“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.” – Stephen Hawking
I still remember the first time I read Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos“ and after that, I was fortunate enough to read Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History Of Time“. Although the scientific jargon was difficult for me to understand, these two books opened my mind to new possibilities. It helped me to contemplate on the meaning of life and our purpose in the universe itself. In other words, in the grand scheme of the cosmos, where exactly do we fit in?
Stephen Hawking was a theoretical physicist, a cosmologist and an activist. He was a person of great intellect and he had a great sense of humour which made him popular. He was not merely confined to his lab but also appeared in many TV shows like “The Simpsons”, “The Big Bang Theory” and others. Like an artist, philosopher and poet, he brought science to the masses.
He did all this while struggling with a neuro-degenerative disease. Confined to a wheelchair, he spoke through a device in his cheek muscle. It was considered that he would only live a few years, but he never gave up. He showed that disabilities cannot get in our way, when it comes to achieving our goals.
He wanted to have a complete understanding of the universe. He once said, “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. It’s a crazy world out there. Be curious.”
His greatest contribution, in my opinion, was his discovery of the Hawking radiation. It states that electromagnetic radiation is released by black holes near the event horizon (the point at which gravity is so strong that even light can’t escape). Before that, it was believed that nothing can escape from a black hole. Moreover, his discovery also stated that black holes shrink and dissipate.
Moreover, he attempted to formulate a Grand Unified Theory combining quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of relativity. He wanted to give a ‘Theory of Everything’ that could explain all the aspects of the universe.
Moreover, his interest in the theories of time travel was well known. In 2009, he ran an experiment to show that backward time travel isn’t possible. He hosted a party for ‘time-travellers’ from the future. He provided GPS coordinates for his party but didn’t send out any invites. Only those who could travel back in time would be able to attend. But unfortunately, no ‘time-traveller’ from the future showed up in his party.
He also gave his views on the effect an expanding universe would have on our perception of time.
Regarding artificial intelligence(AI) he called it the “worst event in the history of our civilisation.” He was fearful about it, as he goes on to say – “It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy.” He also advised caution when it came to meeting aliens. As he said, “Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well.”
He was also concerned about contemporary global problems. According to The Sun, during a video presentation on November 5, 2017, at the Tencent Web Summit in Beijing, he warned that the rising human population, and its energy needs, could render Earth uninhabitable by the year 2600.
Consequently, he held that the human race needed to spread out into space and then to other planets in the galaxy as this was necessary for our survival, in his opinion. He declared that humans must “boldly go where no one has gone before” for continuing our species. He warned against the current chaos in our world and always favored discussion, debates and dialogues. He wanted humans to find creative solutions to their problems.
Hawking spoke against the Vietnam war (in 1968) and the Iraq war. Furthermore, he was a vocal critic of capitalism and the way it increased inequality and led to accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few.
Carl Sagan once said, “We are made of starstuff” – and Stephen Hawking was the brightest of them all. He showed us why we are special within the cosmos. He appreciated the capacity of humans to understand the universe, and that makes us special. He had faith in the human capacity for collective endeavour. Now, it is the duty of the collective human race to continue his legacy forward.
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