stephen hawking: the afterlife does not exist

[Herbert Anchovy]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/15/stephen-hawking-interview-there-is-no-heaven

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. 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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110516/us_yblog_thelookout/stephen-hawking-says-afterlife-is-a-fairy-story

 

[Dick Whitman]

Isn't this a really uncontroversial idea among neuro-blahblahblahs? I remember a couple years ago Time did a big blowout on the advance of brain science, and noted that the most shocking idea to the rest of us was the one and only thing that people who studied this stuff for a living were quite sure of: That when you're gone, you're gone. That's it.

What makes it a headline this time around?

 

[User 1019]

I once made a terrible joke about Mr. Hawking.

Someone wondered aloud, maybe HejiraHenry, "I wonder what his IQ is."
Without skipping a beat, I answered, "I dunno. But I know what his time in the 40 is."

 

[hondo]

Isn't this a really uncontroversial idea among neuro-blahblahblahs? I remember a couple years ago Time did a big blowout on the advance of brain science, and noted that the most shocking idea to the rest of us was the one and only thing that people who studied this stuff for a living were quite sure of: That when you're gone, you're gone. That's it.

What makes it a headline this time around?

Well, if you and the eggheads say so, that must make it true. But you're speaking of people who study "this stuff" (the brain) for a living. What about the people who study the soul for a living. They likely have a different take.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Isn't this a really uncontroversial idea among neuro-blahblahblahs? I remember a couple years ago Time did a big blowout on the advance of brain science, and noted that the most shocking idea to the rest of us was the one and only thing that people who studied this stuff for a living were quite sure of: That when you're gone, you're gone. That's it.

What makes it a headline this time around?

Well, if you and the eggheads say so, that must make it true. But you're speaking of people who study "this stuff" (the brain) for a living. What about the people who study the soul for a living. They likely have a different take.

I'm Catholic.

 

[Yodel]

It's sad to be that intelligent yet still a fool.

 

[Stitch]

When I die, I'll be sure to tell you if there's an afterlife.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I don't claim to be as learned or intelligent as either the scientists on one side of this argument or the theologians on the other, but I do know one thing: this thread is heading for a lock.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

It's sad to be that intelligent yet still a fool.

what about the people who study the soul for a living. They likely have a different take.

Terror Management Theory in full force, I see.

 

[dooley_womack1]

The afterlife: Stephen Hawking does not exist.

 

[The Big Ragu]

This one is easy enough for me to settle without locking the thread.

On the count of three, everyone drink a cup of poison hemlock.

1. ... 2. ...

 

[Clerk Typist]

Lock, schmock (as Steve Allen would have said). Seems a perfect jumping off point to debate the concept of afterlife: Yes, no, or dunno.
Me: Dunno. Still trying to figure out the difference between living and existing.