It’s amazing how people so easily and so quickly misrepresent something.
I’m assuming special people received pre released copies of Steven Hawking’s new book THE GRAND DESIGN sparking all these news feeds on a truly interesting topic. The existence of God and the Big Bang Theory. Because you still can’t even go and read more about what he said in the context of the rest of the book, and these news articles chose to reveal a pretty limited context in any of these reviews. They all contain pretty much the same, quotes from the text.
They are:
“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.”
“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.”
Those quotes do say a lot. But everyone is focusing on exactly what they aren’t saying.
The live feed from trending topics on twitter show things like this:
@EricStangel Stephen Hawking says there is no God. I guess that A-Hole has never eaten at the Cheesecake Factory
@cmabe55 Stephen Hawking is a twit: God didn’t fire up the Big Bang? How’s Steve know? Was he there? Does he have the video?
@Steffan1 Yesterday, Stephen Hawking stated without a doubt God did not create the universe.
@gregory_goose Stephen Hawking finally says something that makes sense! There is no God.
Even the headline on the CNN.com article is “Stephen Hawking: God didn’t create universe”
In principle you can’t prove a negative. I’m sure Steven Hawking knows this. You can know it too if you try it out. Compare what the public is representing the quote as, to what the literal quote states. No where in the published quotes does he say “there is no god” or “god didn’t cause the big bang” or anything like it. Yet within those who both agree and disagree with his statements. There is a common theme, misrepresenting it to state the absolute negative. Steven Hawking is simply providing an alternative theory. The theory is quite extraordinary, and any extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence. So I also implore people to wait for the full published text before assigning themselves or condemning others.
We need to get out of that habit. Especially if you want to make any educated statements, assumptions or claims. It is far easier to prove that something is. Than that something is not.
I also find this a problem. Not many scientist are actually out to prove there is no God. They know they can’t. The onus is on those who claim something is. To prove that it is. Because anyone who claims something could not. Already has a flawed claim. Evidence supporting a theory that ‘not necessary to invoke God’. is far from saying ‘God did not’.
Peace!
-Keegan
P.S. OH, and one other thing… A light year is a measure of distance. Not time. People get those confused all the time too.
It amazes me how people so easily and so quickly misrepresent something.
I few special people received pre released copies of Stephen Hawking’s new book THE GRAND DESIGN sparking all these news feeds yesterday on a truly interesting topic. The existence of God and the Big Bang Theory. These news articles chose to reveal a pretty limited context in any of the reviews or commentary. They all contain pretty much the same quotes from the text.
They are:
“It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.”
“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.”
Those quotes do say a lot. But many people are focusing on exactly what they aren’t saying.
The live feed from trending topics on twitter show things like this:
@EricStangel Stephen Hawking says there is no God. I guess that A-Hole has never eaten at the Cheesecake Factory
@cmabe55 Stephen Hawking is a twit: God didn’t fire up the Big Bang? How’s Steve know? Was he there? Does he have the video?
@Steffan1 Yesterday, Stephen Hawking stated without a doubt God did not create the universe.
@gregory_goose Stephen Hawking finally says something that makes sense! There is no God.
Even the headline on the CNN.com article is:
“Stephen Hawking: God didn’t create universe”
In principle you can’t prove a negative. I’m sure Stephen Hawking knows this. You can know it too if you just try it out. Now, Compare what the public is representing the quote as, to what the literal quote states. No where in the published quotes does he say “there is no god” or “god didn’t cause the big bang” or anything like it. Yet within those who both agree and disagree with his statements. There is a common theme; misrepresenting it to state the absolute negative. Stephen Hawking is simply providing an alternative theory. A theory that seems to not require God’s role. The theory is quite extraordinary, and any extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence. So I also implore people to wait for the full published text before assigning themselves or condemning others.
We need to get out of that habit. Especially if you want to make any educated statements, assumptions or plausible claims. It is far easier to prove that something is. Than that something is not.
This a problem. Not many scientist are actually out to prove there is no God. They know they can’t. The onus is on those who claim something is. To prove that it is. Because anyone who claims something could not. Already has a flawed claim. Evidence supporting a theory that it is ‘not necessary to invoke God’. is far from saying ‘God did not’.
Peace!
-Keegan
September 2010
Category :
Rants and Raves,
Science. Tags : ,
Big Bang Theory,
can't prove a negative,
God did not,
God didn't,
Grand Design,
M-Theory,
misquotes,
no god,
quote,
Stephen Hawking,
The Grand Design.
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