RIP Professor Hawking

[Snowwalker]

I guess we should have stopped at "the world is flat", "the sun revolves around the earth". Simpletons at the time thought people who contradicted those "facts" were fools.

You are incorrect. We have known the world was round since the early days of Greece and Egypt. The only real debate was as to how far it was around the earth, or whether there was or was not more land on the opposite side of the world. The Circumference of the earth was calculated in Greece, and Egypt, and the existence of another Continent was predicted as well based on Calculations done Centuries before the Catholic Church was a twinkle in some Roman's eye.

[bdog]

you all must've heard this one... if one person has an "IMAGINARY" friend, people say he's crazy, but if many people have the same "IMAGINARY" friend, it's called religion, and yes Hawking was one of the greatest

[Fisherman]

you all must've heard this one... if one person has an "IMAGINARY" friend, people say he's crazy, but if many people have the same "IMAGINARY" friend, it's called religion, and yes Hawking was one of the greatest

Hahahaha, you nailed that one to the proverbial cross. Religion, keep the scared and gullible stupid and then take advantage of them.

[fishermccann]

Mosq. ,surprisingly quiet, care to wade in?

[johny]

Do a thought experiment. This applies to Christians, scientists and all religions.

Find an absolutely quiet, dark place with no distractions.
Close your eyes.
Imagine.... there was NO big bang or NO creation.
Imagine there is NOTHING. NOTHING for ever. For as long as time exists. For as far as anything can reach. NOTHING.

Eventually your mind rebels against such an awful concept-- NOTHING EXISTS FOR EVER.

Yeah I know the "Observer Effect" arguments against this concept but....
NOTHING FOR EVER is so abhorrent against nature that, something must exist to make ANYTHING meaningful.
NOTHING FOR EVER is so pointless... it can't be measured...it has no beginning or end...NOTHING can not be.
Therefore SOMETHING must exist: Big Bang if you are science based or Creation if you like Middle Eastern based tales.

Religion or science... both are trying to explain the existence of anything.
Only difference:
Religion has no hope of ultimate understanding because they are fossilised in the beliefs of men, dead for over 2000 years.
Science may have no hope of ultimate understanding because there is surely infinitely more to see beyond the Event Horizon of the observable universe

[bdog]

there are billions and billions of worlds in this universe, incredibly vast and wondrous, inhabited maybe by a countless number of different civilizations..... and some people on our insignificant petty little planet spend hundreds of years fighting about which middle eastern desert sect scribbled down the coolest fairy tales...

[Fox]

One of the hardest things for humans is to recognize how insignificant we are with respect to space and time. We are so egotistical that we believe everything is for us and we are the only thing that matters. To think that the earth is merely 3000 years old because that is the timeline in the bible when there is proof to no end that this is false. To still have people who believe the earth is flat, even though we have known that it is not for 1000s of years. These are just stupid comments by people too ignorant to pickup a book. I come from a Religious family but I have my issues with organized religion. I really could care less what people believe but do not push it on me and do not shape my life around your religion. I am speaking to the Christians on this one, I have never once had a Jew or a Muslim come to my door with literature and tell me what to believe, but I have had many a conversation with Jews and Muslims about what it is to be alive and why we are here. I whole heartily believe that we live on forever, not as a being in the clouds with a god but rather in the hearts and minds of those who we made an impact in our lives. I know my grandpa will live on for my "forever" when I pickup a chainsaw, when I go out to my animals, when I see WWE come on TV, all those things that we did together, all those things that remind me of him, that is his heaven, that is his soul.

Dr Hawking will live on for thousands of years, his ideas, his beliefs, his ability to put down ideas into terms that people other than Physicists could understand (A Brief History of Time) has made adults think just a little more and children want to learn just a little more.

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” - Stephen Hawking

[bdog]

Organized religion, or...Organized cult?

[rf2]

You are incorrect. We have known the world was round since the early days of Greece and Egypt. The only real debate was as to how far it was around the earth, or whether there was or was not more land on the opposite side of the world. The Circumference of the earth was calculated in Greece, and Egypt, and the existence of another Continent was predicted as well based on Calculations done Centuries before the Catholic Church was a twinkle in some Roman's eye.

Incorrect how? What was known about the world prior to "the early days of Greece and Egypt" when it was determined the world was round? There was a point in history where it was believed that the world was flat. Historically, many people who turned out to be geniuses and who questioned "facts" as they were know at the time were considered fools or heretics because they were far ahead of their time. JoePa (and according to him, everyone who believes in God) considers Stephen Hawking a fool because he couldn't understand his theories, because Dr. Hawking was searching for a logical, scientific explanation of how the universe came to be and because he was an atheist. According to JoePa, everything can be explained by the existence of a God. If this was the attitude that everyone in history should have adopted (as per JoePa), where would we be?

[Fox]

If this was the attitude that everyone in history should have adopted (as per JoePa), where would we be?

The dark ages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_A...istoriography)

Organized religion, or...Organized cult?

Organized religion, organized cults do not get tax exempt status.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT3NRkllI3E