I think computer viruses should count as life … I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image.
I have noticed that even those who assert that everything is predestined and that we can change nothing about it still look both ways before they cross the street
My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.”, December 12, 2004)]
We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
[In the Universe it may be that] Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth.
The downside of my celebrity is that I cannot go anywhere in the world without being recognized. It is not enough for me to wear dark sunglasses and a wig. The wheelchair gives me away.
why are we here?where do we come from?traditionally,these are questionsfor philosophy,but philosophy is dead
I regard the afterlife to be a fairy story for people that are afraid of the dark
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.
If time travel is possible, where are the tourists from the future?
It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.
The people who actually make the advances in theoretical physics don’t think in these categories that the philosophers and the historians of science subsequently invent for them
However bad life may seem, where there is life, there is hope.
There should be no boundaries to human endeavor. (…) However bad life may seem (…) While there’s life, there is hope.
My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a b
We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet,
…only in the few universes that are like ours would intelligent beings develop and ask the question: “Why is the universe the way we see it?” The answer is then simple: If it had been any different, we would not be here!
Stephen Hawking said that his quest is simply “trying to understand the mind of God”.
Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this.
Keeping an active mind has been vital to my survival, as has been maintaining a sense of humor.
Time and space are finite in extent, but they don’t have any boundary or edge. They would be like the surface of the earth, but with two more dimensions.
When one’s expectations are reduced to zero one really appreciates everything one does have.
Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.
Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein’s general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.
I don’t think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space.
If we want to travel into the future, we just need to go fast. Really fast. And I think the only way we’re ever likely to do that is by going into space.
I think the human race doesn’t have a future if it doesn’t go into space.
A zero-gravity flight is a first step toward space travel.
Time can behave like another direction in space under extreme conditions.
I have wanted to fly into space for many years, but never imagined it would really be feasible.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image.
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.
There is a real danger that computers will develop intelligence and take over. We urgently need to develop direct connections to the brain so that computers can add to human intelligence rather than be in opposition.
There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
I believe things cannot make themselves impossible.
Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m as famous for my wheelchair and disabilities as I am for my discoveries.
There are grounds for cautious optimism that we may now be near the end ofthe search for the ultimate laws of nature.
Science is beautiful when it makes simple explanations of phenomena or connections between different observations. Examples include the double helix in biology and the fundamental equations of physics.
Science is not only a disciple of reason but, also, one of romance and passion.
Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge.
I used to think information was destroyed in black hole. This was my biggest blunder, or at least my biggest blunder in science.
The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired.
God may exist, but science can explain the universe without the need for a creator.
In the past, there was active discrimination against women in science. That has now gone, and although there are residual effects, these are not enough to account for the small numbers of women, particularly in mathematics and physics.
I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.
Throughout history, people have studied pure science from a desire to understand the universe rather than practical applications for commercial gain. But their discoveries later turned out to have great practical benefits.
Science can lift people out of poverty and cure disease. That, in turn, will reduce civil unrest.
Science is increasingly answering questions that used to be the province of religion.
Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe.
I have found far greater enthusiasm for science in America than here in Britain. There is more enthusiasm for everything in America.
If you believe in science, like I do, you believe that there are certain laws that are always obeyed.
I believe there are no questions that science can’t answer about a physical universe.
I’m not afraid of death, but I’m in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.
I’m never any good in the morning. It is only after four in the afternoon that I get going.
I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, although intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet Earth.
We must develop as quickly as possible technologies that make possible a direct connection between brain and computer, so that artificial brains contribute to human intelligence rather than opposing it.
As Irving Good realised in 1965, machines with superhuman intelligence could repeatedly improve their design even further, triggering what Vernor Vinge called a ‘singularity.’
People won’t have time for you if you are always angry or complaining.
Even if it turns out that time travel is impossible, it is important that we understand why it is impossible.
It’s time to commit to finding the answer, to search for life beyond Earth. Mankind has a deep need to explore, to learn, to know. We also happen to be sociable creatures. It is important for us to know if we are alone in the dark.
I would like nuclear fusion to become a practical power source. It would provide an inexhaustible supply of energy, without pollution or global warming.
I think we have a good chance of surviving long enough to colonize the solar system.
Science predicts that many different kinds of universe will be spontaneously created out of nothing. It is a matter of chance which we are in.
Not only does God play dice, but… he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.
Time travel was once considered scientific heresy, and I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a ‘crank.’
I believe in universal health care. And I am not afraid to say so.
I don’t have much positive to say about motor neuron disease, but it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I still could do. I’m happier now than before I developed the condition.
I don’t have much positive to say about motor neurone disease. But it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I could still do.
Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.
Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.
However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.
God is the name people give to the reason we are here. But I think that reason is the laws of physics rather than someone with whom one can have a personal relationship. An impersonal God.
I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.
The radiation left over from the Big Bang is the same as that in your microwave oven but very much less powerful. It would heat your pizza only to minus 271.3*C – not much good for defrosting the pizza, let alone cooking it.
The past, like the future, is indefinite and exists only as a spectrum of possibilities.