Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease • Hacker News Board

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#11

Post by blasterford » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:33 PM UTC

sun123 wrote: post #3

It raises the age old question again. I sometimes think how people achieve so much. May be being immobile saves his energy from distraction and helps leaves time to think about black holes.

I know it's going to be a very unpopular opinion here, but I find it hard to see the worth in thinking about black holes and other physics/astronomy questions.

Is the large hadron collider really worth the money?

Can someone highlight some real world advances that this sort of thing provides? eg will it make holographic TVs possible or hoverboards?

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#12

Post by mitchellhislop » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:35 PM UTC

gerggerg wrote: post #8

If you haven't seen it yet, his most recent show on the Discovery channel is incredible. It includes a lot from his previous writings but some new stuff too and it's all set to pretty stunning effects and a great soundtrack reminiscent of scifi movies from the 70s and 80s. You can check it out here: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/stephen-hawking/ and the whole series is on netflix. It's truly amazing. Don't miss it.

His discussions and examples for why we wont be able to travel back in time are perfect for explaining the concept for people. He manages to communicate such high level stuff in such a great way on that show (well, always, but the show is much more approachable to the masses).

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#13

Post by jganetsk » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:41 PM UTC

giberson wrote: post #5

Hate to raise a cynical tone, but in all likelihood his his longevity is mostly due to him having money. I expect, that in most cases patients with similar motor neurone diseases, their money simply runs out--unable to afford ongoing medications, care and new treatments, they die from the disease they simply can't afford to treat.

I suspect you are greatly overestimating the power of money in managing motor neurone disease.

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#14

Post by parfe » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:43 PM UTC

giberson wrote: post #5

Hate to raise a cynical tone, but in all likelihood his his longevity is mostly due to him having money. I expect, that in most cases patients with similar motor neurone diseases, their money simply runs out--unable to afford ongoing medications, care and new treatments, they die from the disease they simply can't afford to treat.

>in all likelihood his his longevity is mostly due to him having money.

I think you mean "Socialized Medicine"

"I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS," [Hawking] said. "I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived...."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/12/stephen-hawking-ent...

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#15

Post by jsdalton » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:43 PM UTC

giberson wrote: post #5

Hate to raise a cynical tone, but in all likelihood his his longevity is mostly due to him having money. I expect, that in most cases patients with similar motor neurone diseases, their money simply runs out--unable to afford ongoing medications, care and new treatments, they die from the disease they simply can't afford to treat.

My view is perhaps even more cynical than yours: I think his longevity is primarily due to luck. He also, if I understand correctly, has a different variant of ALS that doesn't progress as quickly. While money might have been a necessary precursor to his achieving such longevity (I doubt he would have made it this far had he not been wealthy), ALS has taken the lives of many, many people poor and rich alike.

My stepfather died a few years ago from ALS, and he was fairly wealthy and motivated to fight the disease. Unfortunately, at this stage in our understanding, you can throw all the money and effort at the disease you can muster, but you're not going to beat it.

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#16

Post by Splines » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:57 PM UTC

I wonder what his life would have been like had he not have ALS?

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#17

Post by ori_b » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 3:59 PM UTC

blasterford wrote: post #11

sun123 wrote: post #3

It raises the age old question again. I sometimes think how people achieve so much. May be being immobile saves his energy from distraction and helps leaves time to think about black holes.

I know it's going to be a very unpopular opinion here, but I find it hard to see the worth in thinking about black holes and other physics/astronomy questions. Is the large hadron collider really worth the money? Can someone highlight some real world advances that this sort of thing provides? eg will it make holographic TVs possible or hoverboards?

The solid state laser was initially described by it's inventor as "oh, it's probably useless, but it's a cool toy". Now it underlies the foundation of our modern communications infrastructure.

Research into the structure of the nucleus of atoms was initially done "just to see how it works". The unexpected results that came from 'pointless experiments' led to the theory of relativity, and from there, nuclear power, GPS, and dozens of other advances.

Point to almost any bit of modern technology, and you'll see advances that came because of earlier fundamental research that was conducted "just to see" without a specific goal.

So, yes, being able to understand the world around us is indisputably a requirement to be able to mould it around us.

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#18

Post by Lewton » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 4:01 PM UTC

blasterford wrote: post #11

sun123 wrote: post #3

It raises the age old question again. I sometimes think how people achieve so much. May be being immobile saves his energy from distraction and helps leaves time to think about black holes.

I know it's going to be a very unpopular opinion here, but I find it hard to see the worth in thinking about black holes and other physics/astronomy questions. Is the large hadron collider really worth the money? Can someone highlight some real world advances that this sort of thing provides? eg will it make holographic TVs possible or hoverboards?

It's impossible to tell in advance what good will come out of such research.

Noone could have foreseen that the general theory of relativity would be fundamental in developing GPS for example

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#19

Post by jonnathanson » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 4:04 PM UTC

jsdalton wrote: post #15

giberson wrote: post #5

Hate to raise a cynical tone, but in all likelihood his his longevity is mostly due to him having money. I expect, that in most cases patients with similar motor neurone diseases, their money simply runs out--unable to afford ongoing medications, care and new treatments, they die from the disease they simply can't afford to treat.

My view is perhaps even more cynical than yours: I think his longevity is primarily due to luck. He also, if I understand correctly, has a different variant of ALS that doesn't progress as quickly. While money might have been a necessary precursor to his achieving such longevity (I doubt he would have made it this far had he not been wealthy), ALS has taken the lives of many, many people poor and rich alike. My stepf…

I suspect you're right. Money isn't the issue here; it's luck of the draw.

My best friend's father died of ALS two years ago, and like your stepfather, he was very successful, wealthy, and motivated. He was also professionally and personally productive up until the last second. As I recall, his disease progressed like a step function whose "steps" were of indeterminate length. He'd lose some functionality, then remain relatively stable at that level for months on end, then suddenly wake up one morning substantially worse. The process repeated, and there was seemingly no rhyme or reason to the length of the intervals. At any given stage, his doctors said he could last for years, or maybe months, or maybe days, in that condition.

[Don't get me wrong; I am extremely glad that Dr. Hawking has survived as long as he has, and I hope that he continues to fight and win.]

Re: Stephen Hawking to turn 70, defying disease

#20

Post by srl » Thu, Jan 05, 2012, 4:08 PM UTC

blasterford wrote: post #11

sun123 wrote: post #3

It raises the age old question again. I sometimes think how people achieve so much. May be being immobile saves his energy from distraction and helps leaves time to think about black holes.

I know it's going to be a very unpopular opinion here, but I find it hard to see the worth in thinking about black holes and other physics/astronomy questions. Is the large hadron collider really worth the money? Can someone highlight some real world advances that this sort of thing provides? eg will it make holographic TVs possible or hoverboards?

Scientific research has a very high turnaround time. If you want to find out what you're profiting from now, look back nearly a century, when Einstein theorized about simulated emission of photons (laser). Or (more parallel to the LHC), the early particle accelerators, which taught us about the insides of heavy elements and let us construct nuclear power plants etc.

Generally speaking, by the time you can easily see the practical benefit of some piece of research, it's no longer science; it's engineering. Science necessarily does not bring practical benefits for long periods of time.

Edit to clarify wording and add: a pity up-vote for you - that was a good and fair question.