Monday, April 20, 2009

Hawking



The dude keeps it real.

Hawking was my first intellectual hero when I was a kid. Dad brought home the Errol Morris Brief History of Time and I remember protesting as he put the VHS in the player. But learning about black holes led to an elementary school mystical experience. It was probably one of the defining influences of my life.

Hearing him communicate so frankly about humanity surviving beyond life on Earth is both disturbing and a breath of fresh air. If science has brought us any understanding, it is certainly that life is a precious thing in the universe and human consciousness in particular. To think that human will could alone determine the future of whether human consciousness survives or ends on this planet... it seems to be a thought that I stopped considering as a teenager. Perhaps it was too fantastic or overwhelming. Too Star Wars. But really, too godly.

But the dude keeps it real. What's more honest than that smile at the end? Serious.

No comments: