Stephen Hawking: There is no heaven; it's a fairy story

[myCATpowerlifts]

Lao Tzu ( ~4500 BC)
on morality:


When the great Way is forgotten,
the doctrines of humanity and morality arise.
When knowledge and cleverness appear,
there emerges great hypocrisy.
When family relationships are not in harmony,
filial piety and parental love are advocated.
When a country falls into chaos and disorder,
there is praise of loyal patriots.


Abandon wisdom and discard cleverness,
and people will benefit a hundredfold.
Abandon humanity and discard morality,
and people will rediscover love and duty.
Abandon skill and discard profit,
and there will be no thieves or robbers.
These three things relate to externals and are inadequate.


when the Way is lost, power arises.
When power is lost, humanity arises.
When humanity is lost, morality arises.
When morality is lost, custom arises.
Now custom is a superficial expression
of loyalty and faithfulness, and the beginning of disorder.

Foreknowledge is the flowering of the Way
and the beginning of folly.
Therefore the mature dwell in the depth, not in the thin,
in the fruit and not in the flowering.

 

[ROID]

Honestly, I had quantum chemistry shoved down my throat, hours and hours of multivariable calculus equations that made no sense literally, only mathmatically. and I don't ever pretend to understand quantum physics completely , even my brother , the princetonian physicist says he can never understand it. ( and he is way way smarter than me). However, I sense your frustation because I hate it when people bastardize the second law of thermodynamics...

the conversations you and I could have. We should start our own thread and just talk about "life"

Calculus is something practiced unless you're a true genius.

I wanted so bad to be either a theoretical physicist or an astrophysicist. Theoretical didn't work because I don't like writing computer programs all day and when I tried to be mentored under an astrophysicist he turned out to be a drunk that done the same research over and over. Experimental is where I'm at now, @ 28 Either way, I don't think I have the intelligence to do either.

Being smart is relative, relative to the observer

 

[bandaidwoman]

the conversations you and I could have. We should start our own thread and just talk about "life"

Calculus is something practiced unless you're a true genius.

I wanted so bad to be either a theoretical physicist or an astrophysicist.

Your not missing out, my brother said half of the theoretical physicists at princeton either were insane or were going to go insane. My brother himself is bipolar.....so there you are. The nice thing about chemistry is that you can get real nuts and bolts without ever having to sequay back into theoretical realm, spectographs, osmolar concentrations, those are just nice and solid and practical. Honestly, I was too dumb to ever be a good chemist that could be innovative like my hero the woman chemist who invented kevalr,Stephanie Kwolek, she was so smart she opted out of medical school and went straight to research chemistry . Medicine is very much nuts and bolts, which is probably why "real" scientists make fun of us.

 

[ROID]

Your not missing out, my brother said half of the theoretical physicists at princeton either were insane or were going to go insane. My brother himself is bipolar.....so there you are. The nice thing about chemistry is that you can get real nuts and bolts without ever having to sequay back into theoretical realm, spectographs, osmolar concentrations, those are just nice and solid and practical. Honestly, I was too dumb to ever be a good chemist that could be innovative like my hero the woman chemist who invented kevalr,Stephanie Kwolek, she was so smart she opted out of medical school and went straight to research chemistry . Medicine is very much nuts and bolts, which is probably why "real" scientists make fun of us.

Hell, I'm a manic depressant that see's a psychiatrist.

What makes me laugh sometimes is that people think you have to so intelligent to be a doctor, chemist, physicist, etc.... You have to be willing to be bored for years on end. I can understand being bi-polar or depressed because that describes me perfectly, hence the testosterone supplements

I'm sure no one believes anything I say on the board, little do they know.

 

[ROID]

My belief is that we all draw from a universal consciousness. We all have the ability to do anything.

 

[Zaphod]

My belief is that we all draw from a universal consciousness. We all have the ability to do anything.

The only limit is our brain. All that untapped potential.

 

[LAM]

What makes me laugh sometimes is that people think you have to so intelligent to be a doctor, chemist, physicist, etc....

you surely have to be smarter than the norm but definitely not Einstein, that's why they all have specialty's or are gen practice.

personally I think there is something a little "off" about surgeons. being in combat i've seen just about everything inside of a person on the outside and non of it smells good or looks pretty, fucking gross...but then again people think my gf is weird for being a mortician.

 

[ROID]

fuck, i just typed three paragraphs and deleted it.

I'm too messed up to remember what I typed.

 

[bandaidwoman]

you surely have to be smarter than the norm but definitely not Einstein, that's why they all have specialty's or are gen practice.

personally I think there is something a little "off" about surgeons. being in combat i've seen just about everything inside of a person on the outside and non of it smells good or looks pretty, fucking gross...but then again people think my gf is weird for being a mortician.

no , i keep telling people docs are not the smartest but we do have to be able to function at a very high level with constant sleep deprivation, I still have to run through my head acid base equations quickly when someone is gasping with a mixed acid base acidosis and I have to figure out his or her overdose of choice at 4 in the afternoon after 36 hours of sleep deprivation. Surgeons do this almost constantly and it changes them from human to non human. We are masters at multitasking which, honestly, geniuses are not, I have to analyze my gel electrophoresis for my research with LADA and run to the ICU for a stat consult from a surgeon whose patient is having seizures ( most can't deal with them) while looking at the last 35 set of critical labs that came through on the computer. That is why they look,not for the einstein genius who figures out a theory of everything,but someone who accomplished a lot of things well yet not really a master of one....

 

[bandaidwoman]

Hell, I'm a manic depressant that see's a psychiatrist.

What makes me laugh sometimes is that people think you have to so intelligent to be a doctor, chemist, physicist, etc.... You have to be willing to be bored for years on end. I can understand being bi-polar or depressed because that describes me perfectly, hence the testosterone supplements

I'm sure no one believes anything I say on the board, little do they know.

Most bipolars I know are friggin brilliant. Many may not be educated due to circumstances of their disease, but all are brilliant. Those of us cursed with average IQs , seem to escape this for the most part.

 

[BillHicksFan]

There is no way to tell who is devote or sincere in their beliefs. You might subscribe to a faith but still be a total heathen. A catholic pedophile priest for example.

Then you have the atheist scientist who inevitably benefits mankind because of his research.

Subscribing to a faith means nothing and doesnt speak to what is trully in the heart of the individual.

The fact that atheism is not a belief should be enough, there is no degree of non belief. I believe that if being christened was enough to make you appear religious in those stats, the atheist group would have been much higher.

If Stalin and Pot can be labeled atheist then those jail stats can be used as an accurate indicator for the religiosity of inmates. The religious can't have it both ways.

Pedophile priests are not usually atheists. Its living an unatural life of abstinence and guilt which leaves them wanting to jump the only peice of ass that they come across. The'd simply pray for forgiveness afterward and continue as they were.

 

[LAM]

I had quantum chemistry shoved down my throat, hours and hours of multivariable calculus equations that made no sense literally, only mathmatically.

don't feel bad it's not just you. the first time I took quantum mechanics I spent all my time trying to figure out the "why" instead of just doing the math. I dropped it and had to re-take it the next semester. the funny thing is I didn't learn my lesson as I did the exact same thing when I took multivariable calc in undergrad years before.

 

[BillHicksFan]

Because atheism offers no hope.

Would you really want to remain conscious for the rest of eternity? I believe that is a more frightening prospect than death itself.

You're right though. If Jesus had have presented people with a set of beliefs only to claim that after you died there was nothing at all to look forward to I highly doubt Christianity would have taken off among the majority.

 

[LAM]

Would you really want to remain conscious for the rest of eternity? I believe that is a more frightening prospect than death itself.

no doubt, talk about being bored...lol

one's concept of "heaven" is also very subjective. the heaven of the pedophile that never carried out on those cravings and made it would differ greatly than that of the evangelical christian, etc. one's persons heaven would be the equivalent to another's hell...

 

[Curt James]

that is like me saying Unicorns exist, and you cannot prove they don't.

 

[juggernaut]

Maybe I'm losing my mind, but why is it so awful or taboo to believe in a heaven, a single deity named God or anything deemed religious these days? I don't believe in a lot of what the bible says, but I do believe in God, and his son, a heaven and a hell; and yet I don't call myself Catholic.

 

[niki]

The spirituality that spawned major religions was killed when they made them into major religions. Anything that makes your world smaller, ain't what it's about. I have no problems with either atheists or christians, for the most part.

The way I see it, the spiritual principles were so amazing, that they tried to put them in a box, out of the very best of intentions.....but these things cannot be marketed to the masses and instead - religion results. Which is merely a caricature of the original concept.

As far as heaven goes - I'm too busy working on life to worry about that. I've got plenty of heaven and hell right where I'm at.

 

[Chubby]

Prince, I know what you did last summer.

Looks like something is biting his ass.

 

[withoutrulers]

Spending an entire life time hoping an egocentric God-king will grant you entry into HIS idea of heaven is an enormous waste of energy. Die, then go join the legion of angels created for the sole purpose of singing your lords praises. Join in the singing, and die again, inside from the boredom. But keep this bit to your self cause this oblivion is saving you from the other oblivion. catch 22
Perfect God has no need
God creating all suggests a need:

imperfect god
Needy imperfect God creates slaves
Piety= uncle tom
Go forth and serve your owner.

 

[Saney]

I wonder why this thread was moved into the anything goes section?

Anyway, I read all six pages. And some of the people here posting sound like complete fools.

 

[withoutrulers]

Spending an entire life time hoping an egocentric God-king will grant you entry into HIS idea of heaven is an enormous waste of energy. Die, then go join the legion of angels created for the sole purpose of singing your lords praises. Join in the singing, and die again, inside from the boredom. But keep this bit to your self cause this oblivion is saving you from the other oblivion. catch 22
Perfect God has no need
God creating all suggests a need:

imperfect god
Needy imperfect God creates slaves
Piety= uncle tom
Go forth and serve your owner.

^This

 

[withoutrulers]

^This

This^

 

[withoutrulers]

This^

Stop copying me

 

[withoutrulers]

Stop copying me

shut up

 

[withoutrulers]

shut up

YOU shut up

 

[niki]

Lol!

 

[withoutrulers]

YOU shut up

AAAND scene. Thank you thank you. This was a portion of my play "God's three heads can't get along". It's a representation of the completely asinine assertion that God the Father, the son, and the Holy spirit are all the same being.

 

[Arnold]

this 12 year old will try and explain it:

YouTube Video

 

[Saney]

Smart kid. He understood Einsteins theory at age 12... I learned that women didn't have penises at age 14

 

[Leave]

It doesn't take much to be labeled a "genius" these days I see.