Brief Answers to the Big Questions

Hawking is a rockstar of the science world. He's probably one of the few modern physicists that most people can name, and not just because of his iconic wheelchair and popular books: Hawking has been at the very front of our growing knowledge about the universe over the last handful of decades. Something you may not know is that he's quite funny as well. See this interview from British comedian John Oliver:

JO: “You've stated that there could be an infinite number of parallel universes. Does that mean that there's a universe out there where I'm smarter than you?”
SH: “Yes, and also a universe where you're funny”

So I was very glad to receive this as a seminary graduation present, and it's a perfect fit for me: one of the great minds in modern science engaging with the big-picture questions that I entertain a lot. And aside from an early chapter about religion - pretty disappointing that he engages with straw men arguments - this is excellent stuff: incredible writing about the future of science and technology and how they'll affect the human species. He's also my level of an optimist: he still believes in growth and change, but doesn't undersell the challenges we face. This is best summed up in my favorite line: “
“Our future is a race between the growing power of our technology and the wisdom with which we use it. Let's make sure wisdom wins.”

A handful of other things I think he's really right about:

He believes in space exploration without falling into the rich scientists' trap of ignoring problems here on earth.

His thoughts on the importance of increasing science education as technology encompasses more of our lives is spot-on: “A world where only a tiny super-elite are capable of understanding advanced science and technology and its applications would be, to my mind, a dangerous and limited one... [that likely would have bad priorities]”

As our tech has become exponentially more powerful over the last few centuries, the stakes keep rising (the invention of the first few guns was high-stakes for a region, but the atomic bomb is high-stakes for whole countries). And with the coming advent of AI, we really need to be ready. As he puts it, “The advent of super-intelligent AI would either be the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity. We cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it.” It's the only threat comparable to climate change, and we need significantly more research done NOW on how to make sure its goals are aligned with ours.

His discussion of the weirdness of quantum mechanics in the essay called “Can we predict the future?” is one of the better short intros you'll find on the topic.

Cons:

His first chapter, called “Is There a God?” was really disappointing to me. Over and over again, I found myself asking, “Has he actually spoken to any educated Christians?” Look, religion is something that speaks to the deepest sense of what it means to be a human. Anyone is allowed to have opinions about it, regardless of their background or pedigree. I'm not asking for him (or anyone) to take full classes on Thomas Aquinas, which is a luxury not available to all. But he repeatedly leaned on tired cliches and betrayed that he was talking about the “old wizard in the sky” kind of God. I wanted some Christian in his life to take just a moment to say, “I don't believe in that God either.” I'm glad this was the only chapter like that, but wish it was later in the book so I could recommend it to others more easily.