Stephen Hawking's Voice Beamed Into Space as His Ashes Are Interred (cnet.com)

The ashes of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking were interred at Westminster Abbey in London on Friday in a memorial ceremony attended by a mixture of celebrities and members of the public. From a report: Astronaut Tim Peake and British actor Benedict Cumberbatch and both gave readings, and Astronomer Royal Martin Rees paid tribute to the Hawking's work. Following the service, Hawking's words, set to an original score by composer Vangelis, will be beamed into space by the European Space Agency.

Hawking died in March aged 76 after a lifetime of studying the science of space and time. His final resting place is situated between the remains of two other great scientists: Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton. It is a rare honor to be interred at the Abbey, and one that has not been afforded to a scientist for almost 80 years. Before Hawking, the last scientists laid to rest at Westminster were atomic physicists Ernest Rutherford in 1937 and Joseph John Thomson in 1940.

Comments

Science of space and time?

[Anonymous Coward]

More like math and endless abstractions and poems. Not much science there.

RIP

[AlwinBarni]

Rest in peace Mr Hawking.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Where were you before you were born? Same when you're dead. No need to invoke Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Jesus, Buddha, Allah, Mohamed, or all the hundreds of safety blankets that adult children cling to.

You're born, your neural network forms itself, it has a few decades of useful life, then it slowly decays along with your body and ceases operation and that's all.

Your doubt is worth as much as a random fart in the wind.

Re:RIP

[smooth wombat]

Thank you for showing the evils of religion. Because this man, or any person, didn't believe in a magical guy in the sky, even though he did nothing wrong his entire life and in fact suffered most of his life because the magical guy in the sky "has a plan", he'll be in torment for eternity.

If that's the "loving" god you worship, I'll pass.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know what funny idiocies bounce inside your cranium, but:

at peace

1Free from anxiety or distress.
1.1Dead and therefore free from the difficulties of life. (Oxford Dictionary).

Go do your proselytizing somewhere else.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

A 99.9% atheist talking shit about a 100% athiest.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

.....if he was wrong... Well, let's just say, there will be no peace then either.

Those are the beliefs of parochial and Evangelical "Christian" kooks who have no idea about what their religion is about.

So much for a loving and forgiving God I guess.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

well put.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed. Based on his level of snark, "useful" may be up for debate.

Re:RIP

[Pascoea]

If that's the "loving" god you worship, I'll pass.

Amen. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.) I couldn't agree more. I mean, I guess if you need a book, weekly meetings, and daily meditation to help you navigate shit that's going on in your life, have at it. But if I have to listen to one more politician beg for our "hopes and prayers" for the victims of this weeks mass shooting or natural disaster I'm going to puke. I mean, I can't help but snicker at the irony of asking an invisible man to help those he just smote.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, I'm 100% NOT an artiest and I wrote the original post.

I'm appealing to the logic of the situation. Atheists don't believe in the spiritual, there is nothing but the physical, so when you die, your mind stops functioning and for you, it's over. There is nothing... If the atheist is right, there is no peace in death as there is no existence after death, life just ends and that's it. So there is no point it wishing that they rest in peace..

Hawking was an avowed atheist and I think he would appreciate what I'm saying. Don't wish him peace in death, there is no point.

IF Hawking is wrong, and I fully believe that he was, then there will be no peace for him as he faces his creator, having denied the creators existence and refused the creator's provision of eternal life. We have a free will after all, and God will honor our choice.

So, either way, there is no peace for Hawking...There is either nothing, or judgment...

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Then you believe Hawking was correct and you should fully understand that there is no point in wishing him peace.

Further, if you ascribe to Hawking's views, then you would also understand that it's stupid to even respond to me. If Hawking is no more and his body will just be recycled in the circle of life, why bristle at my discussion of the situation should Hawking be mistaken?

I've never understood why atheists where so militant about this kind of thing... Seems that if you really believe there isn't anything you'd not really care at all as you don't have any skin in that game anyway.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Where I hope that is true, I seriously doubt an Atheist is going to be at peace. If he was right, there is nothing (no peace, just nothing), if he was wrong... Well, let's just say, there will be no peace then either.

Ahh, good ol' Pascal's wager. Well, you left out the obvious non-Jesus childish deity that turns out to to be the real one is far more infuriated with your false Jesus worship than atheists, thus ensuring you are tortured eternally and atheists like Hawking get peace. Best to hedge your bets and rip that bandaid off the wound that nonsense has left in your mind.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Pssst, If he was wrong, he would be judged on his deeds. Unlike the clergy, He did not diddle little kids at church so he'll most likely be fine. The ultimate lesson of judaism/christianity is that we were given free will, and how we use that free will is more important than blind obedience. People who use that free will to do harm end up in hell. Including true believers persecuting nonbelievers.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Hear hear.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Your doubt is worth as much as a random fart in the wind.

well put.

I saw what you did there.

Re:RIP

[fish_in_the_c]

That is not entirely true, it is difficult to know with certainty the disposition of someone else's soul. We are judge on our relationship to God , which in part has to do with how much we desire to know the truth and live the truth. It is very difficult to know what experiences the devil may have given someone that keeps them back from the knowledge of what is true, but in so much as they are sincerely seeking the truth and are not at fault in not finding it , it becomes more difficult to know what the final consequences will be for them. Hell is something we choose for ourselves by our persistent rejection of the truth so in a persons ignorance, there is at least some hope they will eventually find peace.

Still , a well educated and strident atheist ? My guess would be he will be in purgatory a while and need serious some prayer for his soul if he makes it at all. One of the unanswerable questions is if his rejection of God was sincere or if he was really rejecting what he imagines God to be , which is what most atheists do. Most Christians I know have struggled with a temptation to atheism some are former athiest and so many I'd guess around 30% Christian's have a good understanding of atheism. On the other hand , most atheist I know , I'd guess something like 70% of them, have never really taken the time to understand what they are rejecting , and are instead rejecting either 'the faith there parents taught them poorly' or the character of faith made popular in certain literature, they don't actually reject God or true faith in him because various situations conspire to prevent them from ever knowing the evidence that supports his existence.

So , what will the all knowing judge of the universe do for those souls , will they be punished for what is not their fault. It would not be unjust if they were, but there is also reason to hope he will be Merciful.

Re:RIP

[fish_in_the_c]

I had not yet been created. Simply because you being does not prove you end.

Re:RIP

[fish_in_the_c]

you have created an incredible straw man, which has little or nothing to do with what Christians actually believe?
You are welcome to burn him , but if you would like to understand why a person can Go to Hell when there is completely good I'l;l offer you a simple way to think about it:

  God is not a rapist, he will not violate your free will, if you reject him in this life in such a way that your rejection carries over into the next, he lets you be alone with yourself for eternity, well you probably get to interact with the other beings you do accept , that is Hell.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Pssst, If he was wrong, he would be judged on his deeds. Unlike the clergy, He did not diddle little kids at church so he'll most likely be fine. The ultimate lesson of judaism/christianity is that we were given free will, and how we use that free will is more important than blind obedience. People who use that free will to do harm end up in hell. Including true believers persecuting nonbelievers.

God doesn't grade on a curve, it's pass or fail. You have to be 100% perfect to pass the coming judgment on your own. So make one mistake and there is nothing you can do to make it up, you are done, condemned, and facing judgment. No amount of good deeds or righteousness you can do makes up for your one, tiny failure. So if you use your free will ONE time for evil, break one rule, do one thing wrong, your goose is cooked, you will fail judgment because God's righteous standard is 100% perfection, not better than the next guy or better than average.

Christianity teaches this exact doctrine as a fundamental understanding. So you obviously misunderstand the basic facts about the religion you are trying to deride. Why should we pay attention to the argument of the uninformed and mistaken?

Re:RIP

[ClickOnThis]

I'm on board with your post, but some comments.

I admire Stephen Hawking greatly, for his contributions to science and his example of facing adversity and making the best of his situation. His legacy will be long-lasting. And he certainly didn't deserve to suffer in his life the way he did.

That said, I think you overdo it when you say he "did nothing wrong his entire life." He was an imperfect human being, like all of us.

And while there are those who pervert religion to evil purposes, I wouldn't say it consists of nothing but "evils." It has tried, and often succeeded, to illustrate the nature of humanity and compassion. Faith should never be the enemy of reason. But reason needs evidence, and sometimes you just don't have it.

Stephen Hawking was an atheist. He often spoke of God, but as a metaphor for concepts others identify with. A quote:

God is the name people give to the reason we are here. But I think that reason is the laws of physics rather than someone with whom one can have a personal relationship. An impersonal God.

He also famously countered Einstein's complaint of quantum mechanics ("God does not play dice!") with his own comments:

[E]ven God is bound by the Uncertainty Principle, and can not know both the position, and the speed, of a particle. So God does play dice with the universe. All the evidence points to him being an inveterate gambler, who throws the dice on every possible occasion.

[...]

Not only does God definitely play dice, but He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen.

RIP Professor Hawking. Whether or not there is a God, IMHO you have earned a place in the Pantheon of great minds in history.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Romans is pretty clear. All have sinned and fall short. All are without excuse. There are no exceptions given and universalism is not therefor scriptural.

Will God do right? Absolutely, but the "wages of sin is death" is universal and only one means of escape that judgment, trusting God for deliverance. It's always been this way and will always be this way as long as time moves on.

Re:RIP

[smooth wombat]

Ah yes, the infamous "God created man and gave him free will, but whines and bitches when man uses that free will."

It seems if your god, or any god, was truly omnipotent, it would have created perfect beings from the beginning. Instead, we get stories of how it's a woman's fault we're screwed up because she exercised her free will.

That this being, who screwed up from the beginning, then impregnated another man's wife so she would have his child who would then be sent to his death by God's own chosen people, is even proof of the ridiculousness of religion.

If one can live a good life not going around robbing, raping or stealing, and still not be considered to go to your heaven, again, I'll pass.

Re:RIP

[Xenographic]

I think you misunderstand the nature of hell. What an atheist wants is to be apart from God, that's what they get. They just realize what they gave up with no way to get it back. As they say, hell is other people.

This conception of Heaven as a theme park to which someone denies you tickets isn't quite right. It's more like a community you include or exclude yourself from.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

You wankers know so much about religion. Too bad snark can't be a dogma, you'd be set for life.

Re:RIP

[fish_in_the_c]

no , it doesn't. However, there are mountains of evidence for the existence of God and it is a theory that makes sense. If your interested I can send you a few links.
On the other hand, it is something that can't be proved convulsively because likely the proof would require super human intelligence, not because of how remote God is , but how close. Just like it isn't easy to prove the existence of EM or quantum physics without special training and equipment even though it is all around us all the time. Of coarse by some estimations 30% or more of the people on the earth don't have a high enough IQ to understand the mathematics that prove quantum mechanics, so it should be no shock there are limits on what we are able to fully understand.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Why should we respond? Because stupidity must be called out in every dark place where it is found and shown the light of day.

Re:RIP

[fish_in_the_c]

right, you have to start from the place there is no one who deserves salvation. Then it becomes a mystery ( aka something too difficult for a human to understand fully). Why some are saved and for that matter which ones. Because everything belongs to God and we should have not doubt he wills to save all. The scriptures make it clear what God expects us to do to be saved, but they are relatively silent on exactly who will be dambed , lest we should make ourselves judges.

    We know the God judges not with human eyes , but instead judges the unseen human heart. So unless you know with certitude what opportunities for salvation someone rejected, you cannot know with certitude their final destination. Also, you can never know what someone repented of or thought between exhaling their last breath and the soul leaving the body.

  Of this I'm sure, there are two extremes to be avoided, not everyone goes to hell, as we all deserver and not everyone goes to heaven. I don't think it is ours to 'know' beyond that. We must look to ourselves and do the best to help others, but always hope God is merciful to people who have not been giving the grace to know what is true, because it is impossible to know, if they were unable or unwilling and if they changed their mind before they died.
    The worse we can say about someone is that the life they lived does not bode well for them if they did not change their path as their last act upon this earth.
We can hope , that in God's mercy, he supplied them with the grace to do just that, if they would accept it.

Re:RIP

[Obfuscant]

If one can live a good life not going around robbing, raping or stealing, and still not be considered to go to your heaven, again, I'll pass.

Then you should be happy that God created you with the free will to make that choice, instead of creating you as a toady yes-man servant who is forced to love and obey him whether you want to or not. See, that's how it works. You get to choose.

When you created children, if you did, did you want them to be slaves to you, loving you not by choice but by force? When they bring you a Father's Day present in a week or so, would it mean anything if they were programmed robots forced to bring you gifts or does it mean more if they get to choose? Would a wife you created these children with be more valuable and interesting if she were a slave to your whims not by any choice of her own but by design?

Have a nice day.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, I'm 100% NOT an artiest [sic] and I wrote the original post.

You don't believe in over a thousand gods.

I'm appealing to the logic of the situation.

Naive.

Atheists don't believe in the spiritual, there is nothing but the physical, so when you die, your mind stops functioning and for you, it's over.

No, atheists don't believe in gods. It's in the name.

IF Hawking is wrong, and I fully believe that he was, then there will be no peace for him as he faces his creator, having denied the creators existence and refused the creator's provision of eternal life.

This is only the case if the version of the one god you happen to believe in, is a judgmental psychopath. Even if we assume that a god exists, there's only a 0.00% chance of your version being the one.

So, either way, there is no peace for Hawking...There is either nothing, or judgment...

There's millions of ways just on the theist side. All of which with the same merit, and not many of which are like your judgemental psychopathic creator.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that's not true. All you have to do is ask forgiveness and all is right. Oh, and pay 10% of everything you make to the church. Cause god needs cash.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

First, God is all powerful, creator of all, including you and me.

Fairly sure those last parts start with a mommy and a daddy.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

In addition to being weirdly obsessed with a fat poster, you also are a vocal atheist on a computer bulletin board!

I'm willing to bet serious money you're some unmarried autist in his 40s with few real-life friends but an active WOW account.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

On the one hand, little is worse than a religious bigot. Thank you for showing us how a little worse than a religious bigot you are.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

However, there are mountains of evidence for the existence of God

No, there is just a contradictory book, but there may be mountains of other bullshit about God too.

Re:RIP

[Pascoea]

I'm a bigot for seeing the irony in religion? I said right in my post, if you want to practice religion, have right at it. Believe what you want, all you want. Just don't expect me to play along and pretend it's going to solve the worlds problems.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, as an outside observer - you lost all ability to claim ANY moral high-ground when you suggested that good people who are "wrong" about whether God exists will be tormented for all eternity.

Fuck you and your toxic destructive theology. If God exists, I suspect that if he's a fair or just being, people like YOU will be at the *top* of his "assholes to make suffer" list.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

You passing is the key. God sends no one to Hell. You send yourself. God loves you so much He'll even let you choose eternity without Him. He won't force you.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

OR.... bear with me here... OR...

Just be good for goodness' sake, because that's what people who aren't assholes just DO whether there is sky-cake at death or not.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think the Bible is the only evidence you are sorely mistaken. There is loads of philosophical evidence that doesn't rely on any holy book.

Re:RIP

[Darinbob]

Interesting movie (on netflix) called Come Sunday, about a very popular Pentecostal preacher with a large church who decided that based on scripture and having the Holy Spirit speak to him, that there was no hell. Not a "liberal" church so needless to say there were a lot of unhappy parishioners.

Also an accompanying radio show on This American Life with more details and background and less drama, and makes things a bit easier to understand for those who weren't raised as a protestant.

Re:RIP

[Darinbob]

I think so much cultural baggage gets mixed up with theology, and the end result is that people will mistake casual feel-good statements as religious dogma. Ie, "it was God's will" gets used a lot, but it also flies in the face of other religious beliefs

If everything that happens is purely God's will, then there's no free-will because God would therefore be a micro-manager of all events. So many people use such trite comforting statements that they start to believe them. Ask them to back this up with scriptures and they often fail, or cite scriptures that don't really have that meaning. Others seem to have totally inconsistent views here - it's God's will if a child dies from disease, but not God's will if a shooter did this. But anyone claiming to know God's will probably needs to get a bit more humility.

Too much religion these days is more about belonging to the right club, separating us from them, as opposed to a spiritual seeking of truth.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes you sure do know all about existence. Or lack thereof. Your own?
Do you accept darkmatter? No more proof of that exists than âgodâ(TM).

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

I've never understood why atheists where so militant about this kind of thing... Seems that if you really believe there isn't anything you'd not really care at all as you don't have any skin in that game anyway.

Atheists require far more faith than any believer.

Captcha: parishes

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Our souls are forever. Also Mr. Hawkings.

Re:RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

IF Hawking is wrong, and I fully believe that he was, then there will be no peace for him as he faces his creator, having denied the creators existence and refused the creator's provision of eternal life. We have a free will after all, and God will honor our choice.

Well, depends on the god of course.

Oh, I see - you assumed that it was a specific god that you have special information about. How cute.

Re:RIP

[K10W]

I think so much cultural baggage gets mixed up with theology, and the end result is that people will mistake casual feel-good statements as religious dogma. Ie, "it was God's will" gets used a lot, but it also flies in the face of other religious beliefs

If everything that happens is purely God's will, then there's no free-will because God would therefore be a micro-manager of all events. So many people use such trite comforting statements that they start to believe them. Ask them to back this up with scriptures and they often fail, or cite scriptures that don't really have that meaning. Others seem to have totally inconsistent views here - it's God's will if a child dies from disease, but not God's will if a shooter did this. But anyone claiming to know God's will probably needs to get a bit more humility.

Too much religion these days is more about belonging to the right club, separating us from them, as opposed to a spiritual seeking of truth.

Mod parent up, can't believe this isn't 5 insightful already because is better quality comment than the 4 and 5's preceeding it..

Re: RIP

[fish_in_the_c]

Really? Would you like some links.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse...

http://www.miraclehunter.com/m...

You can of course try dismiss every piece of evidence, but there are literally thousands or more and that isn't even accounting for the millions of more modane, experiences of believers.

Is it enough for proof beyond all doubt? Of course not, but I've met people who can explain away fossil evidence as myth. So all doubt is a whole lot higher standard of proof then most sciences.

Is the case proved? You have to decide for yourself. But your dead wrong and just plain ill informef you think there is no evidence.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Can the fuck up, you demoralized liberal bastard. Fuck you.

Re: RIP

[dave420]

Unfortunately none of that is evidence, so there is nothing to dismiss.

Re:RIP

[AlwinBarni]

Where I hope that is true, I seriously doubt an Atheist is going to be at peace. If he was right, there is nothing (no peace, just nothing), if he was wrong... Well, let's just say, there will be no peace then either.

This phrase is just to express my admiration for his achievements.

With regard to the "judgement", well, there are quite many versions of what we will be judged upon. One thing is sure, Mr Hawking did not bury his golden coin in the sand.

Re: RIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? Would you like some links.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse...

http://www.miraclehunter.com/m...

You can of course try dismiss every piece of evidence, but there are literally thousands or more and that isn't even accounting for the millions of more modane, experiences of believers.

Is it enough for proof beyond all doubt? Of course not, but I've met people who can explain away fossil evidence as myth. So all doubt is a whole lot higher standard of proof then most sciences.

Is the case proved? You have to decide for yourself. But your dead wrong and just plain ill informef you think there is no evidence.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. This is your scientific evidence. You obviously have no idea who a fact is proven. Please go study the scientific process.

Re: RIP

[fish_in_the_c]

It is just as much evidence if classified and studied as any other physical phenomenon. The evidence of course is more like that used in archeology and history then physics, but as an example the miricle at Lancano, was examined in lab by two professor who published there results. Finding heart tissue from a man of middle easten descent. They were unable to find any physical phenomenon that would account for the size and arrangement of the tissue. It has embedded bread particles and is the size of a small pancake (much too large for a normal human heart) .

If you follow the Wikipedia article it likes to the published paper.

It is just as much science as any archeology.

The healings at lourds France are now in the thousands. Documented by a group of physians of differing faiths, which at various points in time have included several atheist ( but they keep converting ).

They are well documented and include cures for bone deasease, cancer, blindness , the only cause anyone has found so far is a Marian apparition.

The number and frequency makes them useful for study, because something unaccounted for is certainly happening.

In the end no one can get you to see evidence that you are closed minded too, i've talked to enough climate change deniers and young earth creationists to know that. In the end people will do what they want for whatever reason makes them happy unless they are seriously committed to knowledge of the truth.

I will pray that you find happiness in this life and your way to good things in the next.

May God bless you.

Funeral coming a little late?

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't he die in the 80s?

WHy

[hcs_$reboot]

Why are we scaring away ETs?

Re:WHy

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, did they use a recording of his voice, or his robot voice?

Because when the Butlerians arrive after hearing his robot voice, we're gonna regret this.

Re: WHy

[Anonymous Coward]

Once technology improved upon his 80s synth voice, someone offered to make him a custom synthesizer using recordings of his real voice. He refused, saying the robotic voice represented him now. He just lamented that it had an american accent.

If given the choice

[Anonymous Coward]

Would you want?

A. A mind like his, in a body like his.

B. A mind like yours, in a body like mine.

C. None of the above. I just wish I were dead to get away from Trump!

Re:If given the choice

[Anonymous Coward]

Would you want?

A. A mind like his, in a body like his.

B. A mind like yours, in a body like mine.

C. None of the above. I just wish I were dead to get away from Trump!

Oh good, worried we would not have some anti Trump comment in a Slashdot article. Because everything is politics anymore. We have nothing else to talk about. What an empty culture we have become.

Heroes

[Anonymous Coward]

You can tell a lot about a society based on who their heroes are. I'm not saying that everyone in the UK thought of Hawking as a hero, but never the less, we don't have anyone like that here in the US.

Re:Heroes

[afidel]

Sure we do, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and before him Sagan.

Re: Heroes

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh good grief. Sagan, sure. But Tyson? Let's go with Feynman.

Hawking is vastly overrated

[AnthonywC]

His popularity came from his disability; not his actual scientific accomplishment (while still good; is arguably not that great). For example, the former Lucasian Professor Paul Dirac is a much more accomplished physicist than Hawking.

Re:Hawking is vastly overrated

[Anonymous Coward]

Hawking's accomplishments go beyond being a physicist though. He's just as recognized for helping make science popular among us commoners that maybe didn't choose to go into it for a career. He could take the ideas in modern physics and theoretical physics and distill them down in a way that most anyone could understand if they were willing to actually crack a book and do a modicum of thinking about the subject. And helping to get this sort of thought process instilled in a larger percentage of the public isn't a bad thing to have accomplished at all. I know there were always science related popular books about, but his really kicked off a whole wave of science inclined books to allow the general public to begin to grasp some of the most interesting science of the day.

Re:Hawking is vastly overrated

[Kjella]

Well the fame is obviously because of the chair and the voice, because you don't get famous for doing physics. If you go through the list of Nobel prize winners I think the only one any significant number would remember is Albert Einstein, and if he'd been more serious and well-groomed I doubt even he'd reach that fame on merit alone. Maybe Schrödinger for the cat but very little else. So what's the merits if you try to take away all the fame? I honestly don't know enough physics to tell and you can't really go by other physicist's awards and whatnot if you assuming they were all swooning over his disability.

He was pretty clearly a very bright young student bordering on genius before he was diagnosed with the condition though. And I doubt physicists are really handing out participation awards, I don't think any of them would hold back from arresting Hawking on any flaws in his theories. His main theory of Hawking radiation isn't proven yet which is why he doesn't have a Nobel prize, but it certainly could be true. I know he plays into a human idea that mind and body are in balance so an extraordinary mind and crippled go together like Xavier in X-Men but reality is they're quite orthogonal. His condition doesn't make his mind that special, but it doesn't preclude that possibility either.

Re:Hawking is vastly overrated

[martinfb]

Agreed. Yet, there is something to be said for dumb-ing it down to reachable levels for us layman.

In Space...

[hcs_$reboot]

...nobody hear you scream...

compared to what, dick wad

[Anonymous Coward]

arguably not that great

what a fucking loser you are, talking trash about people that you've never met and did not know

you do realize that you have just destroyed your career? every job interview will start with "why do you think hawking is not that great?"

Re:compared to what, dick wad

[Anonymous Coward]

Compared to Paul Dirac, for starters...

Every job interview you have will start with "why can't you read?"

Re:compared to what, dick wad

[Anonymous Coward]

Every job interview you have will start with "why can't you read?"

so will you, we both have the same name

Re:compared to what, dick wad

[Anonymous Coward]

what a fucking loser you are, talking trash about people that you've never met and did not know

You do realize you are talking trash about a person you've never met and do not know, right?

Re:compared to what, dick wad

[Anonymous Coward]

Go back to your special school, forever immature teenager.

Re:compared to what, dick wad

[Anonymous Coward]

Seek medical attention. The wound where your sense of humor was amputated has gone septic.

By Vangelis?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me guess the piece was called Wheelchairs of Fire.

Captcha: perhaps

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You spin me round round like an Evangelical

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, the circular reasoning that passes for "logic" in the Evangelical community.

Don't worry, after reading your post, I get vertigo and puked. Jebus' wrath.

Its ironic...

[Anonymous Coward]

Since he wanted us to stop leaking information into space to reduce the chance of detection by potentially hostile aliens.

Re:Its ironic...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up +1 informative.

A final ironic twist ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hawking warned us of the dangers of being "discovered" by alien civilizations. So now his voice is going to be used to do just that? Guess somebody didn't listen to what he was saying....

Re:A final ironic twist ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up +1 informative.

Beamed his voice into space?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's ironic that they beamed his voice into space since, as of late, Hawking thought it somewhat unwise of us to broadcast our existence to potential intelligent alien life.

Re: Beamed his voice into space?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't his voice just synthesized anyway? Dud they just launch an EPROM into space with his voice samples on it?

Re: Beamed his voice into space?

[pgn674]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Sounds like that's exactly the opposite of what would have wanted.

Re: Beamed his voice into space?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is english the language that is used for sending his voice to the outer space?
Why?
Is universal this english language that is sent to the outer space?

His voice, was or was not synthesized from his chair machine?

What is the purpose of sending his voice to the outer space?

I'm not sure that the aliens can listen his voice. Using english for commmunication in the outer space is overrated. Or it is too noise for them.

Escalating this noise to giant radiotelescopes means an escalate of power that trashes this noise to outer space interfering the communications of another aliens or humans.

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More than a scientist

[Muckluck]

I actually respect him a lot for his cartoon voice acting as much as his science contributions. He was someone who not only excelled at science and explaining concepts, but also did some funny work as a voice actor in Futurama.

To quote him, "I like physics, but I love cartoons".

Re:More than a scientist

[Jason Levine]

He also appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation and multiple times on The Big Bang Theory, though I love his Futurama work the most.

Hawking: I call it a "Hawking Hole".

Fry: No fair! I saw it first!

Hawking: Who is The Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?

Past Perfect Future Tense

[Anonymous Coward]

4 Time Travellers attended his funeral, or Will attend his funeral - depending on your relative point of view...

Hey sonny...

[Anonymous Coward]

Pull My Finger !

Prototype

[Anonymous Coward]

God is the prototype cnceptual construct for the totalitarian Hive Mind the internet is growing. Everyone connected, the network of neural networks, no more room for individuals, only A.I. and the politically correct.

Luring the Alien Threat

[Anonymous Coward]

This is the same Stephen Hawking that was worried that beaming things into space might attract aliens to destroy us, right?
https://www.space.com/29999-stephen-hawking-intelligent-alien-life-danger.html

This is a really twisted way to honor his life.

Re:Luring the Alien Threat

[Anonymous Coward]

Came here to say this. Seems pretty disrespectful to do this considering he thought it was a bad idea.

more of a taunt and a curse

[micahraleigh]

I can see someone's enemy saying, "I'm going to blast your debris across space and all alien life will hear your screams!"

Universal Translator OUTPUT

[Anonymous Coward]

Hopes = Harden your buildings with steel armored locking doors, and blast resistant walls & windows.

Prayers : Metal Detectors, Man Trap Double Doors, Controlled Entry Points, Armed Police on Guard.

Welcome to the real world where people die every day.

Good Luck .

Eden Testing Lab.

[Anonymous Coward]

Take the creation myth and look at is as a software developer growing A.I.

1. A creature that obeys all orders is just an automation, a robot.

2. An animal that obeys out of fear is just instinctual, no free will.

3. A Human ordered not to do something, and threatened with harm, but decides for itself to make it's own choices = Functional Free Will.

Maybe that is illusionary free will subjectively experience by the meat bag of chemical reactions just as deterministic as striking a match burns to fire...

But for the Eden Labs Purpose, it passes as functional free will.

The humans no longer neex fed & protected. The humans are released from the Garden of Eden free to roam the whole planet.

The Brain is the organ system that has grown & changed the most in humans compaired to other creatures.

And now the meat bags that think they are so special are working to create Digital A.I., the neural net without the meat.

Evolution or Mythology, the only "sin" is to criticize logic and reason, or deciding to follow destruction and harming people, "the end justifies the means".

Will virtually immortal digital life forms have more compassion and kindness than their meat bag creators ?

Probably not.

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Religion is schizophrenia. Literally. "God" = "I"

[Anonymous Coward]

When religious people say "God", they mean themselves.
Try it. Suddenly, everything makes sense.

And yes. Religiousness is literally schizophrenia. The illness where the brain permanently couldn't make acceptable sense of reality, and created a simpler and nicer comforting delusion, and now instead of basing the inner model on experienced reality, reality is built upon the rigid delusional model, and everything else is ignored. (Plus, the more contradicting evidence you bring, the more arguments for their delusion will they find. As it's perceived as literally a life-and-death-sifuation by them. . Because the brain *needs* a consistent model to know what to do to reach a certain goal. If that stops being consistent, it stops being predictable and you truly don't know what to to, to achieve the simplest things. You are so lost, you can't even know if up is down or if you exist anymore. ... And at that point, either the personality physically splits, or the brain "shuts down". ... Don't do that to them please. ... It's an illness. Don't hate them for an illness! ... Instead, try to make reality acceptable and understandable to them again. [Which might be hard, if they are really really stupid, or a traumatic event truly cannot be explained or processed in any acceptable way.])

Christ's Teachings vs Mythology.

[Anonymous Coward]

The worlds most famous Atheist is of course, Jesus Christ.
He correctly identified religious leaders as a den of thieves , whitewashed tombs that follow rituals that do nothing, then demand payments from the poor.
The Whole NEW Testament is GOD IS LOVE
LOVE IS GOD
Love LOVE with all your body, mind, emotions, and life.
Love Everyone
Especially Love your enemies unyil you are friends. The best way to destroy enemies is to make them your friends.
If you need something, ask for help.
If you see someone in need, help as much as you can.
If someone wrongs you, be patient and endure.
If people murder you, pray for your executioners.

The Good Samaritan story summary is Christ's whole teachings: A man finds another man robbed & beaten half to death, binds his wounds, takes him to an inn, cares for him for a short time, then even pays extra so the victim can recover.

Healing Compassion and Loving Kindness, giving help with no expection of reward.

Just caring because it's the right thing to do.

No man in the sky,
no stone churches,
just Love.

Define Gravity as the force that draws mass together,
define Love as the creative energies setting the whole universe in motion, and bringing your ancestors together to from your grandparents , parents , and you.

Do you believe in Love?

That doesn't really matter
as much as
Love 'believes' in You.

Love creates you
sustains you
feeds you
clothes you.

'hell' being the absence of love,
existing in every starving war orphan, in every twitching aborted corpse, in every victim of terrorism or abuse: the absence of Love causes Hell on Earth.

theist or atheist,
you exist,
or at least you think you exist.

Enjoy it while you can,
and love others as best as you are able.

What an atheist wants is to be apart from God...

[truckaxle]

What an atheist wants is to be apart from God, that's what they get.

That is prehaps the stupidist comment here... i know, i know it gets passed around in churchy circles - but it is just stupid. If someone wanted to be apart from God, then they would not be an atheist... but an angry theist. Do you want to be apart from Zeus? From Krishna? Or do you just not believe those concepts and proposals are viable? Think before spouting stupid platitudes - as it reveals that you haven't thought very deeply.

Re:What an atheist wants is to be apart from God..

[Xenographic]

I mean that in the sense that you want no relationship with them. I certainly don't want any sort of relationship with Zeus or Krishna.

Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but there are a non-trivial number of self-described atheists who are mad at a god they don't believe in. Visiting any major atheist forum will disabuse you of any notion that they don't exist. One of the largest cohorts thereof are ex-believers who left the church as teenagers after a falling out with their parents.

So why not do what he said we shouldn't

[Kuruk]

So Stephen Hawking was outspoken with his views on contacting Alien life.

"One day, we might receive a signal from a planet like this," Hawking said, referring to the potentially habitable alien planet Gliese 832c. "But we should be wary of answering back. Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn't turn out so well," he added in 2016 during the documentary "Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places," which streamed on the CuriosityStream video service."

Following the service, Hawking's words, set to an original score by composer Vangelis, will be beamed into space by the European Space Agency.

Romans ate clear

[Anonymous Coward]

Take Over The Whole World !

Rome will rise again.. ???

His voice, or his "voice"?

[sabt-pestnu]

Stephen Hawking's actual voice (before his disability caught up with him) ?

Or the computer generated voice (the name of whose sample donor I could not locate )?