Sunday, March 25, 2018
Goodbye and good riddance, Stephen Hawking
This isn’t going to be one of my typical in memoriam essays on the recent death of a well-known figure in the science, technology and/or sci-fi/fantasy worlds.
Quite the opposite.
It’ll be more of a dark rant about the death of Stephen Hawking, suggesting that maybe the esteemed theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author lived a bit too long.
Now before you jump all over me for saying that, let me make clear that I have nothing but admiration for the man whose theories about cosmology were as revolutionary to modern science as the discoveries of Albert Einstein or even Isaac Newton. In fact, I have the utmost respect for everything he accomplished and am awed by the fact that he did it despite being afflicted with a rare, early-onset form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, (“ALS", or Lou Gehrig's disease), that left him practically paralyzed.
Like Carl Sagan, another “rock-star” scientist did some 38 years ago with his ground-breaking TV mini-series, “Cosmos,” Hawking made science cool and penned the one of the best-selling books of all time, “A Brief History of Time.” According to Time Magazine, the book, which explores profound questions about how the universe began, how it might end, the nature of time and does it in a non-technical way, has sold over 10 million copies world-wide since it was published in 1988. And like Sagan, he even became something of a pop-culture icon, making cameos on such popular TV shows as “The Simpsons,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” He was even featured in in a big Hollywood biopic, “The Theory of Everything” starring two of today’s hottest A-listers, Eddie Redmayne (“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”) and Felicity Jones (“Rogue One”).
Had Hawking continued to live there is no telling what else his genius and insight might have told us about the universe in which we all live and how it works. The only problem is, that not only do I think no one would have cared, but his discoveries would have constantly been attacked by self-proclaimed “experts” whose scientific expertise is limited to the high school physics class they slept through. And I think THAT would have killed him in a slower and crueler way than the ALS which eventually took him from us.So yes, I’m glad Steven Hawking is gone, because we no longer live in a world that values science nor the opinions of the thousands of men and women who devote their lives to the study of physics, medicine, geology, biology, meteorology or any of the other “ologies” out there. All we seem to care about is rantings of Twitter twits, social media morons and TV and radio ideologues who think they have a better understanding of science than the people who have spent years studying in those particular fields.
To them “facts” are flexible and there and only meant to fit their own theories, instead of the other way around. They also believe in “alternate truths,” which we all used to rightfully call LIES when I was younger and the world seemed a bit saner.
If it seems like I’m laying all the blame at the feet of these people, I’m not. As a staunch defender of the First Amendment, I stand by their right to spout their garbage even though I thoroughly disagree with them.
Who I’m really angry at is YOU – and everyone else who listens to these know-nothings. You have given credibility to people who in the past would have been dismissed as crazy conspiracy theorists or extremist who are out-of-touch with the mainstream.
But we’re listening to them now and taking their opinions as gospel because we suddenly only want to hear from people who will echo our own often darkest beliefs. We want to live in an echo-chamber where we are constantly being told we are right, instead of challenging ourselves and perhaps learning something new along the way. We’ve become less and less tolerant of anybody who doesn’t share our world view, and when confronted by facts which run contrary to our long-held beliefs, we lash out like little kids and call our confronters all sorts of derogatory names and claim their facts are wrong or biased despite the fact they’ve been scientifically proven/accepted for decades.
As a younger man I always though the future would bring enlightenment and scientific advancement that would solve the world’s problem’s. Now I fear that we are moving towards the type of futuristic dystopias featured in such popular sci-fi stories as “Brave New World,” "1984," “Brazil,” “The Hunger Games,” “Divergent” and “The Handmaid's Tale.”
So, Steven, I’m glad you’ve left us.
Hopefully you’re in a better and brighter place. One that still values reason and science over ego and hubris.
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