5 Best Stephen Hawking Quotes:

Professor Stephen Hawking (01.08.1942-03.14.2018) died at the age of 76 years old this past week. After earning his Ph.D. in 1965, Hawking went on to author many academic papers and books. He was a cosmologist armchair space traveler who enjoyed being lost in space. Although confined to a wheelchair since his ALS diagnosis in 1963, Hawking remained active and researching up until the end.

Below are 5 of his best quotes about the universe, extraterrestrial life, and the future of the human race. R.I.P. Professor. May your journey be filled with stars.

1. “Hawking described Homer Simpson approvingly as a guy who ‘is always trying to get something for nothing.’ That’s the universe in a nutshell.”
2. “I think the conventional afterlife is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.”
3. “I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go into space. I, therefore, want to encourage public interest in space.”
4. “I think it would be a disaster. The extraterrestrials would probably be far in advance of us. The history of advanced races meeting more primitive people on this planet is not very happy, and they were the same species. I think we should keep our heads low”
   • In Naked Science: Alien Contact, the National Geographic Channel, 2004
5. “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate… Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded”
   • Interview, BBC, December 2014