We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
Stephen HawkingRead
To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational.
Interpretation
Hawking expresses that the existence of aliens is a logical conclusion based on mathematical reasoning.
In this quote, Stephen Hawking emphasizes that his scientific perspective, particularly through mathematics, allows him to rationally consider the possibility of extraterrestrial life. He suggests that the vastness of the universe and the principles of probability make the idea of aliens not only plausible but also a natural conclusion derived from scientific inquiry.
In practice
During a lecture on the search for extraterrestrial life, this quote can highlight the role of mathematics in understanding the universe.
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.
The guys who walk on Mars are going to be historic.
From a genomic perspective, we are all Africans.
This preservation of favourable variations and the destruction of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection, or the Survival of the Fittest. Variations neither useful nor injurious would not be affected by natural selection and would be left a fluctuating element.
One day the world will look upon research upon animals as it now looks upon research on human beings.
I think the rise of quantitative econometrics and a highly mathematical approach to risk management was the obverse of a decline in interest in financial history.
I believe that the extraordinary should be pursued. But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
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