Light On Dark Water

He’s a Scientist, So We Better Listen

That seems to be the rationale for the media attention paid to the latest bit of very ordinary religious speculation on the part of Stephen Hawking. It's a tribute to the authority and prestige of science and scientists–much of it deserved–that a scientist's views on almost anything, no matter how far removed from his area of competence, are usually given more weight than those of a non-scientist. Hawking's opinion on this is no more or less valuable than a janitor's. Actually I would give it less weight than that of the janitor I know best, the woman who cleans the building where I work, because I know she has a fair amount of native wisdom, and I don't know that about Hawking.

For something in the science line that's far more interesting–being actually in the science line–see Craig Burrell's review of The 4% Universe, a book that sounds truly fascinating. Wish I had time to read it.

Maclin Horton
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12 responses to “He’s a Scientist, So We Better Listen”

  1. Janet

    Oh, the woman that cleans our building knows more about God than almost anyone I’ve ever met.
    AMDG

    Reply
  2. Mac

    I don’t doubt it. One of the most memorable statements I’ve ever heard came from another cleaning lady, this one ca. 1978: after expressing a good deal of worry about the direction the world was going, she said “But I reckon the Lord will take care of us. He knows we all crazy.”
    Maybe that kind of work lends itself to deep reflection.

    Reply
  3. Janet

    Well probably if you have to escape with 5 children from a country where people will pull you out of bed and kill you for being a Christian and then you end up with nothing in a country where you don’t speak the language, you have to really pay attention to what God is saying.
    When she was still in the Sudan and knew she had to leave, she started fasting–I mean really fasting–not even water–every Friday. She’s still doing it.
    AMDG

    Reply
  4. Janet

    “We should seek the greatest value of our action.”
    AAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
    Completely meaningless in his context.
    AMDG

    Reply
  5. Jesse Canterbury

    “We should seek the greatest value of our action.”
    Didn’t read the piece, but as a physicist Hawking should be aware that all processes minimize the value of the action. In seeking our action’s greatest values, we would be causing ourselves lots of stress through inefficiencies, difficulties in sustaining unstable configurations, etc.
    (That’s a physics joke, I hope I got it right. :))
    [BTW, it’s Stephen.]

    Reply
  6. Mac

    “Steven” corrected–thanks. I’m getting really sloppy about stuff like that–I mean, “Stephen” is in the headline of the piece I linked to.
    I’m sorry, I don’t get the joke, except in a very vague sort of way.
    You’ve told me about her, Janet, but I had forgotten that she’s the cleaning lady. Very humbling. (I mean her courage and faith, not that she’s a cleaning lady.)

    Reply
  7. Selimibn

    Action is either a maximum or a minimum for the classical trajectory. It is indeed a bad joke and not a moral imperative. He is saying obeying the laws of physics is not a choice.

    Reply
  8. Louise

    Maybe that kind of work lends itself to deep reflection.
    No doubt.

    Reply
  9. Rob G

    This just in…
    “There is no Stephen Hawking. He’s a fairy story.” — N.T. Wright

    Reply
  10. Mac

    A bit like the old “Nietzsche is dead. –God” joke. Except N.T. Wright is not God. I take it Wright has had something to say about this silly business?

    Reply
  11. Rob G

    “I take it Wright has had something to say about this silly business?”
    Not really. I just thought it was funny. If a scientist can deny God’s existence, a theologian should be able to deny the scientist’s existence. Makes about the same amount of sense!

    Reply
  12. Mac

    I’ll at least give ordinary materialists like Hawking credit for acknowledging the existence of objective truth–he probably wouldn’t say it’s impossible for one person to know if another exists.

    Reply

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