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Topic

Stephen Hawking

Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 24, 2021
Categorized
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
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Columbia University mathematician Peter Woit offers a shrewd assessment of Stephen Hawking and pop physics

Denyse O'Leary
May 24, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
Hawking was looking for a unified theory and Woit thinks the idea is pretty much discredited now: "We now live in an environment where the idea that there may be a deeper, more unified theory has become completely discredited, through the efforts of many, with Hawking playing an unfortunate part." Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 17, 2021
Categorized
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, theism
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Stephen Hawking was actually overdue for a critical look

Denyse O'Leary
May 17, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, theism
Klinghoffer: "As Keating and Seife discuss, much of his fame, too, stemmed from efforts to disprove that God was needed either to account for the Big Bang that brought the universe into existence or to account for the physical laws that govern the cosmos." Hawking’s celebrity made it really difficult to discuss those issues in a forum where both sides were fairly represented. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 19, 2021
Categorized
Books of interest, Cosmology, Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Physics
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String theory skeptic Peter Woit reflects on Stephen Hawking

Denyse O'Leary
April 19, 2021
Books of interest, Cosmology, Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Physics
Peter Woit on Hawking's 2010 The Grand Design, co-written with Leonard Mlodinow: " I wrote about this book in some detail here. Put bluntly, it was an atrocious rehash of the worst nonsense about M-theory and the string theory landscape, with an argument for atheism thrown in to get more public attention. This is the sort of thing that has done a huge amount of damage to both the public understanding of fundamental physics, and even to the field itself." Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 18, 2021
Categorized
Intelligent Design, Naturalism
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Robert J. Marks: How materialism proves unbounded scientific ignorance

Denyse O'Leary
April 18, 2021
Intelligent Design, Naturalism
Mathematician Kurt Gödel showed that there is an infinite number of truths that are provably unprovable. That's bad news for scientism, though not for science. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 7, 2021
Categorized
Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Physics
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Is this the beginning of deplatforming Stephen Hawking or of an honest evaluation?

Denyse O'Leary
April 7, 2021
Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Physics
Seife: Hawking managed to convince the public that his opinion always mattered. "[H]is comments attracted exaggerated attention even on topics where he had no special expertise," wrote Martin Rees, a close friend and colleague of his, "for instance philosophy, or the dangers from aliens or from intelligent machines." His overweening confidence—and his stubbornness—cost him respect from many of his colleagues, especially late in his career. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 6, 2021
Categorized
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
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Rob Sheldon takes aim at black holes: How much is really known?

Denyse O'Leary
April 6, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
It is most unfortunate that both scientists themselves and the popular press discuss black holes (bh) as if they are (a) a scientifically defined object; and, (b) an experimentally observed one. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 5, 2021
Categorized
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
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Sabine Hossenfelder asks, Should Stephen Hawking have won the Nobel? Rob Sheldon weighs in

Denyse O'Leary
April 5, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
Rob Sheldon: Hawking did not get the Nobel, however, because he hung his hopes on the radiation emitted by BH--the so-called "Hawking radiation". And it was never observed. Sabine tries to explain why. But one argument that Sabine doesn't make, is that Hawking radiation may never have been observed because BH are themselves never observed. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 28, 2019
Categorized
Intelligent Design, Multiverse, Science
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The day Stephen Hawking undercut the multiverse

Denyse O'Leary
April 28, 2019
Intelligent Design, Multiverse, Science
Regis Nicoll: Stephen Hawking had for many years considered the idea that “black holes are birthing centers for Star Trek phenomena like wormholes, time tunnels and multiple universes.” Then, in 2004, he turned on the idea. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
March 4, 2019
Categorized
Cosmology, Culture, Intelligent Design, Media, Physics
Tagged
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How did Stephen Hawking get to be “world’s smartest scientist”?

Denyse O'Leary
March 4, 2019
Cosmology, Culture, Intelligent Design, Media, Physics
Top People need a multiverse. The rewards go to those who can conjure one. Hawking did his best within the boundaries of science and is to be commended for going no further. We have heard and will hear plenty from those who show no such qualms. Read More ›
Type
post
Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 1, 2018
Categorized
Cosmology, Culture, Exoplanets, Intelligent Design, Physics
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Stephen Hawkings’ views outside physics were more noted than notable

Denyse O'Leary
December 1, 2018
Cosmology, Culture, Exoplanets, Intelligent Design, Physics

That’s a common problem when we ask great figures their opinion about things they haven’t studied. From a review of Stephen Hawking’s (1942–2018) last book (or the last book that could be put together plausibly under his name), Brief Answers to the Big Questions: Because of the likelihood of a nuclear confrontation or an environmental catastrophe, we should work out how to leave the planet and colonise space, Hawking reckons. “Spreading out,” he says, “may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves.” He concedes that move will involve abandoning the flora and fauna of Earth, but Hawking seems to believe that humans deserve more of a future than other species. Leaving all other life to fend for itself is Read More ›