RIP Stephen Hawking

Thank God the quality of debate here is a step up from Twitter!

Isn't it?

I'd like to think that -at the very least- we are more creative.

Now that is comedy gold   

Sure is. You can't "prove" a negative... And yet, the brilliant folk behind that page don't seem to notice that while mocking the gullibly religious.

For every good reason. He supplied an opposing and different perspective from which we can decide if we prefer his way of thinking or not. I believe that was his soul's mission. Mission accomplished.

He didn't really supply an opposing perspective. Atheism/rationalism was already largely accepted when he was in his 'heyday.' His outstanding achievements as a physicist naturally carried weight and I suspect his additional stoicism in the face of his horrible disease (which obviously demonstrates there is no God especially a caring one) 'recruited' many more.

He didn't really supply an opposing perspective. Atheism/rationalism was already largely accepted when he was in his 'heyday.' His outstanding achievements as a physicist naturally carried weight and I suspect his additional stoicism in the face of his horrible disease (which obviously demonstrates there is no God especially a caring one) 'recruited' many more.

There was no indication in my post that Hawking was the only one supporting an opposing perspective. 

No God ? Bring Hawking to seance and let's have him speak about this now. 

A strange item from the BBC, reporting that the application form for Stephen Hawking's memorial service accepts dates of birth up to 31 December 2038, and quoting a blogger called IanVisits as saying:
"Professor Hawking once threw a party for time travellers, to see if any would turn up if he posted the invite after the party.
"None did, but it seems perfect that the memorial website allows people born in the future to attend the service.
"Look out for time travellers at the Abbey."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cam...e-44073903

But perhaps it's meant to be just a "fun" news item - a bit of light relief from the serious stuff from the BBC about helicopters on Mars, medieval combat tournaments and tubes of toothpaste being accidentally sold for £8.

... accepts dates of birth up to 31 December 2038 ...

Maybe it's simply an example of the Year 2038 Problem.

Maybe it's simply an example of the Year 2038 Problem.

Maybe it is. It seems likelier to be an error than deliberate, but I wonder whether the story about Hawking's party for time travellers is true. And if it is, where did he post the invitation to? An archive of past upcoming events on a website for time travellers?

Maybe it is. It seems likelier to be an error than deliberate, but I wonder whether the story about Hawking's party for time travellers is true. And if it is, where did he post the invitation to? An archive of past upcoming events on a website for time trvaellers?

Beats me. Definitely not a "fool proof" way to test the existence of time travellers conclusively, but hey, thanks for the laugh Stephen

I wonder whether the story about Hawking's party for time travellers is true. And if it is, where did he post the invitation to? An archive of past upcoming events on a website for time travellers?

It is true. There's even a film on YouTube of Hawking sitting alone waiting for the guests to turn up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elah3i_WiFI

On the other hand, maybe the time travellers saw the video and decided it didn't look very exciting ...