I put very little investment into anything Stephen Hawking says. I know there are some that nod their heads on every word he speaks, but I am not one of them. I don't think he'd get half the buzz if he were an able-bodied man, but he seems a lot more amazing in the physical condition he is in.
I have to agree.
He's a rarity because he's one of the few scientists that is prepared to admit, publicly, when he gets it wrong. That lack of omnipotent arrogance in a scientist is highly refreshing.
That's true. I saw a show on the science channel where he was giving a lecture and stated a theory that so infuriated one scientist, the man spent years to prove Hawking wrong, and Hawking finally admitted that was indeed, wrong.
As for Hawking's statement, I've always felt that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but that doesn't necessarily give you the right to express that opinion. He may know a lot about physics, but he doesn't know what awaits after death, so making this declaration just makes him look foolish. It reminds me of Carl Sagan once saying that aliens have
never visited Earth, because we are too primitive. Whether they have or not, I don't know, but that one statement made me lose respect for him, and I never thought another of our great thinkers could say something so utterly stupid, but Hawking has proved me wrong.
