[Breaking News] Prof. Stephen Hawking has died at the age of 76.

[KynloStephen66515]

At the age of 76, Professor Stephen Hawking has passed away at home, his family have said.

Full breaking story: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43396008

[wraith808]

Oh no! 

[KynloStephen66515]

The official BBC obituary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15555565

Extract:

Stephen Hawking - who died aged 76 - battled motor neurone disease to become one of the most respected and best-known scientists of his age.

A man of great humour, he became a popular ambassador for science and was always careful to ensure that the general public had ready access to his work.

His book A Brief History of Time became an unlikely best-seller although it is unclear how many people actually managed to get to the end of it.

He appeared in a number of popular TV shows and lent his synthesised voice to various recordings.

Stephen William Hawking was born in Oxford on 8 January 1942. His father, a research biologist, had moved with his mother from London to escape German bombing.

Hawking grew up in London and St Albans and, after gaining a first-class degree in physics from Oxford, went on to Cambridge for postgraduate research in cosmology.

[rgdot]

RIP 

[tomos]

RIP 

I sort of imagine him floating/flying around black holes and checking things out -- like in Interstellar

[Stoic Joker]

Damn...

[panzer]

Take a look at these pictures:
http://milesmathis.com/hawk3.pdf

[anandcoral]

Just saw the headlines "Stephen Hawking considered Artificial Intelligence as threat to humanity" in news but did not read it. Now I read that he has shut down. So was that his last words ?

We are rushing towards AI to easy our daily work pressure. May be we should stop and ponder.

Regards,

Anand

[Carol Haynes]

Very sad day - I read his 1966 paper on Black Holes, his first big prize winner, when I was an undergraduate in the 70s and contemplating doing a PhD in Cosmology.

Ironically I lived in Cambridge the year before I read his paper and saw him most days - sadly I never had the courage to go and say hello.

Going to be hugely missed - not only for his science but his humour and humanity.

Here are a couple of favourite things:

Big Bang Theory clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlrOKpQ6UBI

This piece was written by a friend of mine, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, a British composer who's star is definitely on the rise - one of her works was performed at the Proms last year. This piece was written as a commission for Stephen Hawking's 75th birthday. It was first performed for him at his birthday celebration in Gonville and Caius College Cambridge. Cheryl was so happy to have the chance to meet him. She was also a student at the college.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1el7B_s27I

[Stoic Joker]

We are rushing towards AI to easy our daily work pressure. May be we should stop and ponder

Agreed ...(I'm totally with you and Steve)... Instead of continuously trying to find more and better ways of pushing the multitasking/information overload envelope, people really should just slow down a bit and breath. Otherwise we're just going to end up being a society full of heavily medicated 30 something burnouts.

[wraith808]

We are rushing towards AI to easy our daily work pressure. May be we should stop and ponder

Agreed ...(I'm totally with you and Steve)... Instead of continuously trying to find more and better ways of pushing the multitasking/information overload envelope, people really should just slow down a bit and breath. Otherwise we're just going to end up being a society full of heavily medicated 30 something burnouts.

There are good things and bad things about any technological advancement.  Considering the ethical ramifications just should in my opinion be part of the process, rather than an afterthought.  This wouldn't require slowing down IMO, just a different way of thinking about the design process.  I think that social media is in many ways worse than anything we could ever do with AI.  The societal ramifications weren't considered- just money and connections and information.  And now, there's a morass because of that lack.

[Edvard]

http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2018/03/14/goodbye-stephen-hawking/