Hawking Said There Is No God....

[ER]

Since two of you PM'd me to ask what I thought of Hawking as a person, how about I lay my input here to rest by answering that and then I'm done?

Hawking was a fine pop culture figure, a man who did a lot after his illness when I'm certain most people would have caved-in, me among them, and I liked his musings on aliens (especially the dangers of inviting them to come find us!!!) and the fluidity of time.

I know a few experimental physicists (okay I know two) and there is a division in physics wherein those in the experimental side see themselves as in the trenches of science, while theoretical physicists like Dr. Hawking are sort of in glass towers thinking all day and taking up on the work of experimental physicists and getting famous by expounding upon their labor.

How much of that is valid and how much is the cross-lab rivalry, I couldn't say since my background is in biology, but I can tell you, most scientists seem to love to savage one another.

I do think there is a certain hypocrisy in Hawking for his saying he boycotted Israel because of Israel's "occupation" of the West Bank (which he referred to as Palestine) when Hawking used Israeli-made technology in his speech program and of course in his tablets, which ran on Intel components of Israeli design. I guess he was selective in exactly what parts of Israel he shunned, huh?

Aside from what I wrote in other posts about his occasional closed-mindedness and his making personal views sound like scientific declarations, I had nothing against the man and was always glad to see him on The Big Bang Theory. When he died, I was sad.

I do get annoyed when people latch onto figures like him and affect a certain "brilliant by association" outlook concerning material they probably don't understand, probably have never read, and almost certainly have never evaluated on their own.

PS: AHD, what was "brave" about Thomas Aquinas? That I did not get. He was the pampered pet of the king of France, who kept him in luxury and fed him gourmet food til Aquinas got so obese he had to have a wedge cut into the feasting table to even reach it? Brilliant, yes, but brave?

PM me with an explanation, if you'd like, and I'll explain my use of the word "Gnostic". 

[Allhallowsday]

...
PS: AHD, what was "brave" about Thomas Aquinas? That I did not get. He was the pampered pet of the king of France, who kept him in luxury and fed him gourmet food til Aquinas got so obese he had to have a wedge cut into the feasting table to even reach it? Brilliant, yes, but brave?

PM me with an explanation, if you'd like, and I'll explain my use of the word "Gnostic". 

I think it is always brave to express one's own opinion which does not adhere to the model.  THOMAS AQUINAS, a maverick, has a checkered reputation and was condemned by some in his own lifetime. 

[Svengoolie 3]

I'd side with hawking over the sadistic scum who take gleeful delight in imagining him suffering in hell.   https://youtu.be/H11G9dcKJQA

https://youtu.be/Ojj7wa8u5GM

https://youtu.be/kCgckvuV7Bk

Honestly when I see how hateful, sadistic and evil a lot of Christians can be I'm sure I don't want to be with these people forever...

[indianasmith]

Any group looks bad when you judge it by its worst members.

[RCMerchant]

Any group looks bad when you judge it by its worst members.

I agree- I mean- look at the Manson Family!
Charlie never actually killed anybody! But he  was a nice guy!

(I'm joking-I kid-I Kid!)

[Allhallowsday]

Any group looks bad when you judge it by its worst members.

I agree- I mean- look at the Manson Family!
Charlie never actually killed anybody! But he  was a nice guy!

(I'm joking-I kid-I Kid!)

Of course you kid; you know he was a turd rapist murderer.