Hawking makes new claim; Right wing evangelicals come out swingin

All I know is 98% of those who would criticise him on a quote taken out of context from his book are not even nearly intelligent enough to have a conversation with him. I know I'm not.

You know, we are never going to find out how the universe was started.   
 
I don't get why people get paid to find out.  

thats ur problem...

It's certainly nice of him to come out and say it so frankly, but this isn't exactly a new claim.  We haven't need to invoke gods to explain the universe since before Democritus.

If that book isn't too far above my head, I would love to read it.   

First of all, why is this news? Why is this worth an article? A scientist saying that the universe was made without the intervention of God? NO WAY! C'mon people, really? I agree with KaosAngel. People act like they know what happened however many years ago...no you fucking dont. I dont care what method you used to acquire the data, 1000 years from now, everything your going to be saying will be wrong anyway because scientists will have another "AMAZING BREAKTHROUGH", and everything we thought we knew will be wrong. I also dont care if you believe the Bible is true, thats why its called faith, you dont know for sure. It all just makes me laugh. Sometimes I just want to punch the stupid people that try to defend Christianity in the face, and then I also want to punch all of the stupid people that try to prove everything with "science" in the face.

I'm gonna stay out of this before I say something stupid and offend a lot of people. I played too much Mortal Kombat as a child.

Individuals think they have the answer which grows into groups. These groups grow up and think they know the answers. Science is the true answer, because all it does is ask questions. A world without religion would be a better place, but human beings are too dumb right now. They need that leash, otherwise, they would destroy each other. Maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing, survival of the fittest and all. Let the human spirit be free, I'll be damned if religion holds my spirit back.

uh huh. i fucking hate internet news sites who use headlines to antagonize quotes.

" @Claude: So your saying people who are religious are dumb? "

"First of all, why is this news? Why is this worth an article? A scientist saying that the universe was made without the intervention of God? NO WAY! C'mon people, really? I agree with KaosAngel. People act like they know what happened however many years ago...no you fucking dont. I dont care what method you used to acquire the data, 1000 years from now, everything your going to be saying will be wrong anyway because scientists will have another "AMAZING BREAKTHROUGH", and everything we thought we knew will be wrong. I also dont care if you believe the Bible is true, thats why its called faith, you dont know for sure. It all just makes me laugh. Sometimes I just want to punch the stupid people that try to defend Christianity in the face, and then I also want to punch all of the stupid people that try to prove everything with "science" in the face. "

" @Claude: So your saying people who are religious are dumb? "

I think we should calm down. 
 

• No one can prove that God exists. It's based on faith and fear.
• If there is a God then no one can prove that he's always existed. We are all taught that everything has a beginning and end.
• We have no proof that the Big Bang was the source of creation.

If god created the universe, what created god blah blah blah.

I'm gonna sit this debate out.

I feel that humanity as a whole should focus on the present time and the future. The past is the past. How we got here is irrelevant. What matters is where we're heading.

I keep forgetting that Hawkings was british.

" I'm gonna stay out of this before I say something stupid and offend a lot of people. I played too much Mortal Kombat as a child. "

" @Axxol: Just to point out, but really Big Bang theory only seeks to explain the universe as it is right now. It does not attempt to describe how the exploding singularity came to be. So even if somehow we could prove the Big Bang happened, the next question would be: Where did all the stuff that exploded come from?   

" @KaosAngel:@DoctorWelch:   Yeah.  To hell with facts, evidence, proof, and intelligence.  Fuckwit mouth-breathers unite!   

 @People who understand the article  It's news partially to promote the book.  Largely, though, it's because the media, and culture, has misunderstood his previous comments.  He used a turn of phrase mentioning a god, and he referenced a version of Spinoza's god.  People have long taken this to mean that he believes.  Just like Einstein, and other popular scientists, people kept co-opting him for fallacious arguments.  Hopefully this succeeds on both fronts. "

Every news site on the planet has taken one out of context quote and then acted like that was his argument. Nothing to see here, move along. I'm sure the book will speak for itself when it is published, but until then, there's no point discussing it.

Hawking says a lot of stuff that doesn't relate to theoretical physics. He's a bit of a troll these days. Being paralyzed must get boring.

" @ChristOnIce said:

" @KaosAngel:@DoctorWelch:   Yeah.  To hell with facts, evidence, proof, and intelligence.  Fuckwit mouth-breathers unite!   

My point exactly. How about I just come into this forum topic, and act like I'm smart by saying "To hell with facts, evidence, blah blah blah" which anyone could say to support anything ever and make themselves seem intelligent. If you actually understood anything about science, you would know what the word theory means. You would also understand that there is a difference between actual fact, and what is perceived as fact. Then you wouldn't make such stupid unintelligent comments. There are some brilliant people that have done some brilliant things when it comes to science, but for some reason everyone likes to think that we somehow already know everything there is to know, and that there is no way what we think is true today could ever be proved false tomorrow and vice-versa.

 @People who understand the article  It's news partially to promote the book.  Largely, though, it's because the media, and culture, has misunderstood his previous comments.  He used a turn of phrase mentioning a god, and he referenced a version of Spinoza's god.  People have long taken this to mean that he believes.  Just like Einstein, and other popular scientists, people kept co-opting him for fallacious arguments.  Hopefully this succeeds on both fronts. "

I read the whole thing and understood the whole thing, it's just pointless. Who cares? The only thing worth reading is the title "Hawking says God's not needed. So?" and to that I say "So what, who cares?" 

There are plenty of other things that Hawking has said. He said that aliens are indeed out there, so I guess it must be true because he said it right? Obviously the answer is no.

Yes, he is a brilliant man, but he doesnt know everything, or even close to everything. Just because he says something in a book (or even as you seem to be suggesting what he has said has been twisted to mean something else) doesnt mean anything to me. This is the perfect example of the media talking about things that are really not worth any attention. "

actually scientists and i personally agree that there has to be life on another planet somehwere. there are an infinite number of them. how could no other planet have any life anywhere? ohhhh... thats right, god made us and of course god doesnt have any toys on any other planet anywhere else. i mean why would he right? hes busy with this one of course. "

Hawking doesn't perceive god as a deity like christians or muslims or whatever. He refers to god as the cause of the creation of the universe. What i don't understand is why everytime a scientist refers remotely to god all the people that make money by saying to people that god actually exists try to discredit him.

" Hawking doesn't perceive as a deity like christians or muslims or whatever. He refers to god as the cause of the creation of the universe. What i don't understand is why everytime a scientist refers remotely to god all the people that make money by saying to people that god actually exists try to discredit him. "

" All I know is 98% of those who would criticise him on a quote taken out of context from his book are not even nearly intelligent enough to have a conversation with him. I know I'm not. "

" @Claude: So your saying people who are religious are dumb? "

" @tunaburn said:

actually scientists and i personally agree that there has to be life on another planet somehwere. there are an infinite number of them. how could no other planet have any life anywhere? ohhhh... thats right, god made us and of course god doesnt have any toys on any other planet anywhere else. i mean why would he right? hes busy with this one of course. "

I do not agree that there "has" to be life on another planet, but I do agree when someone says that there "could be".  We will not know for sure until humanity is capable of some form of space exploration or long-range space scanning of some kind, but nothing can be ruled out either. "

" @MetalGearGeorge said:

" Hawking doesn't perceive as a deity like christians or muslims or whatever. He refers to god as the cause of the creation of the universe. What i don't understand is why everytime a scientist refers remotely to god all the people that make money by saying to people that god actually exists try to discredit him. "

Discredit is one word. He's making claims he thinks are logical that are fundamentally philosophical. "God doesn't need to exist" is his logical conclusion for the universe, and its not even saying "god can't exist" but fundamentally any religious person would argue god does need to exist for their lives to have meaning. That's the rub. "

I honestly don't see how this really affects religion. I don't need to have a phone that can do texting,email, internet, videos. But I have one because it suites me.

" @ryanwho said:

" @MetalGearGeorge said:

" Hawking doesn't perceive as a deity like christians or muslims or whatever. He refers to god as the cause of the creation of the universe. What i don't understand is why everytime a scientist refers remotely to god all the people that make money by saying to people that god actually exists try to discredit him. "

Discredit is one word. He's making claims he thinks are logical that are fundamentally philosophical. "God doesn't need to exist" is his logical conclusion for the universe, and its not even saying "god can't exist" but fundamentally any religious person would argue god does need to exist for their lives to have meaning. That's the rub. "

Oh dude let's clear things up. I don't say that people who believe in god are dumb or anything and that they shouldn't be respected. I am just saying that the leaders of each religion are constantly trying to prove scientists who refer to god wrong. i know for a fact ,since the rest of my family are christians, that their faith in Christ will not waver because some super smart quantum physicist said so. All i am trying to say is that religious leaders are trying very hard to hold on to the power that they have because they are representatives of god to some people. "

He didn't even say something that concrete. Most scientists, being both cynical and open by default, believe "god probably doesn't exist" (athiestic agnostic, I think is the term) and then rattle on about how the term 'god' means a million different things and use big science words. So I don't see the hugely surprising thing about what he said. I'm also not a fan of only believing experts when they say what you want to hear. Kind of defeats the purpose of expertise. Any jackass could tell you what you want to hear.

I've met both dumb and smart people who blindly and studiously follow both organized religion and institutionalized science.
 
I think either side that wholly refuses the other, firmly believing that one has proven enough to discount the other, are the true simple and small minded ones.
 
 
...but that's just me.

" @tunaburn: But you understand, there's no proof of alien life just like there's no proof of god. You can't point to something and go "there, alien life". Until you can, your wishful thoughts aren't any more logical than anyone elses. "

" @EdIsCool: Well dude i am on the science team here but we have to accept that some people choose a different way of finding answers to their questions. Some people use science, some use religion and i use Deadpool. You can't go wrong with Deadpool. "

I don't really see the point of insisting on getting God out of the equation. Within scientific circles, using God as an explanation for anything is a joke, so just let the normal people think what they want to think.

Stephen Hawkings is a genius, i would love to read his book more deeply but even with my education (theoretical physics) i find it takes time to understand his arguments (which are pretty much always inspired) 
the people in the comments section of most magazines or whatever are speaking of matter they probably dont understand

" I don't really see the point of insisting on getting God out of the equation. Within scientific circles, using God as an explanation for anything is a joke, so just let the normal people think what they want to think. "

an actual quote on the daily mail article for this story 
 

   "I think you'll find Stephen Hawking said nothing, his computer said it all ! 

This is all false prophecy by someone who looks like an extra from robot wars is terrible, and all who disbelieve in the almighty will go straight into the order of satan."

" an actual quote on the daily mail article for this story 
 

   "I think you'll find Stephen Hawking said nothing, his computer said it all ! 

This is all false prophecy by someone who looks like an extra from robot wars is terrible, and all who disbelieve in the almighty will go straight into the order of satan."

i am not joking "

" You know, we are never going to find out how the universe was started.    I don't get why people get paid to find out.   "