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Stephen Hawking has died

bbc.com

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Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#241

Post by bpizzi »

n17r4m wrote: post #73

Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer the questions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing? Is the unified theory so…

I'm very fond of the way he left religions out of the way when trying to explain that a God-like mind may exists above our universe.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#242

Post by AstralStorm »

snarfy wrote: post #225
cgio wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Causality is an artefact of the universe. From a philosophical standpoint we would need to establish that why is the key question or we are chasing a socks theory of feet. And that is assuming that why is about causality rather than intention. To paraphrase this abstract's ending, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then the mind of God would be knowable.

If we do come up with a grand unified theory that spawns the existence of everything that's completely self contained and self describing, and it ends up being something like x + y = z, what does that really explain? Why? It's because x + y = z, that's why! Once we boil it down to that why becomes meaningless. Everything ultimately has the same reason why.

And why does it matter if everything has a root cause or not? Whether the universe is ultimately deterministic and computable, or uncomputable, or not deterministic at all?

It is our imagination that gives facts like math equations meaning.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#243

Post by forgetfuldino »

yesbabyyes wrote: post #232
slavik81 wrote: post #79

That man was my hero. If I achieve a fraction of what he accomplished in his life, I will be incredibly proud. Against all odds, he lived a full and amazing life. It somehow feels even more painful to lose a man who cheated death. It just gives you that feeling that they can somehow live forever, until the moment when the illusion is shattered. And underneath it all is that unshakable feeling. Memento mori. Slowly my…

He fooled Death, staved off it's dance it beat him yet, Longinus' Lance now the bet is in our hands perhaps we'll get another chance: Wise for ever, still funny now The party's on the day of Tau He chose a funny day to die A perfect day: the day of Pi.

14/03/2018?

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#244

Post by skeletor17 »

o2l wrote: post #196
troymc wrote: post #190

Growing up in the middle of nowhere, Canada in the 1980s, the library didn't have many good science books. When Hawking's book got published, it was the only thing available like that anywhere around. Remember, this is before you could get any book in existence within one month via Amazon. There was no Amazon. I got A Brief History of Time and read it, and it's almost cliche to say so, but it changed the course of my…

Can you share the names of other physics books that you think are good & readable ?

Feynman's 'The character of physical law' is very readable and informs about the man and the science in equal parts

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#245

Post by toopok4k3 »

krapp wrote: post #230
exikyut wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. I consider no black bar: - a violation of the principle of least surprise - a statement of discrimination Precedent has been set by the fact that it has been used in the past. If its usage is being wound down, I reckon this more than qualifies as exceptionally justifiable.

Your comment illustrates perfectly why the black bar is a bad idea... unless it gets used for every death posted here someone will feel discriminated against and offended that it was omitted for someone they like. And if it is used for everyone, people will feel that its meaning has been degraded, because the black bar has become a status symbol - something to be "earned" or "deserved". And inevitably there will be t…

Someones death should 100% be a distraction over our daily lives to remind us all on the impeding doom. People getting hurt and distracted over who gets a black bar or not is better than nothing at all IMO.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#246

Post by andrewaylett »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #154
zanny wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody "just dies". Most "natural deaths" are still heart failure. The rest are other kinds of organ failure. For a lot of people that die natural deaths they could have lived longer if they had kept fit. It just gets really hard to either do or justify when everything hurts and gets harder to do year over year. Or when you are confined to a wheelchair since your early 20s, were told you would only live two years, an…

It's true that an autopsy will show a cause of death for anyone. In that sense, you don't "just die". But after a certain point, that cause of death starts looking pretty meaningless. Everything is failing at once; if you hadn't died of your actual cause of death, you would have died shortly afterwards from another one. In that sense, you do "just die" of old age.

In the UK, old age isn't a legal cause of death for people under 80.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#247

Post by gourou »

o2l wrote: post #196
troymc wrote: post #190

Growing up in the middle of nowhere, Canada in the 1980s, the library didn't have many good science books. When Hawking's book got published, it was the only thing available like that anywhere around. Remember, this is before you could get any book in existence within one month via Amazon. There was no Amazon. I got A Brief History of Time and read it, and it's almost cliche to say so, but it changed the course of my…

Can you share the names of other physics books that you think are good & readable ?

The Feynman lectures on Physics

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#248

Post by [deleted] »

o2l wrote: post #196
troymc wrote: post #190

Growing up in the middle of nowhere, Canada in the 1980s, the library didn't have many good science books. When Hawking's book got published, it was the only thing available like that anywhere around. Remember, this is before you could get any book in existence within one month via Amazon. There was no Amazon. I got A Brief History of Time and read it, and it's almost cliche to say so, but it changed the course of my…

Can you share the names of other physics books that you think are good & readable ?

[deleted]

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#249

Post by simonh »

jsolson wrote: post #162
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was both Professor Hawking and Carl Sagan that tought me how brief and unlikely our lives truly are. It was their cosmic perspective that helped me end my fear of death. While we want more time and see the death of others as tragic, I do feel less afraid of that time coming knowing how fortunate I have been to live.

Interesting. I would like to attribute my desire to live "forever", at least to some extent, to cosmic perspective. One day the universe might make me bored, but today is not that day, and I suspect tomorrow isn't either. I don't ever expect that day to come, but if I thought it was near I'd be very afraid indeed.

I would like to live indefinitely, but I do not want to. The cost to human society and our natural resources of a species of immortals is too much.

I want human society to include births, children, growing up, dating, marriage and raising families. I want my children and our species generally to have a dynamic, continuously renewing culture. I just don’t see how those things are compatible with immortality. Just don’t see how I can weigh personal immortality against the lives of perhaps millions of people that could live in my place, choose myself over them and maintain any sort of moral credibility.

Re: Stephen Hawking has died

#250

Post by jonathanstrange »

o2l wrote: post #196
troymc wrote: post #190

Growing up in the middle of nowhere, Canada in the 1980s, the library didn't have many good science books. When Hawking's book got published, it was the only thing available like that anywhere around. Remember, this is before you could get any book in existence within one month via Amazon. There was no Amazon. I got A Brief History of Time and read it, and it's almost cliche to say so, but it changed the course of my…

Can you share the names of other physics books that you think are good & readable ?

I've been told that Roger Penrose's The Road to Reality is awesome if you already know enough math. If you're an engineer, for example, you shouldn't have problems. Unfortunately, my personal level of mathematical maturity is too low and I've never made it past the first ten chapters. Maybe some day with more effort. :/
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