dranthonysblog

A few weeks ago Stephen Hawking, arguably one of the most brilliant scientists of our time, said in an interview there is “no heaven or afterlife” and that such a belief was a “fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”  I believe that all individuals are absolutely entitled to their own beliefs and ideas.  However, I take issue with the fact that this exceptional thinker, and public personality, felt the need to essentially insult many of his fellow human beings while expressing his personal opinions on creation and the afterlife.

By doing that, he showed a disregard and almost a disdain for others and their own, often deeply held, personal beliefs and thoughts.  After hearing of his remarks, I have wondered when this was going to be publicly discussed, though aside from a few relatively brief articles that mainly reiterated quotes from the original interview, his comments went essentially unchallenged.  I am not sure when western society changed and it became acceptable to insult people rather than discuss issues, but I have noticed the trend for a while now.  When this is done by famous and very educated people, in a public forum, it takes away from the content of the discourse and needlessly makes others feel bad, while not adding any value whatsoever to the discussion.  This is unfortunate because this same type of behavior is what has led to some of the worst social outcomes in history.  Freedom of thought and speech are the cornerstones of modern western civilization but belittling people while doing it definitely is not!

Science is simply a method to assist us in trying to discover how nature works—nothing more.  We apply it through observation using our senses, measure and record data with our tools, and analyze our findings using our reasoning.  The conclusions are crafted into theories, or revisions, that seek to make sense of it all.  These are then discussed and debated with the whole process continually building upon the work of predecessors.  Unless I missed something while in my chemistry, physics, biology or psychology classes, science does not offer us a means to ultimately explain “why” we or anything in the universe exists.

Even if you believe there is no heaven or afterlife that does not give any person, no matter how intelligent or famous, the right to belittle anyone for believing otherwise!  Regardless as to why we are here, we are social animals that are interconnected and dependent upon each other for life and, as such, we must be open to honest debate always, but should do so in constructive not destructive ways.  To do anything less, in my opinion, seriously detracts from even the grandest of contributions to society and leaves a legacy devoid of true appreciation of the many mysteries in life!