A belief that heaven or an afterlife awaits us is a "fairy story" for people afraid of death, Stephen Hawking has said.
In
a dismissal that underlines his firm rejection of religious comforts,
Britain's most eminent scientist said there was nothing beyond the
moment when the brain flickers for the final time.
Hawking, who
was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21, shares his
thoughts on death, human purpose and our chance existence in an
exclusive interview with the Guardian today.
The incurable illness
was expected to kill Hawking within a few years of its symptoms
arising, an outlook that turned the young scientist to Wagner, but
ultimately led him to enjoy life more, he has said, despite the cloud
hanging over his future.
"I have lived with the prospect of an
early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in
no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first," he said.
"I
regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its
components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down
computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark," he
added.
Hawking's latest comments go beyond those laid out in his 2010 book, The Grand Design,
in which he asserted that there is no need for a creator to explain the
existence of the universe. The book provoked a backlash from some
religious leaders, including the chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, who accused
Hawking of committing an "elementary fallacy" of logic.
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| Hawking at the 2001 Strings Conference, TIFR, India |
The
69-year-old physicist fell seriously ill after a lecture tour in the US
in 2009 and was taken to Addenbrookes hospital in an episode that
sparked grave concerns for his health. He has since returned to his
Cambridge department as director of research.
The physicist's
remarks draw a stark line between the use of God as a metaphor and the
belief in an omniscient creator whose hands guide the workings of the
cosmos.
In his bestselling 1988 book, A Brief History of Time,
Hawking drew on the device so beloved of Einstein, when he described
what it would mean for scientists to develop a "theory of everything" – a
set of equations that described every particle and force in the entire
universe. "It would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then
we should know the mind of God," he wrote.
The book sold a
reported 9 million copies and propelled the physicist to instant
stardom. His fame has led to guest roles in The Simpsons, Star Trek: The
Next Generation and Red Dwarf. One of his greatest achievements in physics is a theory that describes how black holes emit radiation.
In
the interview, Hawking rejected the notion of life beyond death and
emphasised the need to fulfil our potential on Earth by making good use
of our lives. In answer to a question on how we should live, he said,
simply: "We should seek the greatest value of our action."
In
answering another, he wrote of the beauty of science, such as the
exquisite double helix of DNA in biology, or the fundamental equations
of physics.
Hawking responded to questions posed by the Guardian
and a reader in advance of a lecture tomorrow at the Google Zeitgeist
meeting in London, in which he will address the question: "Why are we
here?"
In the talk, he will argue that tiny quantum fluctuations
in the very early universe became the seeds from which galaxies, stars,
and ultimately human life emerged. "Science predicts that many different
kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a
matter of chance which we are in," he said.
Hawking suggests that with modern space-based
instruments, such as the European Space Agency's Planck mission, it may
be possible to spot ancient fingerprints in the light left over from
the earliest moments of the universe and work out how our own place in
space came to be.
His talk will focus on M-theory, a broad
mathematical framework that encompasses string theory, which is regarded
by many physicists as the best hope yet of developing a theory of
everything.
M-theory demands a universe with 11 dimensions,
including a dimension of time and the three familiar spatial dimensions.
The rest are curled up too small for us to see.
Evidence in support of M-theory might also come from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva.
One
possibility predicted by M-theory is supersymmetry, an idea that says
fundamental particles have heavy – and as yet undiscovered – twins, with
curious names such as selectrons and squarks.
Confirmation of
supersymmetry would be a shot in the arm for M-theory and help
physicists explain how each force at work in the universe arose from one
super-force at the dawn of time.
Another potential discovery at
the LHC, that of the elusive Higgs boson, which is thought to give mass
to elementary particles, might be less welcome to Hawking, who has a
long-standing bet that the long-sought entity will never be found at the
laboratory.
Hawking will join other speakers at the London event,
including the chancellor, George Osborne, and the Nobel prize-winning
economist Joseph Stiglitz.
Science, truth and beauty: Hawking's answers
What is the value in knowing "Why are we here?"
The
universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can't
solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the
effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most
likely to survive. We assign them higher value.
You've said there is no reason to invoke God to light the blue touchpaper. Is our existence all down to luck?
Science
predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously
created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.
So here we are. What should we do?
We should seek the greatest value of our action.
You had a health scare and spent time in hospital in 2009. What, if anything, do you fear about death?
I
have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years.
I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I
want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop
working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for
broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the
dark.
What are the things you find most beautiful in science?
Science
is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or
connections between different observations. Examples include the double
helix in biology, and the fundamental equations of physics."
Courtesy: The Guardian Today
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