1. On His Schooling:
"At school, I was never more than about halfway up the class. It was a very bright class. My classwork was very untidy, and my handwriting was the despair of my teachers. But my classmates gave me the nickname Einstein, so presumably they saw signs of something better. When I was twelve, one of my friends bet another friend a bag of sweets that I would never come to anything. I don't know if this bet was ever settled, and if so, which way it was decided..."
From the lecture "My Brief History," 2010.
2. On Contacting Aliens:
"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans. We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."
From Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, 2010.
3. On the Eureka Moment Scientific Discovery:
“I wouldn’t compare it to sex, but it lasts longer.”
From a lecture at Arizona State University, April 2011.
4. On Disability:
"If you are disabled, it is probably not your fault, but it is no good blaming the world or expecting it to take pity on you. One has to have a positive attitude and must make the best of the situation that one finds oneself in; if one is physically disabled, one cannot afford to be psychologically disabled as well. In my opinion, one should concentrate on activities in which one's physical disability will not present a serious handicap. I am afraid that Olympic Games for the disabled do not appeal to me, but it is easy for me to say that because I never liked athletics anyway. On the other hand, science is a very good area for disabled people because it goes on mainly in the mind. Of course, most kinds of experimental work are probably ruled out for most such people, but theoretical work is almost ideal. My disabilities have not been a significant handicap in my field, which is theoretical physics. Indeed, they have helped me in a way by shielding me from lecturing and administrative work that I would otherwise have been involved in. I have managed, however, only because of the large amount of help I have received from my wife, children, colleagues and students. I find that people in general are very ready to help, but you should encourage them to feel that their efforts to aid you are worthwhile by doing as well as you possibly can."
From "Handicapped People and Science," Science Digest 92, No. 9, September 1984.
5. On Time Travel:
"I would go back to 1967, and the birth of my first child, Robert. My three children have brought me great joy."
To the New York Times, May 2011.
6. On Fate vs. Free Will:
"I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
From Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays.
7. On Science vs. Religion:
"There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win, because it works."
To Diane Sawyer/ABC News, June 2010.
8. On Imperfection:
"Next time someone complains that you have made a mistake, tell him that may be a good thing. Because without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist."
From Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, 2010.
9. On His I.Q.:
"I have no idea. People who boast about their I.Q. are losers."
To the New York Times, December 2004.
10. On Women:
“They are a complete mystery.”
To the New Scientist, January 2012.
11. On the Advice He Gave His Children:
"One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don't throw it away."
To Diane Sawyer/ABC News, June 2010.
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I admire his quotes on disability, on fate vs. free will and on the advice to his children. I'd like to make a couple of comments though...
"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans. We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."
I personally have to disagree with that. There is too many assumptions implied in this quote... the first assumption is that any other forms of intelligence out there are similar to our intelligence. There are tens of billions of galaxies out there (that we can see), and we still don't know how big the universe is... life could form on so many different ways! so, it is extremely unlikely not only that we are the only intelligent life out there, but that other intelligent life out there would be similar to our intelligence. Second assumption, even if such intelligence were similar to ours, it doesn't necessarily mean that aliens would act as we do. That would depend not only on cultural factors, but on moral values and on how advanced they would be. So, this quote doesn't make any rational sense to me, since it's based on too many cultural assumptions that wouldn't necessarily be correct in the case of aliens existing. It lacks of too much information.
Another thing is that I strongly believe (and that is just my personal choice) that extraterrestrial beings are already here on earth. For personal experience, I will say that when I was little, my parents and I witnessed this big orange light in the sky that was moving literary 40 times faster than a plane would... we witnessed it for a minute just crossing the whole sky. it also moved forming a Z pattern. It wasn't some kind of star... it seemed to be something completely artificial, because then it disappeared into thin air. So, we knew that wasn't human... it was just too strikingly amazing. This happened about 16 years ago and I can still remember perfectly. There are plenty of testimonies like this and testimonies that go even further in the subject that we should take into consideration. There are just way too many experiences of this type for the whole subject to be ignored. Not to mention that logically, it would make perfect sense that considering how enormous the universe is, there could be some other much more advanced civilizations than us. Big deal! Ger over it, really... Aliens are probably here already. If they wanted to harm us, they would have done it already because they can!
"There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win, because it works."
Religion is not just based on authority but on faith - versus reason, though there is inarguably some reasoning within religion (though a quite limited reasoning).While science does indeed work, I find that it has always limited itself because a lot of scientists have been too arrogant to consider the possibilities of the unknown. Because of that, science has also made a lot of wrong assumptions based on faith and not on purely scientific proof (e.g. that everything revolved around earth, as well as other current 'theories')...
You're assuming aliens would have a moral system.
Unfortunately, and regardless of the disappointment of many people, the truth is that today we don't have scientific answers to everything. In which case, there are only three approaches left to take:
1) Accept that a great percentage of the possible existing knowledge is completely unknown to us and because of that, we must be open to the different possibilities of what we can learn and have a COMPLETELY open mind towards what the truth actually is.
2) Be arrogant and think that science knows everything and close ourselves to the real truth out there that we might not yet be able to comprehend. In which case, we would have to build up our beliefs based on purely "rational" theories that require faith to be believed on (since there won't be solid scientific proof of them).
3) Base our thinking in religious beliefs (which also rely on faith).
Essentially, I have learned that to be purely rational you *must* be open to the unknown. You must be willing to accept that you might be wrong about some scientific knowledge you think you have. You must overall be always open to investigate what is really TRUE out there. That is to me the best and most perfect rational approach to life. But of course, I don't think many people hold that approach... but instead get stuck within what they think they know.
With all that said, I think it's very difficult not to have any kind of believes whatsoever. We as humans analyze nature and then make up our own conclusions based on what we learn. sometimes we are right, some other times we aren't. But, I think essentially every theory that hasn't been proven 100% over and over again relies on a belief. In our lifetimes, we will never learn what the truth of life is, or what the truth behind the whole universe is... but we have to make our choice and decide what we want to believe in. I think that is an important part of life itself and that determines who we are. What do you believe in? Which ones of this approaches would you take? I know the one I would take...
I think Hawking has an admirable strength that most people would not have, besides obviously being a very intelligent person. So, I don't mean to discredit him with my comments... it's just my humble opinion and I can be wrong.