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I have never understood it when people refer to atheists as arrogant as I fail to see the arrogance in believing life is futile other than personal happiness with no discernible purpose to it. Arrogance to me is believing if others don’t subscribe to their way of thinking they are destined for hell which is the ultimate arrogant trait anyone can possess. People subscribing to a philosophy that death represents the end aren’t arrogant, they use available evidence such as evolution/ probability to conclude all religions are mythology and the weight of evidence pointing to no God outweighs that of a creator.
It’s quite telling that most of the brilliant minds interacting with the world in biology/physics are atheists using a rational thought process to arrive at this conclusion contrary to ” faith ” which is simply blind hope dressed up as something deeper. No one on here , including me fully understands Hawkings Work, but I am intelligent enough to recognise when someone with a superior brain specialising in a field dealing with the point of the cosmos makes comments, they carry more weight than someone quoting a book in the bible. I am an atheist based on my own views, but the fact my stance is backed by people with no ulterior motive to lie with a far deeper insight and superior intelligence in a specialised area they have devoted their lives to would give again more vindication to the pendulum of probability.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence either that more educated people on here like drac are atheist whilst the religious brigade include Mister Q ( the lol guy), king strongbow starting threads about his ghostly wife phoning him that he has never seen and Jamie who lives in assisted living accommodation preaching about the bible.
There is a correlation regarding intelligence and religious views in a similar way to believing in Santa claus . Both santa and jesus being the son of God are equally ridiculous but children with less developed brains continue waiting for father xmas coming down the chimney in a similar fashion to people flocking to the church front drinking liquid thinking its the blood of Christ or wafers gobbling down the body of Jesus in an act of apparent religious cannibalism . https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201402/why-are-educated-people-more-likely-be-atheists
I have never said anyone is going to hell nor do I think i am arrogant. I’m not stupid either.
There are highly respected scientists that believe in God as well as atheists.
Don’t assume faith equals stupidity. Is it not arrogant to say that believing in God is ludicrous?
My faith is my own, I dont “preach” or belittle people who dont believe what I do.
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On a lighter note ….
I did go to Sunday School, mainly I wanted to go because my mate did, it was ok, sang a few songs, did some colouring in…. I vividly remember causing some sort of upset when I asked why there was a picture of General Custer hanging on the wall.
I think it was the blonde flowing locks that did it ….
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He was the first to establish his own branch of science in the popular imagination.
Dont be ridiculous. Firstly, he never had a “branch” of Science, he had several.
Maths, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Astro-Physics, Cosmology, just for starters
If your statement is correct, that would mean that Darwin didn’t establish his own branch of Science, ie, Evolution, Evolutionary Biology, into the popular imagination.
If Darwin didn’t establish Evolution into popular imagination, then who did?
I think there are many Scientists that have popularised their own branch of Science into popular imagination
I wasn’t allowed to go to Sunday School.
My mother managed to smuggle me in and they very kindly gave me a sweet to suck, but I wondered what in hell they were yammering on about and told mam that I didn’t want to go again.
Most of the child’s Jesus they taught everyone at school went over my head.
I do remember seeing Jesus as a pretty cool customer who managed to get out of trick questions and practised magic tricks to boot. But I was upset when they died. They always get you in the end, don’t they, I thought. When he resurrected, I thought the school were trying to make a happy ending which actually didn’t happen.
When I was 12, walking home with friends, I decided to prove God didn’t exist. “If God exists, I said, then let him kill me stone dead now”. My two friends ran to the corner of the field and stood nervously, waiting for the spectacle of a big clay foot coming down to crush me into nothingness. I must admit to some nerves as well but I stood my ground and, presto, proved that God didn’t exist. Was I chuffed with myself. I bet some here would have liked god to exist just for that moment, but he didn’t.
Most people never grow out of a child’s view of Ickle Jebus the Magic Man. They just realise that this view is on a par with father Christmas..just a child’s view.
Well, Morgan, I’m waiting for you to tell me what his lasating contribution to any branch of science was.
rudeboy has a worshipful view of Big Brains who know better than the rest of us, but he doesn’t seem to come out with that either.
Otherwise, it’s a circle. Clever people don’t believe in God. Yes they dooo. No they doooon’t and you’re stooooopid if you do coz Godpeople don’t believe in evolution and think prezzies arrive at Christmas through the chimbley.
Well, Morgan, I’m waiting for you to tell me what his lasating contribution to any branch of science was. rudeboy has a worshipful view of Big Brains who know better than the rest of us, but he doesn’t seem to come out with that either. Otherwise, it’s a circle. Clever people don’t believe in God. Yes they dooo. No they doooon’t and you’re stooooopid if you do coz Godpeople don’t believe in evolution and think prezzies arrive at Christmas through the chimbley.
You’re just embarrassing yourself with your pathetic attempts at humour and juvenile rubbish. You think this type of post deflects away from your substanceless arguments by keep stating the same lines of summarising years of work on a message board and attributing infantile nonsense to people who haven’t said it. You mock Hawkings appearance then go into a bizarre rant about your relative having the same condition when realising how tactless your ” joke” was to save face. You then in every post keep asking people to summarise Hawkings work which would be a book in itself along with to quote your last message “Yes they dooo. No they doooon’t and you’re stooooopid if you do coz Godpeople don’t believe in evolution and think prezzies arrive at Christmas through the chimbley.”
Is that gibberish supposed to mean something or more crass attempts at humour.. I used to think you were semi intelligent but reading more and more of what you write, it’s no shock you belong in the God squad quoting the bible fitting in with my post earlier.
I have never said anyone is going to hell nor do I think i am arrogant. I’m not stupid either. There are highly respected scientists that believe in God as well as atheists. Don’t assume faith equals stupidity. Is it not arrogant to say that believing in God is ludicrous? My faith is my own, I dont “preach” or belittle people who dont believe what I do.
You’re taking it personally as my post was in general but my original post stands. I believe people believing in Jesus, the bible and ” Christianity ” are generally of a lower intelligence. You state there are highly respected scientists that believe in God – name them.
I’m far FAR from an expert on Hawking’s work and I have never claimed to be. I’m just one of the plebs who found his theories and life interesting …. but….
I think to answer what Hawking’s lasting legacy is one has to ask some questions.
Will his idea’s , theories, body of work be used by existing and future scientists to move things along ? Undoubtedly.
Did he bring Cosmology, Quantum Physics to the masses in terms they could grasp, therefore sparking future generations to question, learn and carry on these studies ? Undoubtedly.
That’s a pretty decent legacy in my book.
Well I’ll be floored. Someone actually gives a serious answer to my question.
Ms Mooosey, you’re no more a pleb than I am. my guess is no more than some of the others here as well.
On the first point – his ideas will be used – yes, that’s undoubted, as you say. I’ve looked into it as much as a pleb can, and I’m not sure how useful they’ll be in the long term. The jury is out. And that legacy is something many scientists can lay claim. Scientific thought on the universe, black holes etc, seems to depend on collective team effort, on mistakes made by thinkers like Hawking leading to more fruitful work. It’s a legacy of which he needn’t be ashamed, but not something which stands out. I believe quite a few scientists were resentful of his superstar status, but that’s their lookout.
The ability to communicate his ideas in a popular form – absolutely. he cam along at the right moment, and he became a symbol of scientific exploration of the cosmos. he himself seems to have doubted how deeply read his books. I tried to read his book when it came out and found it heavy going from pretty early on; eventually I gave up, only to return years later. It was described by rivals as the most widely-bought and least-read books in the history of science, and he acknowledged its difficulty in his Briefer History of Time.
I think that bound up with this legacy was his courage in fighting a terrible disability. It touched people, and added to the myth of a New Secular Messiah explaining the mystery of the universe. The disembodied voice caused by the illness just added to this – I’m not being insulting or patronising here, it was widely commented on.
I don’t see him as any sort of new messiah, and his sincere atheism is unconvincing to me.But the courage and the indomitable will were real. It was part of his communicative ability, and makes him a major figure in popular science. Now that legacy was justified.
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