Stephen Hawking's posthumous book 'Brief Answers to The Big Questions' says 'there's no God'

[AGXStarseed]

(Not written by me)

"There is no God" - that is the conclusion famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has reached in his final book.

The newly-published book, Brief Answers to The Big Questions, finished by Hawking's family in the wake of his death earlier this year, includes insightful answers on topics like “how did it all begin?” and “will we survive on Earth?”

However, the very first question answered in the book is “Is there a God?”

In the several-page response, Hawking wrote “I do not want to give the impression that my work is about proving or disproving the existence of God.” He then muses on the definition on God and the function of belief.

Ultimately, his brief answer is this: “We are each free to believe what we want, and it's my view that the simplest explanation is that there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate.”

For fans of Hawking, this belief will not come as a surprise. Hawking was known as one of the world’s most famous atheists, writing many times that he did not believe in God or any sort of afterlife.

The fact that Hawking did not believe in God was obvious enough to some that Gizmodo even poked fun at outlets that reported his atheism as a revelation. According to the Pew Research Center, only a third of scientists believe in God.

That being said, few, if any, of the questions in the book are ones Hawking had not answered before. Brief Answers to The Big Questions was put together as an archive of Hawking’s notes, from answers he had given in speeches, interviews and essays.

He had been editing them together as a sort of reference book before he died. According to the book, the publisher collaborated with Hawking’s colleagues, his daughter Lucy, and The Stephen Hawking Estate.

Although Hawking did not believe in any sort of God, creator, or afterlife, the book details his belief in aliens and the possibility of time travel.


Source: Stephen Hawking's posthumous book 'Brief Answers to The Big Questions' says 'there's no God'

 

[tree]

Even smart guys can be wrong.

 

[Tom]

Yes & he also said aliens will come and eat us (in a manner of speaking) and that the world would end in x years, etc, etc. I think he lost it towards the end. Fame got to him. Once he tasted it, he wanted to stay in the limelight and came up with new big dramatic pronouncements. Not research or science. My opinion anyway.

 

[Full Steam]

Hawking was obviously brilliant, but I think in error about the God thing.

1. It's not simpler to assume no God as then we have to explain how everything in the universe spontaneously popped into existence out of nothing. The big bang only moves the problem back to before the big bang.

This is the science of "give me one free miracle and I'll explain the rest".

2. Atheism relies on belief. You cannot possibly KNOW God does not exist, so atheism takes up a belief based position against God. Agnosticism is the most logical not atheism.

3. Atheists tend to argue against the existence of the biblical idea that God directs us, and is a beardy bloke in a cloud. There are other ideas, such as a sentient universe, which actually fit into scientific models very well.

Personally, I suspect a sentient, relative universe, inside a sentient, absoluteness field is most likely, and that explains some quantum weirdness too.

 

[All-Rounder]

The belief that aliens exist doesn't make someone mad, neither does the one about aliens using us as a source of food, after all we have enough specimens for testing, eating, slavery and so on. If theyre anything like the urging canibal psycopaths then they could basically do more than eat us, not even out of desperation or farming. We eat marine life, wouldnt you like some juicy aliens?

If hitler with the power he could gain in the world, embarked and went to an alien planet, what do you think he would do with his power with a race different than his? While its not likely, it's not a bad warning if he wants us to be prepared. He tried to warn us quite a bit before, he warned us we'll die due to escaped test viruses which lost control and spread to the public. It was lucky its deadly potential wasn't so great and it was stopped from expanding across the planet. His concerns were real.

Its not smarter to be agnostic because that would leave you still believing some god dropped magic in peoples minds and got them to make up deities across the globe with views of flawed old human societies, mix them up and bring all proof against it possible except the big bang and an ape skeleton. Why do gods hate dinosaurs and explanations but they loves false ones.

And if you cant believe in a bible, or a religion, you will be forced to create your own god, just like the ones inspired from one another and newborn. The books and religions created gods in the first place, so if you dont believe them then you won't truly believe in a god, just end up basically creating your own version.

You can't definitely know what caused the big bang but it's not being honest toward the world and the proof there is to not attribute a deity to it just because you don't understand or possess such knowledge yet.

Besides, a perfectly smart person might not have thought in depth of all the ideas, you cant just say religious or non religious beliefs or the stage of transaction theyre in tells of how smart they really are or how well-thought their beliefs are.

Some people may have beliefs without actually logically thinking of them, then the thing about beliefs is they're not supposed to be smart in the first place, at least religious ones. Youre not supposed to question as much as trust and believe.

 

[DystopianDream]

I never really put much stock into what Hawking had to say regarding this. My belief in God gives me comfort.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Wow, this is kinda a disappointment. He just wasted his sweet time writing several pages as a response and came up with the poorly thought-out conclusion: "There is no god?"

“I do not want to give the impression that my work is about proving or disproving the existence of God.”

Ironic, since he is basically trying to disprove God by stating the "facts" of big bang, which are just a theory. Sorry, I would rather go with a book that he calls an "ancient fairy tail" instead of a theory that wasn't very well-proven and probably slammed together. The guy doesn't even OWN a bible.

Ultimately, his brief answer is this: “We are each free to believe what we want, and it's my view that the simplest explanation is that there is no God. No one created the universe and no one directs our fate.”

How can he be sure of this if he doesn't know for absolute fact that the big bang happened? How does he know if there is no creator? How does he know that there isn't anybody out there directing our fate? That's right, he doesn't know for certain. He just wants to indulge in his sin.

The fact that Hawking did not believe in God was obvious enough to some that Gizmodo even poked fun at outlets that reported his atheism as a revelation. According to the Pew Research Center, only a third of scientists believe in God.

Wow. Not only did a science outlet call out other news outlet's BS of calling atheism a "logical revelation," Pew Research Center even said that only a third of scientists believe in God, which isn't even that low. 33% ain't that low. Sorry, Steven, but there is too many of your fellow scientists that disagree.

That being said, few, if any, of the questions in the book are ones Hawking had not answered before. Brief Answers to The Big Questions was put together as an archive of Hawking’s notes, from answers he had given in speeches, interviews and essays.

That probably explains why he answered it so poorly, too. If he hadn't even answered this question before in greater detail, then he wouldn't be able to answer it in lesser detail. Lol.

Although Hawking did not believe in any sort of God, creator, or afterlife, the book details his belief in aliens and the possibility of time travel.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is irony at it's finest. Besides, if there were any extra-terrestrial aliens who want to colonize Earth, it is most likely because God didn't let them be born here because they're demons. If so, us humans should create our own Doom Slayer and kill em' all Doom Eternal-style. If they are humans and extraterrestrial believers of God who have gone out and sought refuge from that Hell, then they can stay. After all, who knows. They might have some cool military weapons that they can give to the U.S. and NATO that we can use here on Earth to fight our wars.