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Stephen hawking dies at 76

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HomerJS said:
and have people forget how science and scientists are treated by a large segment of the populous, forget it.
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What the fuck does that have to do with the death of this man? You fucking asshole team players can't ease up for a fucking minute can you. For the record I'm a Conservative.
 
SNC said:
What the fuck does that have to do with the death of this man? You fucking asshole team players can't ease up for a fucking minute can you. For the record I'm a Conservative.
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So am I, and he's right. The right-wing have mainstreamed and normalized anti-intellectualism and anti-science.
 
Hayabusa Rider said:
That's great stuff but that is not what I was referring to. You understand that right?
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Not really, I believe scientific discoveries are the pinnacle of what man can achieve. Discovering knowledge that was unknown to every human that ever existed before you is an unbelievably monumental achievement. Being a spokesperson not so much. This is the reason I believe that Einstein was a far more important person to science than Bill Nye will ever be.
 
Amused said:
So am I, and he's right. The right-wing have mainstreamed and normalized anti-intellectualism and anti-science.
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So Ill ask you then. What the fuck does that have to do with the death of this man? And I'll add; why bring it up in a thread about his death?
 
SNC said:
So Ill ask you then. What the fuck does that have to do with the death of this man? And I'll add; why bring it up in a thread about his death?
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Because it's relevant in today's society. Because the anti-science movement's absurdity is highly relevant when speaking about this man's life and accomplishments.

But now? Mostly just because it pisses you off.
 
Hayabusa Rider said:
Then I'll back up a bit and say that because he was an atheist does allow determination by anyone to speak for him. As there is no basis for the determination that he had been annoyed/put off/disapproved of any well-wishers I'll stick with that. I allow that he might have been a dick.
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Just stop already.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...f-history-time-quotes-explained-a8254846.html

In the same interview, Professor Hawking dismissed the comforts of belief in the afterlife, and said that he expected nothing to greet him after he died.

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail," he said. "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."

But he said that there was no need for there to be life after death to make people behave well while they were alive. "We should seek the greatest value of our action," he said, when asked how we should live.
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The only one being a dick here is the person who wishes a person who believes in science, to go to god after they die. It would be like telling a devout Christian to enjoy their 32 virgins in the after life.
 
ivwshane said:
Just stop already.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...f-history-time-quotes-explained-a8254846.html




The only one being a dick here is the person who wishes a person who believes in science, to go to god after they die. It would be like telling a devout Christian to enjoy their 32 virgins in the after life.
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See I wouldn't be offended if someone said that to me or about a relative who died. I'd just think that they were a little weird and move on. I'm not really bothered about other people's fairy stories as long as they don't affect me.
 
bshole said:
Not really, I believe scientific discoveries are the pinnacle of what man can achieve. Discovering knowledge that was unknown to every human that ever existed before you is an unbelievably monumental achievement. Being a spokesperson not so much. This is the reason I believe that Einstein was a far more important person to science than Bill Nye will ever be.
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I was addressing the comment about "what more he might have thought up", not what he accomplished which was substantial. At the end he wound up being a spokesman simply because physicists have their day but like mathematicians, physicists do not tend to have great revelations at the end of their lives. One becomes fixed in a way of thinking and mental faculties decline. This is science, the decline of the individual over time. It does not make him less in any way and knowing when to switch to inspiration is a kind of wisdom.
 
WelshBloke said:
See I wouldn't be offended if someone said that to me or about a relative who died. I'd just think that they were a little weird and move on. I'm not really bothered about other people's fairy stories as long as they don't affect me.
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Has your lifes work be a crusade for science and devoted to science? Did your life include correcting the record when people thought you believe there was a god?

If not then you probably wouldn't be offended or think anything of such a comment. Again though, I didn't say he would be offended, I said he wouldn't approve of it and he's on record saying as much.
 
Hayabusa Rider said:
I was addressing the comment about "what more he might have thought up", not what he accomplished which was substantial. At the end he wound up being a spokesman simply because physicists have their day but like mathematicians, physicists do not tend to have great revelations at the end of their lives. One becomes fixed in a way of thinking and mental faculties decline. This is science, the decline of the individual over time. It does not make him less in any way and knowing when to switch to inspiration is a kind of wisdom.
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He was still publishing up to the end. Time might be needed to determine how important they are. It was 2004 that he solved the black hole paradox. sure 13 years ago but there's quite a few publications he's done since then that might end up being important.
 
ivwshane said:
Just stop already.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...f-history-time-quotes-explained-a8254846.html


The only one being a dick here is the person who wishes a person who believes in science, to go to god after they die. It would be like telling a devout Christian to enjoy their 32 virgins in the after life.
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Do you have a "Fuck you for wishing me well in your own way statement"? If not you've entered Dante's 7th hell of epistemology.

You have no rational basis for your claim. What you have is your belief, not a certainty of how Hawking would respond to a given comment. Now you might claim special knowledge transmitted by some unknown means and I certainly cannot say that you definitely don't, but you have no demonstrable basis for knowing the mind of another.

Personally I take any well intended wishes quite as that- well intended, not dwelling on wording. That's rational. I had assumed that Hawking had that basic human quality, understanding others as they intended to present themselves and not on trivialities of "isms".

In the end all knowledge is belief, and you believe you know. Ok but you have two options. One is to try and prove what you cannot or back off. What you will not do is provide a sound, coherent proof.
 
When someone genuinely wishes you well in their own way, it's never a bad thing. Getting upset about someone talking about Hawking being well in the afterlife is like getting upset about someone saying "happy holidays". Just smile, accept the nice gesture for what it is, and move on.
 
Hayabusa Rider said:
Do you have a "Fuck you for wishing me well in your own way statement"? If not you've entered Dante's 7th hell of epistemology.

You have no rational basis for your claim. What you have is your belief, not a certainty of how Hawking would respond to a given comment. Now you might claim special knowledge transmitted by some unknown means and I certainly cannot say that you definitely don't, but you have no demonstrable basis for knowing the mind of another.

Personally I take any well intended wishes quite as that- well intended, not dwelling on wording. That's rational. I had assumed that Hawking had that basic human quality, understanding others as they intended to present themselves and not on trivialities of "isms".

In the end all knowledge is belief, and you believe you know. Ok but you have two options. One is to try and prove what you cannot or back off. What you will not do is provide a sound, coherent proof.
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I have no basis? You are right, all I have is the mans own words. Silly me. /eye roll
 
MomentsofSanity said:
He was still publishing up to the end. Time might be needed to determine how important they are. It was 2004 that he solved the black hole paradox. sure 13 years ago but there's quite a few publications he's done since then that might end up being important.
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Anything is possible but I haven't seen more recent studies. BWT, Hawking proposed a possible mechanism that might offer a solution to the information paradox, but arrived at an incontrovertible solution is most likely too much.
 
Hayabusa Rider said:
In the end all knowledge is belief, and you believe you know. Ok but you have two options. One is to try and prove what you cannot or back off. What you will not do is provide a sound, coherent proof.
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Somewhat true, but some knowledge appears to track with the reality that we perceive better than other knowledge. Epistemology can be a real mind fuck.
 
ivwshane said:
I have no basis? You are right, all I have is the mans own words. Silly me. /eye roll
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Point out explicitly where Hawking would not appreciate a goodwill sentiment. I'm not a Muslim and if one said "Allah bless and be with you" I would say thank you and mean it. My agreement with his religion is irrelevant. Apparently, you think Hawking incapable of such simple human interactions and meaning.

Believing and appreciating an act of well withing are not tied together. Why do this to yourself?
 
bshole said:
Somewhat true, but some knowledge appears to track with the reality that we perceive better than other knowledge. Epistemology can be a real mind fuck.
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I was trying to put things in plain language people can understand. Anyone can say they know how another feels, but unless they can access objective reality, they do not. They have made a false statement.

Edit- for what bshole and I were referencing, here's what appears to be a fair basic explanation on the subject of epistemology

https://www.iep.utm.edu/epistemo/
 
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