QuoteProject
To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational.
Stephen Hawking
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

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.

Themes

AliensMathematicsScienceRationalityUniverse

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on the search for extraterrestrial life, this quote can highlight the role of mathematics in understanding the universe.

More from Stephen Hawking

We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet.
Stephen HawkingRead
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

The strongest affection and utmost zeal should, I think, promote the studies concerned with the most beautiful objects, most deserving to be known.
Nicolaus CopernicusRead
It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena.
William WhewellRead
Where we have good, testable explanations, they then have to be tested, and we drop the ones that fail the tests.
David DeutschRead
All crises begin with the blurring of a paradigm and the consequent loosening of the rules for normal research. .. Or finally, the case that will most concern us here, a crisis may end with the emergence of a new candidate for paradigm and with the ensuing battle over its acceptance.
Thomas KuhnRead
Spots are on the surface of the solar body where they are produced and also dissolved, some in shorter and others in longer periods. They are carried around the Sun; an important occurrence in itself.
Galileo GalileiRead
Science offers us an explanation of how complexity (the difficult) arose out of simplicity (the easy). The hypothesis of God offers no worthwhile explanation for anything, for it simply postulates what we are trying to explain. It postulates the difficult to explain, and leaves it at that.
Richard DawkinsRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.