the lack of verification or competition can foster destructive wastes of resource.

    This is not to say that cooperation is not useful: but pure cooperation has no power to discard wasted or mistaken effort. Even for cooperative efforts, the competition of distinct efforts to get resources or mind share is itself key to selecting the forms of cooperation.

  35. The World by DaMattster · · Score: 1

    The world lost a good and decent person. Rest In Peace, Stephen Hawking.

  36. Tightening the curve by sjbe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Actually, it rose.

    By definition if cannot rise. But it might be a few standard deviations tighter.

  37. Amazing by sjbe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    His life was remarkable in many ways - one of which was surviving with ALS for so bloody long.

    My mother died from ALS recently. Her course took about a decade which is WAY too long with that awful disease though I'm grateful I got to have her alive as long as I did. Stephen Hawking is someone I admire probably more for what he accomplished in the face of that disease than for his scientific accomplishments. And in saying that I am in no way minimizing his contributions to science. I've seen what that disease does to a person up close and even if you aren't religious (I'm not) you should pray that you never have to experience ALS. To do even a fraction of what Hawking did with that malady makes him to my mind one of the most remarkable people to have ever lived.

    1. Re:Amazing by brantondaveperson · · Score: 2

      A comment like this is the reason I still come to this site. May your mother rest in peace.

    2. Re:Amazing by sjbe · · Score: 1

      A comment like this is the reason I still come to this site. May your mother rest in peace.

      Thank you. That is very kind of you.

    3. Re: Amazing by viralburn · · Score: 1

      I agree ... I can't say anything else but that

  38. Still important for centuries to come by Andrew+Lindh · · Score: 1

    It was a privilege to have lived at the same time as such an amazing man. His work will still be relevant and important for centuries to come. Now he finally has the freedom to become one with the universe.

  39. Brilliant != Infallible by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Not only this, as smart as he may have been at Physics, he was a fucking moron about AI.

    Which is not something the Nobel committee cares about at all. Linus Pauling won two Nobel prizes and he had some pretty lunatic ideas regarding Vitamin C. Just because someone is brilliant doesn't mean they are right about everything. I find it curious that the first thing you go to is to try to tear the guy down. I'm pretty sure you aren't perfect either.

  40. Re:So stay quiet by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

    It means I'm speaking in general terms, not specifically about Hawking. Especially since I'm not aware of what he had to say about AI.

    --
    If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  41. On Pi day... by pbf · · Score: 1

    how classy of him!

    --
    et les Shadoks pompaient...
  42. A posthumous joke for Dr. Hawking by MobyDisk · · Score: 4, Funny

    In the year 2135, two scientists turned astronauts travel to a black hole to capture radiation. Their mission is a success, and they return to earth with expectations of fame and profit. They begin selling their radiation to various scientists around the world, but they are eventually arrested. What were they accused of?

    They were charged with hawking radiation.

  43. Re:paywall by Scarred+Intellect · · Score: 1

    Thank you.

  44. Let's be clear by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Stephen Hawking was, without any doubt, a world-class physicist and one of the essential scientific figures of his generation. However, a new Einstein he was not. In fact, it can be argued that he may not even be among the top ten scientists of the last third of the 20th century. More specifically, one can easily make the point that Roger Penrose has been significantly more creative and scientifically influential than he was, and that Hawking was heavily indebted to him, and to his own lamentable condition. A great physicist is gone, but let's keep things in context.

  45. Re:paywall by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    We all know how it happens.

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    #DeleteFacebook
  46. Met Stephen Hawking in Cambridge by jd · · Score: 2

    It was at the 300 Years of Gravity symposium. He was an incredibly cheerful guy.

    The best bit of his lecture was when he said that whenever anyone predicted the death of physics, something new and exciting came along, so he was going to predict the end of physics in the hope of making this happen.

    (Ok, CERN was a bit slow, but recent announcements from them suggest Stephen got his wish in his lifetime.)

    My second favourite bit was during the Q&A for his lecture (never published as far as I know, it wasn't ready in time for the conference book). A guy was asking him if he had considered bouncing universes. The question was long and drawn out. Stephen cut him off with a curt "no" and left it at that.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  47. Re:paywall by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 2

    A black hole ends in a bang? So, if a black hole got big enough to swallow the entire known universe, it would end in a... Big Bang.

    But if no one is around to hear it, does it go bang?

  48. Re:paywall by Chris+Coles · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While it is no secret that I profoundly disagree with the concept of a singularity, I have, over almost the same lifetime, come to greatly admire Professor Stephen Hawking as a thinker and as a man. His life has been a wonderful example of dogged refusal to give up. He himself has stated that, never give up, is one of his primary teachings. He has set perhaps the very best example of overcoming adversity and making a success of his life regardless of the difficulties caused by his long term illness.

    We should also be fully mindful of the kindness and hard work of everyone surrounding him during his long infirmity; their care for him as simply a human being, made much of his more recent work possible. Without their support he might not have lived beyond his twenties. They too have set a standard that will perhaps not be seen again, certainly not in our lifetimes and as such I salute you all too.

    Chris Coles.

  49. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by mrthoughtful · · Score: 1

    You are conflating Herbert Spencer with Charles Darwin. You wouldn’t be the first.

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  50. Re:paywall by datavirtue · · Score: 2

    There is no sound in space. The noise (vibration) is still reverberating. We call it "chemistry."

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  51. See you in the backups. by prider · · Score: 1

    Let's meet up for thoughts.. You know.. after. Save some RAM for me!

  52. Slashdot then and now by andrewbaldwin · · Score: 1

    Years ago when I first discovered Slashdot it was genuinely a place where interesting technology and scientific issues were discussed.

    Nowadays a large and growing proportion of posts seem to be ad hominem attacks, political entrenchments and mud slinging, invective and general nastiness.

    Is this representative of the audience - or of the society we've become?

    That a world renowned physicist is the target of barbs and attacks?

    Really?

    (standing by for the barrage of 'you're a snowflake' comments that only underline the point :)

    1. Re:Slashdot then and now by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      Is there such a thing as an internet forum where when a generally venerated public figure dies, there isn't at least a few detractors?

      If the barbs and attacks were being highly modded up, I might have noticed them. I guess I've grown too thick a skin to be offended at a few posts criticizing Hawkings for his theories on AI, not conforming to the generally positive sentiment.

      You're asking if /. is a microcosm representative of society, I'd say that the /. audience is not immune to the last decade of organized and well funded organizations working feverishly and using any means possible to polarize people into specific camps. There's also a younger audience for which internet communications has always been a part of their adult lives and thus culture has shifted towards being a bit more unrestrained. Just my opinion.

  53. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by SonicSpike · · Score: 1

    Except that competition is cooperation.

    --
    Libertas in infinitum
  54. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by wyHunter · · Score: 1

    You're presuming that humans are not inherently lazy, which we are. And I've never particularly noticed that socialists were more tolerant than anyone else - nay, one might even say they are less so. Witness the USSR. (And don't talk to me about how they all got along - may be they did after Stalin's genocide). Or the cultural revolution in China. And, um, being a person who lives extremely rural I have less concern about strangers here than you do in a dark street at 2pm in (say) New York City. So your theory is bogus in two ways.

  55. We are, all of us, diminished this day. by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    RIP Dr. Hawking. You will not be forgotten.

  56. Naive to the point of silliness, but typical by dfenstrate · · Score: 1

    It's interesting, Mr. Thoughtful, that you admit heterogeneous views, but then still carry on with typical western leftist chauvinism. To wit, your underlying thought seems to be that: "all various cultures really value the same things that westerners want, and any differences are just merely exotic window dressing without any meaningful substance, so we should be able to get along just fine if we can just move past those nasty conservative right-wingers."

    In contrast, I maintain that there are real and substantive differences between cultures, and that some societies, if we are to trade with them, must be kept at arms length, and guarded against. Why? Because they don't value what you and I value, and they'll treat you like a chump if you tell yourself they do, and act as if they do. At other times they do things that are quite plainly heinous; the moral relativist like yourself is paralyzed by mindless non-judgementalism. For example, I hold that tossing a man's widow on his funeral pyre is a wicked thing that must be stopped if one has the power. To a relativist like yourself, burning a live widow on a dead man's funeral pyre is a cultural difference as unimportant as what color one chooses to paint a room.

    --
    Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
    1. Re:Naive to the point of silliness, but typical by mrthoughtful · · Score: 1

      You are conflating Pluralism with Relativism.

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  57. Re:paywall by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

    In the fabric of space, quantum fluctuations create matter from energy in the form of matter/antimatter pairs.

    These rejoin and their masses are converted back to equivalent energy.

    When this happens at the event horizon of a black hole, on rare occasions, one half of the pair has enough velocity outside the event horizon to escape.

    So, black holes leak matter.

    After trillions upon trillions of years, the black hole explodes, but it hasn't happened yet.

    When it does, the universe will have long been expanded to a point that it won't really matter. (see what I did there)

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  58. Died on a Pi Day by mapkinase · · Score: 1

    I am not sure what to make of it.

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    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  59. Re:paywall by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    I enjoyed the book and it is in my collection, but it was too brief and did not reveal anything new.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  60. Re:paywall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    While it is no secret that I profoundly disagree with the concept of a singularity

    I'm sure he was distraught.

  61. Re: Finally by nitehawk214 · · Score: 2

    At least he wasn't a cunt that was too afraid to log in before trolling.

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  62. Re: Ocean of Boredom by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

    I always love those apologists "see, the myths were right all along!" rationalizations.

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  63. Please.. let's not forget this about him.... by gosand · · Score: 1

    Among all of his accomplishments, he wasn't so serious... here is just one of his appearances on The Simpsons... YouTube . Hilarious!

    A great man indeed. I am going to dust off my copy of A Brief History of Time now.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  64. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  65. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 1

    I'd not meant to conflate them: Darwin's work in physical evolution sets a groundwork to understand the philosophical or social evolution described by Herbert Spencer. I'd meant to illustrate that physical evolution, which cannot be guided by social cooperation, is effective. You've a valid point that it could seem as if I were conflating them: I should have mentioned Herbert Spencer or someone discussing social Darwinism by name.

  66. Conservation of Energy by neoRUR · · Score: 1

    Just like all, he is not gone, just transformed into another form of Energy.

    He will now be able to forever travel the universe exploring the many wonderful things to see there.

    He might even be able to enter a blackhole now and understand it further.

    He has done more to elevate science to the masses since Einstein.

    I was fortunate to meet him once at CalTech, and his mind was blazing fast as the spinning of a blackhole.

    Thank you for all you have done Stephan and inspiring people, it will be a big hole to fill.

  67. Turtles don't work by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 2

    So, just because current science prefer marbles and mattresses, it doesn't make it particularly funny if someone else uses turtles and oceans.

    Science prefers "marbles and mattresses" because if you put a marble on a mattress it deforms the surface so that a smaller marble nearby will fall towards it. If you put a turtle in an ocean it will not suddenly cause all the smaller turtles nearby to be pulled towards it. So the reason one analogy is preferred over the other is that marbles and mastresses work and the turtles do not and if you change the story to have the person reply "It's swimming in an ocean of milk" they don't come across as any less foolish!

  68. On the positive side... by XMadtowner · · Score: 1

    I guess it is only fitting that Dr. Hawking being a brilliant mathematician, passes away on Pi Day. Rest in peace my friend.

  69. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by Trogre · · Score: 1

    Username does not check out.

    Socialism does no such thing. Under socialism the government does all that for you and forces you to surrender your assets (time, wealth) for the good of those around you.

    Right-wing systems work off the assumption that the individual is responsible for themselves, and will understand and empathise with those around them without any supervision. Problem is, they don't.

    --
    "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
  70. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by mrthoughtful · · Score: 1

    My understanding is different to yours, even though we are both reasonably well read. I continue this without attempting to steer you away from your convictions - and I respect that which you hold dear. But for me, notions of collaboration and competition do not really belong to the realm of biological evolution, just as they do not belong to chemistry: even if we talk if different elemental atoms ‘competing’ for e.g. an oxygen atom, we are only doing so in a rather free sense.

    Spencer (and others) wanted to use Darwinism to describe and illuminate social policy, but it could easily be argued that they read into Darwin what it was they were already committed to; read e.g. Kropotkin’s ‘Mutual Aid’ for a completely different steer that is just as informed by Darwin but with radically distinct conclusions.

    I reckon Jonathan Haidt’s ‘the righteous mind’ is a great place to start (if somewhat reductive) looking at how politics becomes polarised - but be warned - one ends up with some form of Pluralism or another!

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  71. Re:paywall by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    I enjoyed the book and it is in my collection, but it was too brief and did not reveal anything new.

    The point of it to a certain extent, and definitely the point of his followup book The Universe in a Nutshell was to take current knowledge and speculation and package them up for a (slightly) more mass audience.

  72. Re:Pour one out for the homie by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    We lost one of the greatest rap musicians of our generation yesterday.

  73. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by Rakarra · · Score: 1

    is an artefact of the rural, where strangers are to be feared rather than to be welcomed as trading partners.

    Yikes. I've found the opposite -- I am far more insular since I moved to the city. I avoid eye contact with people on the street, I don't talk to strangers there, I walk on by. It's been mentioned often that people in many other areas of the country might be more open and warm, but myself, and the people around grew this way defensively. Nearly everyone who approaches you on the street has some sort of angle. "Hey, do you have any money?" "I've got some brain-dead petition to sign you up for." "Want to subscribe to this magazine?" "Money money money money." The answer is: no, I don't want to give out any money, and I don't like being seen as a walking ATM either (I wouldn't say I dress or look fancy either -- this happens to EVERYONE who doesn't look like he's homeless). When every conversation leads to some sort of shakedown, you avoid conversation. That's life in the big city. You can be gregarious at clubs, at home, at work... but elsewhere, it's a hassle.

  74. Re:paywall by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    I know that.

    But it was way too shallow.

    Nice for the casual reader, but we had Asimov, Sagan, and now we have Tyson.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  75. His life and his death... both amazing! by iq145 · · Score: 1

    His death comes on Pi day (3.14), the date which Albert Einstein was born. Hawking was also born on the date Galileo Galilei died (January 8th 1642), the same year Isaac Newton was born. Farewell to a fellow scientist. The last of history's greatest thinkers is now gone...

  76. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    The big philosophical problem with Social Darwinism is that it takes a natural process (evolution) and makes it a moral issue. Darwin wrote about evolution as it was, essentially as it pretty much had to be; Spencer wrote that we should deliberately emulate it as social policy, where we have a choice of possible policies.

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  77. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by david_thornley · · Score: 1

    Are you really going to pretend that the Soviet Union was so typical of socialism that we can make general statements about socialism from its behavior?

    --
    "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  78. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by mrthoughtful · · Score: 1

    This is just an uneducated and poor representation of what is socialism. The notion of 'government' is very different within a socialist framework than it is from a right-wing framework.

    You appear to identify that a socialist government, with public ownership of many state services, is a corporation and normally the nation's largest employer, exploiting efficiencies of scale in order to deliver cost-effective services to the population. The primary difficulty facing a socialist government are to do with inefficiencies creeping in due to a lack of effective competition. This one issue is what has been keeping western european nations occupied for the last 40 years.

    As to 'enforcing surrender of assets (time, wealth)' - this is called taxation. It certainly isn't an artefact of socialism, but it is part of a general social contract that the citizen has with her/his legal membership to the sovereign state. There is nobody stopping us from changing our citizenship to that of, eg, Panama - where you are not be expected to pay tax on money earned off-shore. Of course, you will lose all the other perks of your current nationality - which for western europe is state-sponsored education, healthcare, pensions, housing, policing, military defence, and many other benefits.

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  79. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by mrthoughtful · · Score: 1

    That should read:- "You appear NOT to identify that a socialist government"

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  80. Thanks, Prof. Hawking! by ComputersKai · · Score: 1

    Computer reboot jokes aside, thanks for all your contributions to science and inspiration to all those students of science everywhere. And of course, all the handicapped people who are given hope by your story. May you finally be at peace and rejoin the cosmos you devoted yourself to studying.
    See you at your time travel party; in the meantime, so long and thanks for all the fish!

  81. Re:Why do intellectuals fall for socialism? by wyHunter · · Score: 1

    Other nations that are today being called socialists are 'mixed economies'

  82. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

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