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.
Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.
Even the facts of science may dust the mind by their dryness, unless they are ... rendered fertile by the dews of fresh and living truth. Knowledge does not come to us by details, but in flashes of light from heaven.
Science is objective. And in my view we cannot take any experimental results seriously except in the light of good explanations of them.
This investigation has yielded an unanticipated result that reaction of cyanic acid with ammonia gives urea, a noteworthy result in as much as it provides an example of the artificial production of an organic, indeed a so-called animal, substance from inorganic substances.
Yes. I'm a doctor, an epidemiologist, and lots of my professional colleagues flip back and forth between industry and medical roles. I know them; they are not bad people. But it is possible for good people in bad systems to do things that inflict enormous harm.
When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on Earth and aren't pessimistic, you don't understand the data.
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