Comment by Nate on August 9, 2011 at 1:25pm

 

Not ended, but defiantly a win for science.  He mentioned the exact same thing in the 1st episode of Discovery's new show Curiosity.  The pure and simple fact that a major reputable channel is airing a show that pretty much says that a god did not create a universe, is amazing.

Comment by Carol Whitt on August 9, 2011 at 1:51pm

I loved how he summed up that episode, saying God doesn't exist because before the Big Bang, time didn't exist. It was a brilliant episode.

Comment by Rick on August 9, 2011 at 2:08pm

No, he just gave believers something new to dismiss… until it works its way into the science curriculum, then it’ll be something new to bitch about.

Comment by Patrick Scherr on August 9, 2011 at 3:20pm

We all wish.. but no.

Comment by Fabio Parente on August 9, 2011 at 3:24pm

...what debate?

Comment by Albert Bakker on August 9, 2011 at 4:01pm

The big idea in his book if you have to pick one that is laid out in it philosophy-wise is that of the epistemological limitations of human knowledge attainable through science, not the certainty about excluding the supernatural. He and Mlodinow call it "model-dependent realism."

Hawking and Mlodinow in so many words say that it's a nonsensical question to ask what the Universe is really like. Instead we should limit ourselves only to what our scientific models of it can tell us about how the Universe and all the stuff in it behaves and forget about ever being able to know the underlying reality. I think it might be categorized as belonging to the Post-positivist branch of philosophy as MdR doesn't deny the existence of an objective reality, only that we can't, in principle, know. Not even when we have it right.

http://physics.about.com/od/stephenhawking/f/ModelDependentRealism.htm

Comment by dr howard davis on August 9, 2011 at 7:00pm

"I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science as decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break these laws."He said on Discovery -and I listened very carefully- "almost"certain in regards to an afterlife,etc.

He has not died yet so as a true scientist he can't say for certain there is no afterlife.

He does believe 'with certainty' that there are "aliens"on other planets or galaxes!!! And he is concerned they could someday harm us !!! Please.So that's OK to accept on faith.I see little slimly green folk!!! Much easier to believe than in God.

Prof.Hawking

Comment by Bob MacVay on August 9, 2011 at 7:05pm

Unfortunately all the faith based belivers from the various religions will carry on with their illogical arguments, dismissing Hawkins as a heritic. Remember you cannot "reason" anyone out of a position they didn't "reason" themselves into.

Comment by Isaac on August 9, 2011 at 8:59pm

@dr howard davis

Great job at strawmanning the shit out of Stephen Hawking's views. For someone who claims to have been researching everything for the past 40 years, I'd expect them to be able to accurately represent the positions of others and to be able to say something intelligent in regards to such positions. I guess that's too high of an expectation to hold, isn't it, doc?

Comment by Joshua Brahen on August 9, 2011 at 10:30pm

Jodi Foster said it nicely in the movie "Contact":

 

"If it's just us, the universe seems like an awful waste of space"

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