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Topic

Stephen Hawking

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

News
May 24, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
3
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
Categories
Cosmology
Intelligent Design
theism
Tagged
, , , ,

Stephen Hawking was actually overdue for a critical look

News
May 17, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, theism
2
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
Categories
Books of interest
Cosmology
Culture
Intelligent Design
Naturalism
Physics
Tagged
, , ,

String theory skeptic Peter Woit reflects on Stephen Hawking

News
April 19, 2021
Books of interest, Cosmology, Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Physics
3
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 7, 2021
Categories
Culture
Intelligent Design
Naturalism
Physics
Tagged
, , ,

Is this the beginning of deplatforming Stephen Hawking or of an honest evaluation?

News
April 7, 2021
Culture, Intelligent Design, Naturalism, Physics
2
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 5, 2021
Categories
Cosmology
Intelligent Design
Physics
Tagged
, , , , ,

Sabine Hossenfelder asks, Should Stephen Hawking have won the Nobel? Rob Sheldon weighs in

News
April 5, 2021
Cosmology, Intelligent Design, Physics
4
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
March 4, 2019
Categories
Cosmology
Culture
Intelligent Design
Media
Physics
Tagged
,

How did Stephen Hawking get to be “world’s smartest scientist”?

News
March 4, 2019
Cosmology, Culture, Intelligent Design, Media, Physics
2
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
Categories
Cosmology
Culture
Exoplanets
Intelligent Design
Physics
Tagged
, ,

Stephen Hawkings’ views outside physics were more noted than notable

News
December 1, 2018
Cosmology, Culture, Exoplanets, Intelligent Design, Physics
2

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 ›