We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
Stephen HawkingRead
It is not clear that intelligence has any long-term survival value.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that intelligence may not guarantee survival in the long run.
Stephen Hawking's quote prompts us to consider the value of intelligence in the context of our existence and survival. It raises the philosophical question of whether being intelligent provides any real advantage in the face of existential threats or challenges that humanity may encounter, emphasizing the uncertainty of our future regardless of our intellectual capabilities.
In practice
In a lecture discussing the future of humanity, one could use this quote to illustrate the limitations of intelligence.
We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
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.
It surprises me how disinterested we are today about things like physics, space, the universe and philosophy of our existence, our purpose, our final destination. Its a crazy world out there. Be curious.
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
The world has changed far more in the past 100 years than in any other century in history. The reason is not political or economic but technological-technologies that flowed directly from advances in basic science. Clearly, no scientist better represents those advances than Albert Einstein: TIME's Person of the Century.
In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind.
To define yourself is to limit yourself. Without labels you remain the infinite being.
But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.
To me all men are equal: there are jackasses everywhere, and I have the same contempt for them all.
Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.
The best way to make every one poor is to insist on equality of wealth.
Clearly, mythology is no toy for children. Nor is it a matter of archaic, merely scholarly concern, of no moment to modern men of action. For its symbols (whether in the tangible form of images or in the abstract form of ideas) touch and release the deepest centers of motivation, moving literate and illiterate alike, moving mobs, moving civilizations.
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