The big questions
Many of us go through life without asking big questions. Where do we come from? What is our place in the universe? Merely keeping up with bills – whether you use short term loans and mortgage loan modification or not – and moving through the dooms of life like sheep is the classic example of “the unexplored life” that “is not worth living,” as Socrates put it.
To the best of human knowledge (which is the only knowledge we have, let’s not kid ourselves), the big questions of purpose generally answer themselves. Even if we fail to discern the answer, we needn’t worry. The answer is the question. In the quest for answers, the application of our logic to the problem is what makes us imminently human.
Stephen Hawking loves these questions
Unfortunately, Stephen Hawking is ill. Robert Barr reports for The Huffington Post that the British mathematician and physicist was rushed to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge on Monday with a cold and chest infection. Reports indicate that he remains in the hospital at this writing, “resting comfortably.”
Hawking, 67, gained renown for his work on black holes and space-time theory, and has remained active despite being diagnosed at 21 years of age with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), an incurable muscular disease better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He developed the condition at the age of 40 and has been almost entirely paralyzed for some time. He communicates via an electronic voice synthesizer activated via finger.
Brian Dickie of the Motor Neuron Disease Association said that “only 5 percent of people diagnosed with ALS survive for 10 years or longer.”
A physics giant
Hawking’s work centered around the search for a “unified theory” which would resolve contradictions between Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and the Theory of Quantum Mechanics. He published the best-selling books “A Brief History of Time” and “The Universe in a Nutshell,” among other works.
“Professor Hawking is a remarkable colleague. We all hope he will be amongst us again soon,” said Peter Haynes of Cambridge University’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.
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I hope he comes out of the hospital OK. He should, as the news agencies have reported that he’s just fine, but still – the man is a living legend. Not many people have done nearly as much to advance the common interest in science with the masses. Never mind that he more or less proved the existence of black holes, a titanic feat for any mere mortal, but after his diagnosis of ALS…Hawking is inspiration.