We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
Stephen HawkingRead
There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that belief in an afterlife is a comforting fairy tale for those who fear death and the unknown.
Stephen Hawking's quote challenges the notion of an afterlife or heaven, particularly for beings like computers, which are devoid of consciousness and emotions. In this context, Hawking implies that the idea of an afterlife is not rooted in reality but rather serves as a psychological comfort for humans who dread the finality of death and the darkness that might follow, encouraging a more rational and scientific understanding of existence.
Themes
AfterlifeFearRealityDeathUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on the existence of the afterlife, one might use this quote to argue that fear of the unknown drives such beliefs.
More from Stephen Hawking
All quotes →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.
Stephen HawkingRead
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.
Stephen HawkingRead
I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.
Stephen HawkingRead
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.
Stephen HawkingRead
In my opinion, there is no aspect of reality beyond the reach of the human mind.
Stephen HawkingRead
Similar quotes
I was a Muslim once, remember, and it was when I was most devout that I was most full of hate.
Ayaan Hirsi AliRead
The great decisions of government cannot be dictated by the concerns of religious factions. We have succeeded for 205 years in keeping the affairs of state separate from the uncompromising idealism of religious groups and we mustn't stop now. To retreat from that separation would violate the principles of conservatism and the values upon which the framers built this democratic republic.
Barry GoldwaterRead
It is a poor reverie which invites a nap. One must even wonder whether, in this "failing asleep", the subconscious itself does not undergo a decline in being.
Gaston BachelardRead
Disciples of Jesus Christ understand that compared to eternity, our existence in this mortal sphere is only “a small moment” in space and time. They know that a person’s true value has little to do with what the world holds in high esteem. They know you could pile up the accumulated currency of the entire world and it could not buy a loaf of bread in the economy of heaven.
Dieter F. UchtdorfRead
Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life.
Khaled HosseiniRead
The thing to do is to concentrate on the seer and not on the seen, not on the objects, but on the Light which reveals them.
Ramana MaharshiRead