Stephen Hawking: 'There is no heaven; it's a fairy story'

I guess I must have missed the part where hawking solved the hard problem and his extensive research explaining the near death experience.

It does not matter what we believe in. Everybody is free to believe whatever one wishes to believe and one believe has not more rights to the truth then the other, since none of us realy knows. We are talking about a strange black hole, none of us has been in yet and which is only known to us by hear say...

Originally posted by DuceizBack

Originally posted by David291
reply to post by DuceizBack

 

I don't believe in that either but how do you know this? Is there any real proof that hell or heaven doesn't exist? Just like is there any proof that it does exist. Not one bit on either side of the argument, it's all down to a matter of belief.

I'm an atheist which means I don't believe in it, which means If I don't believe in something I shouldn't have to prove it doesn't exist.

The burdon of proof relies on the person who believes in it, not the person who denies it.


If there was a god why would he let the inhabitants of the religion be so damned racist?
Christians, and Muslims thought it was cool to kill black people for thousands of years and i'm supposed to believe there's a god.

If there is a god does he prefer white over black?

Even without that , the belief doesn't make sense, and even emotionally I could never follow anything that has killed so many people for being the wrong color.

edit on 16-5-2011 by DuceizBack because: (no reason given)

Why should a God have to rule over us?
Look I'm not sure if I believe in God or not but if there is a God then why do you believe that he has to allow and not allow certain things? Perhaps his intention was to give us the choice of what we want to become. He allows us to pick and choose our destiny and allows us to grow as the human race in our own way regardless of whether we all turn into racists or not.

Found this on echic10's deviantART account first few paragraphs quoted. Kind of sums up an alternate basis for the genesis myth.

The Day The Ships Came
by *echic10

Copyright 2007-2010

Inspiration for this came from a short Sci-Fi story, "Reunion", by Arthur C. Clarke


The great black ships appeared simultaneously above all the planet's major cities. Military and civilian radar operators later said they had no warning; the ships were suddenly just "there". Airplanes that would have been on a collision course with the ships found themselves transported safely to the other side, still flying normally. An hour after they appeared, every radio and television set suddenly came alive with a message from the ships.

"Greetings to you, people of the lost colony of Terra. We come in peace from your mother world, Heven.

Many millennia ago, yours was one of the last planets colonized by our race. We were a young, vibrant race, constantly exploring and expanding, locating and colonizing new garden worlds. Not long after your world was colonized, our explorers came in contact with our first alien race, the Serpens. We were overjoyed to finally meet an alien species and eagerly extended our hands in friendship and love. In return, the Serpens offered new knowledge, technology and even new foods.

Alas, their friendship was false. The foods they offered contained a virus tailored to our genetic makeup. The virus mutated our very being, and was intended to destroy our ability to reproduce. As well, those whose DNA had been mutated became mentally warped and violent, attacking others without reason or cause. In a single generation, our civilization would have been destroyed, leaving our planets with a ready-made base for takeover by the aliens.

Source

funny
do non christians have christian near death experiences...?
nope

It's like I keep telling the ghost in this house when it gets rambunctious
haha
"They fooled you didn't they....no heaven for you, hey?
Betcha THEY got your money....
did you fight for them to?
what did YOU get?"
haha
dead

Originally posted by Noviz

Originally posted by DuceizBack

Originally posted by David291
reply to post by DuceizBack

 

I don't believe in that either but how do you know this? Is there any real proof that hell or heaven doesn't exist? Just like is there any proof that it does exist. Not one bit on either side of the argument, it's all down to a matter of belief.

I'm an atheist which means I don't believe in it, which means If I don't believe in something I shouldn't have to prove it doesn't exist.

The burdon of proof relies on the person who believes in it, not the person who denies it.


If there was a god why would he let the inhabitants of the religion be so damned racist?
Christians, and Muslims thought it was cool to kill black people for thousands of years and i'm supposed to believe there's a god.

If there is a god does he prefer white over black?

Even without that , the belief doesn't make sense, and even emotionally I could never follow anything that has killed so many people for being the wrong color.

edit on 16-5-2011 by DuceizBack because: (no reason given)

Why should a God have to rule over us?
Look I'm not sure if I believe in God or not but if there is a God then why do you believe that he has to allow and not allow certain things? Perhaps his intention was to give us the choice of what we want to become. He allows us to pick and choose our destiny and allows us to grow as the human race in our own way regardless of whether we all turn into racists or not.

edit on 16-5-2011 by Noviz because: (no reason given)

Letting millions of people die who couldn't help themselves isn't "giving them the choice to do what they please".
If god wouldn't intervene I doubt it.. so he just sits for eternity doing nothing?

reply to post by spacedonk


And this is coming from someone who after 30 years recanted his own theory of black holes and said it was a fairy tale.... Let's all take up a collection and help send this severely crippled genius into out of space?

Originally posted by Jrocbaby

Originally posted by David291
reply to post by Jrocbaby

 

I wasn't telling my view on life, I was just CLEARLY stating, he doesn't know just like I don't.

Edit: I don't believe in any of that either but that does not mean that I am right. How does he know there is no God or is no heaven? Please tell me how, he doesn't. Not one of us on this earth know the truth of how we got here, noone. Ofcourse people can say, can say that but the fact is, we don't really know.

Maybe God did put us here, who knows or maybe it was just by chance or just maybe we were put here by an extremely advanced race. Who knows. Like I said, he is one of the worlds greatest minds, I never denied that and never will but like I said, he doesn't know everything and saying that he does would be ignorent.

edit on 16/5/11 by David291 because: (no reason given)

Your argument is what everybody knows. What is ignorant about it is that ANYBODY can go onto ANY WEBSITE and spit their beliefs 24/7 and you don't care, But when one of the smartest humanity has to offer makes his guess at things [which by the way is my exact belief before he said it] why does it bother you? Yes we all know that nobody is right, but why are YOU so bothered by him making his guess? Is he supposed to just not mention what he believes? Whats wrong?

Stephen Hawking is gifted in the field of complex mathematics.

Why would anyone value his opinion on any matter such as religious beliefs ?

Would you ask Hawking for advice on SCUBA diving, glassblowing, or repairing a
television and if you did would his opinion have any more value than any other
person just because he is gifted in complex mathematics ?

I do not believe in "heaven" but Stephen Hawking's opinion on the subject is
meaningless to me because he has no more experience in matters of afterlife
than any other person.

Originally posted by Noviz

In some respects I think I do believe in a God and an Afterlife. Perhaps it's simply because I'm scared of what happens after one dies or maybe the belief has been inside me all along. But hey, we are living in a real life 'science fiction' so why can't an afterlife exist? Afterall we are all flying through space on a huge ball of rock around a massive fireball lol. It all just sounds like some silly science fiction. Frankly I'm open to any idea about what our existence really is or what happens after we die. I think the most enjoyable theory I have heard is that we are just a simulation, like an advanced version of the Sims! Brilliant!

edit on 16-5-2011 by Noviz because: (no reason given)

Well we all can assume their is an afterlife but nothing like what we think it is. When you were born, is when afterlife comes, but we don't remember anything. Also given the fact that time did not start when I was born, means I was in some other state of existence before this one, alive or not I cannot prove that, but I was around in some form, because im here now. Its not physical evidence, but logical.

The only reason people think in their minds "is god real" is because everybody else before you has planted that thought into your mind. I mean really, would you ever think about Christianity or god if you've never heard about it before?

Another real possibility in my mind is that its a simulation, just like sims, that to me would be my best guess on life. Just an interesting observation, when I play Sims, and make a character that is EXACTLY like me [computer whiz, bookworm, loner, genius, and writer] that the game is way easier to play, and I play the game almost exactly how my real life is, I find myself being a house hermit and just sitting on the computer improving skills with almost zero time spent talking to anybody nor enjoys talking to anybody. Interesting

There is a man on some forum here in my country, who had a car crash accident and near-death-expirience when he was younger, and claims some "voice" told him it is not his time to die yet, and told him exact time (including date) when he will die - in year 2015. Since then he has become interested in these topic. So unless he kills himself deliberately then we have a proof of afterlife

Also, there are many documented cases of OBE (out of body experience) and NDE (near death experience), which are not to be ignored. For example: www.near-death.com...

Cheers.
p.s. sry for possible grammar errors.

Originally posted by SaturnFX

Originally posted by 547000
He's in for a pretty big shock. There is a heaven and a hell.

Prove it

Ah, OK, stand still and close your eyes. This won't hurt a bit, I promise....

no YOU go

this sending other people to prove it has worn a little thin
it's part of why people are getting a little weary of "christians" and their illk

it hasn't worked yet
the definition of insanity is to repeat and repeat
expecting different outcome

Originally posted by anumohi

Originally posted by grizzle2
reply to post by spacedonk

 

Mechanism / materialism are the best arguments for tyranny, torture, pedophilia, rape, slavery, and genocide. After all, if we only exist for the duration of our physical lives, why not kill to have the most toys, power over others, sexual conquests? If we're just complex machines and life is just the illusion of life, it doesn't matter at all, right? One just doesn't have compassion for inanimate objects, even if they have the appearance of being alive.

/

then whats holding you back??? getcha some

I'm being sarcastic. What I've gotten is sex with love, that makes me happy. And the pleasure of making kids, other people and animals happy by treating them well. I have walked around with a grand in my pocket for a few years here and there, but I know it doesn't bring happiness all by itself.

Originally posted by griswold
There is a man on some forum here in my country, who had a car crash accident and near-death-expirience when he was younger, and claims some "voice" told him it is not his time to die yet, and told him exact time (including date) when he will die - in year 2015. Since then he has become interested in these topic. So unless he kills himself deliberately then we have a proof of afterlife

Also, there are many documented cases of OBE (out of body experience) and NDE (near death experience), which are not to be ignored. For example: www.near-death.com...

Cheers.
p.s. sry for possible grammar errors.

Those documented cases of NDE/OBE's, are also able to be brought upon using a helmet. While wearing the helmet people say they see people floating around them and in the skies and flying, all on a bed with a helmet causing natural reactions from your brain.

Is it really that weird that your brain would try and put itself into a peaceful state while your knocked out from a horrible accident or whatever?

reply to post by spacedonk


If reality can be defined by mathematics, then tell me why HALF OF OUR BRAIN IS DESIGNED FOR NON-MATHEMATICAL, NON-LINEAR ABSTRACTS? What do we need that for?

reply to post by DuceizBack


Who says he can intervene? You are thinking of God in a traditional sense... a great ruler and powerful entity than can do anything he wants. Maybe we are just lab rats and statistics in an experiment of the humam condition.

But yeah you are correct, in a traditional biblical sense why the heck doesn't god help us out? Why doesn't he stop war and famine?

But who says that is 'what he is.' Why does God have to be a nice guy? Just because it says in a book that he is a nice guy it doesn't mean that book is true. Maybe we are just a simulation or an experiment. In an experiment you don't interfere with what is happening otherwise the results would be wrong. We have the power as humans to stop war and famine; to live in harmony. He gave us the power of the human brain - knowledge, learning, compassion, thought. Maybe the whole purpose of everything is for us to solve our own problems that we have created.

Hawking is a scientist ....in fact he THE public face of science for our generation - (a mascot)

All science is based upon the underlying principal that the human is nothing more than a biological robot - any evidence that contradicts their fundamental view is either ignored or given a derogative label

Excellent link - LINK
Where the principals of science are challenged.

We should not therefore expect his views to be anything different!

However, science is, by its very nature, in a constant state of being incorrect - so I would not allow this guy to sway your beliefs alter your inner hunches or invalidate your exoeriences in any way!

I just hope that hell has wheelchair ramps haha

Originally posted by FlyingSkullOfDeathAnd this is coming from someone who after 30 years recanted his own theory of black holes and said it was a fairy tale.... Let's all take up a collection and help send this severely crippled genius into out of space?

He came up with the idea that the gravity from black holes was so intense, no radiation could escape from it. Then when it was discovered that black holes did emit radiation, he had the shamelessness to name it after himself, "Hawking Radiation". What a fraud!

Jesus Christ! You are all like kids, stubbornly discussing something which never has been discussable because we totaly lack the necessary knowledge.

Originally posted by Noviz
reply to post by DuceizBack

 

Who says he can intervene? You are thinking of God in a traditional sense... a great ruler and powerful entity than can do anything he wants. Maybe we are just lab rats and statistics in an experiment of the humam condition.

But yeah you are correct, in a traditional biblical sense why the heck doesn't god help us out? Why doesn't he stop war and famine?

But who says that is 'what he is.' Why does God have to be a nice guy? Just because it says in a book that he is a nice guy it doesn't mean that book is true. Maybe we are just a simulation or an experiment. In an experiment you don't interfere with what is happening otherwise the results would be wrong. We have the power as humans to stop war and famine; to live in harmony. He gave us the power of the human brain - knowledge, learning, compassion, thought. Maybe the whole purpose of everything is for us to solve our own problems that we have created.

None of that has any evidence for it.
Sorry.
I'm going to have to agree with the guy in lab coats who actually test their experiments, and don't believe everything anybody tells me, but I lean more towards people with actual evidence.