Heaven is a fairy tale, says physicist Hawking

[Rana Tahir Mahmood]

http://img.news.makcdn.com/2602633/three_cols.jpg

By Reuters
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Heaven is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking said in an interview published on Monday.

Hawking, 69, was expected to die within a few years of being diagnosed with degenerative motor neurone disease at the age of 21, but became one of the world's most famous scientists with the publication of his 1988 book "A Brief History of Time."

"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 told the Guardian newspaper.

"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."

When asked how we should live he said: "We should seek the greatest value of our action."

Hawking gave the interview ahead of the Google Zeitgeist meeting in London where he will join speakers including British finance minister George Osborne and Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Addressing the question "Why are we here?" he will argue tiny quantum fluctuations in the very early universe sowed the seeds of human life.

The former Cambridge University Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a post once also held by Isaac Newton, has a history of drawing criticism for his comments on religion.

His 2010 book "The Grand Design" provoked a backlash among religious leaders, including chief rabbi Lord Sacks, for arguing there was no need for a divine force to explain the creation of the universe.

As a result of his incurable illness Hawking can only speak through a voice synthesizer and is almost completely paralyzed.

He sparked serious concerns in 2009 when he was hospitalized after falling seriously ill following a lecture tour in the United States but has since returned to Cambridge University as a director of research.

(Reporting by Nia Williams, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: Yahoo News

 

[Abdul Allah]

I read sometime ago that he proves existence of GOD
now he prove otherwise So.


....

 

[Pakistani92]

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.

Albert Einstein


Science is not complete but religion(Islam) is, may be Hawking would come up with a different theory tomorrow, who knows ?????

 

[Salik]

He is really close to find out...Inshallah

 

[Resonant]

Closed mind and locked brain.

 

[jahanzaibi]

i have heard that he was christian ... but after his sickness he visited to india and there he found poor people with health from there he change his point of view
and become atheist he misguided many people through his lectures and writing.

 

[Abdul Allah]

[MENTION=16600]fauzia[/MENTION]

Why to click dislike without explaining it?
you have done it at an other place as well

So dont you think it will be good to explain what you dislike :(

 

[QaiserMirza]

His brain is rotten now.
I dont know why we should give that importance to a rotten brain guy.
I dont accept this guy as an intelligent or scholar.
The one who has no believe in the divine creation, the original truth of the universe, how he can talk of knowledge.

We are the flag carrier of knowledge.
We have the divine knowledge, given by our creator.
Any other knowledge is fake.

 

[jahanzaibi]

The answer is simple he is a hero of a little group called atheist. what they say that moral values can be define by human
same as democracy human will make the rules and human will tell what is good.

It will give benefit to the people who make the rule like in pakistan politician only pass the law in which they have interest. and only those are promoting him to get the maximum benefit.

His brain is rotten now.
I dont know why we should give that importance to a rotten brain guy.
I dont accept this guy as an intelligent or scholar.
The one who has no believe in the divine creation, the original truth of the universe, how he can talk of knowledge.

We are the flag carrier of knowledge.
We have the divine knowledge, given by our creator.
Any other knowledge is fake.

 

[Mughal1]

His brain is rotten now.
I dont know why we should give that importance to a rotten brain guy.
I dont accept this guy as an intelligent or scholar.
The one who has no believe in the divine creation, the original truth of the universe, how he can talk of knowledge.

We are the flag carrier of knowledge.
We have the divine knowledge, given by our creator.
Any other knowledge is fake.

Brother qaiser please calm down, I think it is time we get angry with ourselves for not fulfilling the duty placed upon us faithfully. Nonmuslims are innocent if we did not deliver the proper message to them properly. Allah is more likely to overlook their faults if their failures are result of our irresponsibility.

regards and all the best.

 

[fahid_asif]

If heaven is fairy tale then i want answer of some questions:
Define Life. What is the mechanism of its start and end? What thing makes it young and what thing makes it old?


I am biology teacher. But i never found the answer to these questions. Someone can tell how the life processes occur but never explain it in context of self learned and self adjusted. Someone can tell that life can adjust itself according to environment but can never tell how the body gained this capability. Confused person this is and like a pigeon who closes his eyes due to cat.

 

[Mughal1]

The answer is simple he is a hero of a little group called atheist. what they say that moral values can be define by human
same as democracy human will make the rules and human will tell what is good.

It will give benefit to the people who make the rule like in pakistan politician only pass the law in which they have interest. and only those are promoting him to get the maximum benefit.

Dear jahanzaibi, the truth is that atheism is reactionary to theism and theism is not result of divine revelation but make belief.

If people turn deen in to religion and then turn religion in to matter of blind faith then no wonder that educated people are not going to accept it and religious people cannot convince them otherwise because they have no ground to stand upon.

This is why we muslims are to blame for being so silly that we have accepted the quran as explained by the uneducated people on the rendering of imperial mullas.

Unless we rethink our own position regarding the quran we are not fit for condemning anyone else for being wrong about the quran. After all who wants to accept a childish book full of fairy stories as divine message?

The quran is rendered into childish book by none other than muslims. Pick up any translation or interpretation of the quran we have the very same propblem in almost all of them. On top of this if anyone tries to change this state of affairs then he is picking a fight with mullas.

The question is how to get out of this state of affairs? Only when people have the proper rendering of the quran that reflects its actual message that world will come to see the quran for what it really is.

May be till then we can keep on condemning kaafirs for our failures just to make ourselves feel better.

regards and all the best.

 

[Mughal1]

If heaven is fairy tale then i want answer of some questions:
Define Life. What is the mechanism of its start and end? What thing makes it young and what thing makes it old?


I am biology teacher. But i never found the answer to these questions. Someone can tell how the life processes occur but never explain it in context of self learned and self adjusted. Someone can tell that life can adjust itself according to environment but can never tell how the body gained this capability. Confused person this is and like a pigeon who closes his eyes due to cat.

Dear fahid asif, rest assured the science will be able to answer your question but it is going to take time like rest of answers by way of science.

It is certain that Allah does not do things directly rather he employs natural mechanisms because cause and effect is the general rule in the universe according to the quran. The interesting bit is that the quran has already explained many things and that is what makes it divine revelation and therefore it proves existence God.

It is unfortunate that unless a person knows arabic and is familiar with realities of the world and has sense of rules that need to be employed to understand the quran that this reality does not become evident.

I am very much hopeful that days are not very far for this revelation to come to light.

It is not a good idea to reject concrete science on basis of poor understanding of the quran. Otherwise it is like rejecting the proper message of the quran by poor understanding of the science.

regards and all the best.

 

[fahid_asif]

An educated and open minded person can never deny science. Because science and Islam is directly proportional. But to deny the theories, which have not been proven yet with successive successful experiments, is right of every science learner. If this is not true?

 

[Mughal1]

An educated and open minded person can never deny science. Because science and Islam is directly proportional. But to deny the theories, which have not been proven yet with successive successful experiments, is right of every science learner. If this is not true?

Dear fahid asif, in science theory is only disproven not proven.

A scientific theory is just an explanation of facts, clues or evidences on one hand and prediction of future expectations on the other.

It is based on observations that provide clues or evidences and then comes explanation for those facts and then that explanation helps to see what else is to happen if the given explanation is correct and then experimentation takes place for verification of the hypotheses. So long as theory stands it is true. However if it fails then it depends whether it is partial failure to total failure of theory therefore modification or replacement will become necessary.

So I hope this explains why a scientific theory is a fact so long as it stands its ground. Theory is only complete for known facts, the facts yet to be found out remain unknown till they become known. This however does not falsify the theory. A theory is only falsified when it fails to explain a newly discovered fact.

regards and all the best.

 

[fahid_asif]

Which kind of facts and experiments are needed to disprove these theories which are based on ideas and out of range of practical science? Assist plz

 

[Unicorn]

A gentleman had posted the definition of heaven on this forum. It says people there will be 60 feet tall, they will all look the same, diner will be served by 70 boys, dates will be foot long, will not pass stool or urinate it will come out of skin as fragrance. It will have rivers of Honey, Milk, alcohol and water.

He said there are eight different levels of it.

 

[fauzia]

I did, but it didn't get posted. Perhaps because I used a word, which would be for me just a medical term, but I can understand it's was offensive for others, so sorry for that.

I agree with Steven Hawking that heaven the way people think it will be, it not possible. To be a human you have to live life on planet earth and obey to all it's natural laws. Like in the movie Avatar ' humans' turned into blue apes or something, because they used nitrogen in stead of oxygen for their breathing.

People learn by correcting their theories. It's all part of the learning process. This thing should be encouraged, rather then be ridiculed. A learned man should be respected, especially one with such a kind personality. He has studied more then most of the mullah's in Pakistan and fights a harder Jihad then any of the suicide bombers in Pakistan, while sitting in his wheelchair.

May Allah give him a Jannah worthy for a kind scholar like him. Ameen.

 

[cefspan]

He is a physist , He can't even define life , what do u expect?

Better not take notice of athiests.....................

 

[Unicorn]

If heaven is fairy tale then i want answer of some questions:
Define Life. What is the mechanism of its start and end? What thing makes it young and what thing makes it old?


I am biology teacher. But i never found the answer to these questions. Someone can tell how the life processes occur but never explain it in context of self learned and self adjusted. Someone can tell that life can adjust itself according to environment but can never tell how the body gained this capability. Confused person this is and like a pigeon who closes his eyes due to cat.

My inability to explain how life begins, manifests and evolve makes the heaven a fact is not a good argument in my view.