God did not create the universe, says Hawking

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God did not create the universe, says Hawking

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_britain_hawking

God did not create the universe, says Hawking
By Michael Holden
Thu Sep 2, 9:08 am ET

LONDON (Reuters) – God did not create the universe and the "Big Bang" was an inevitable consequence of the laws of physics, the eminent British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book.

In "The Grand Design," co-authored with U.S. physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking says a new series of theories made a creator of the universe redundant, according to the Times newspaper which published extracts on Thursday.

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist," Hawking writes.

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

Hawking, 68, who won global recognition with his 1988 book "A Brief History of Time," an account of the origins of the universe, is renowned for his work on black holes, cosmology and quantum gravity.

Since 1974, the scientist has worked on marrying the two cornerstones of modern physics -- Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which concerns gravity and large-scale phenomena, and quantum theory, which covers subatomic particles.

His latest comments suggest he has broken away from previous views he has expressed on religion. Previously, he wrote that the laws of physics meant it was simply not necessary to believe that God had intervened in the Big Bang.

He wrote in A Brief History ... "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God."

In his latest book, he said the 1992 discovery of a planet orbiting another star other than the Sun helped deconstruct the view of the father of physics Isaac Newton that the universe could not have arisen out of chaos but was created by God.

"That makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions -- the single Sun, the lucky combination of Earth-Sun distance and solar mass, far less remarkable, and far less compelling evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings," he writes.

Hawking, who is only able to speak through a computer-generated voice synthesizer, has a neuro muscular dystrophy that has progressed over the years and left him almost completely paralyzed.

He began suffering the disease in his early 20s but went on to establish himself as one of the world's leading scientific authorities, and has also made guest appearances in "Star Trek" and the cartoons "Futurama" and "The Simpsons."

Last year he announced he was stepping down as Cambridge University's Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, a position once held by Newton and one he had held since 1979.

"The Grand Design" is due to go on sale next week.

(Editing by Steve Addison)
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raum
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Re: God did not create the universe, says Hawking

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Post by raum »

The "startling" new "M-theories" that Hawkins and his buddy are enamored by are just variations of the infitine numbr of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters will eventually create the works of shakespeare. Sorta like how evil batman wanted to destroy the multiverse, or how the Beyonder was not really created.

Welcome to the 1920's all over again.

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Re: God did not create the universe, says Hawking

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Post by darklighter1 »

I think Hawking may just be ticked off at God cause of his having to drive stick the last 40 years or so and is just lashing out. I do that when I run out of cookies and cream, I disavow anyone was behind my creation other than cruel fate.

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Re: God did not create the universe, says Hawking

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Post by deepsepia »

Hawkings is a very smart guy, and one shouldn't parse his comments to be something other than they are.

He does NOT say "God did not create the universe" -- anywhere. He might believe that, he might not. He doesn't say.

What he does say is that the existence of the universe follows naturally and inevitably from the natural operation of its "rules", and one need not "invoke" a Creator to explain its existence. That doesn't mean that "He" didn't create the Universe. Just that Creation itself is not evidence of a Creator.

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Re: God did not create the universe, says Hawking

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Post by raum »

well see here is where I invoke a little common sense...

"Create" took on a WHOLE new meaning after science established theories about elements and atoms.

look at this:

'briat' hebrew word literally means "erected, built, made, engraved, carved, sculpted." all this imply use of materials.

in Jeromes latin vulgate it is "Creatus"; this means "to beget, make, craft, take by force, establish" all these imply the use of materials or resources.

in King James english, "Create" meant "craft, cause to be, establish, craft." all these imply the use of materials.

Now - after we establish the nature of matter and postulate energy can neither be created or destroyed... we see this acklash insisting that god verily made hydrogen just so your son won't end up gay! Define chemical and physical changes, we get people who take the emergent scientific context and apply it to a religious text so lost in translation it is almost indecipherable without decades of study. This word has changed so much that people have no idea what context it is used in.

read "The loom of God" - a history and influence of god in math and science. This shows us God exists.... if only as a pursuable concept that promotes our development as a species. great approach and way better written than Hawkins co-written neo-athiest diatribe.

so really all he did was say "People who rely on the modern meanings of words to read old books are not going to understand them." This tells me all they are doing is fighting stupidity, not revealing anything new.

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Re: God did not create the universe, says Hawking

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Post by Dietrich »

[good-natured sarcasm] Well, of course God didn't create the universe. Because if God didn't create the universe, then he didn't accomplish one of the foremost things he is said to have accomplished. And if he didn't accomplish one of his greatest accomplishments, then it's not unreasonable to suspect that he may well not have accomplished any of the other things he is said to have accomplished. And if he didn't accomplish any of those other things, then it's not unreasonable to reckon that he didn't create Homo sapiens (as he is said to have done). And if he didn't create Homo sapiens, then it's not unreasonable to reckon that Homo sapiens (i.e., us humans) evolved from some earlier life form. And if us humans evolved, then religion is in fact just (so to speak) a figment of our imagination. And if religion is a figment of our imagination, then none of its prohibitions are valid. And if no religious prohibition is valid... [/good-natured sarcasm]

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God did not create the universe says Hawking

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Post by BarryLen »

hallo jake,
Wyeuro, leaving aside for the moment the question of what possible motivation besides obscurantism or some form of cultural atavism pantheists have for saying God when a perfectly serviceable word like everything is already in use, since its clear that Hawking is not saying that the universe doesnt exist or that the universe did not create the universe, isnt it possible that hes using the word God in a more normative and much more specific sense?

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