Stephen Hawking may be an atheist, but is he really Darth Vader?

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
1/15/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Advocates blast comparison of hawking to 'brain in a vat.'

A fellow boffin has created a stir in the UK for comparing Stephen Hawking to Darth Vader. Calling him "more machine than man," U.S. scientists Helene Mialet has drawn criticism from disability advocates who say her comparisons are insensitive and harsh.

Hawking may be an atheist, but he's no Darth Vader.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Pro-life groups have criticized Mialet for trivializing human life, while the MND Association said her comments were "dehumanizing and disrespectful."

Mialet wrote, "On this day it's worth examining just who and what we are really celebrating: the man, the mind or the machines? .Hawking has become a kind of a brain in a vat. Since being afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis almost 50 years ago, his muscles have stopped working, though his mind and senses remain unaffected."

Stephen Hawking is one of the world's most renowned scientists. His work into cosmology and physics is virtually without equal since Einstein. And despite his lack of religious conviction, he is a likable, humorous fellow who has managed to overcome a crippling disability to become more productive than many who have the full range of their bodily function.

Most people know Stephen Hawking from popular media because he is a well-known public figure. Confined to a wheelchair by a neuromuscular degenerative disease, Hawking can move only his eyes and speaks through a computer. His computerized voice is well known.

Mialet compared Hawking to a "brain in a vat" Mialet says he does not need the use of his body because his work is entirely in his mind. She also said he was more machine than man. This comparison was used in the Star Wars movies to refer to the villain, Darth Vader.

Mialet was complimentary to Hawking, giving him his due and acknowledging his genius, however, that did not keep the ire from pro-lifers and disability advocates at bay.

According to the Daily Mail, Farah Nazeer, director of external affairs at the Motor Neurone Disease Association was quoted as saying. "Whilst we appreciate that Ms. Mialet is an academic exploring issues of how minds and machine interrelate, Professor Hawking himself has said: 'People with MND are just normal people with an abnormal condition.'"

She continued, "Referring to anyone who relies on assistive technology to overcome the profound disability and socially isolating effects of motor neurone disease as a 'brain in a vat' is dehumanizing and disrespectful - not just to Professor Hawking but to all those doing their utmost to live and contribute to our society with this devastating incurable disease, which kills five people every day in the UK."

In the same article, Chris Whitehouse of Right To Life Charitable trust added, "'I disagree passionately and regularly with many of the views that Prof Stephen Hawkins expresses, but I would die for his right to express them."

He continued, "I have nothing but the greatest respect for this incredible man and what he has achieved. To denigrate him for his disability and to belittle his accomplishments is to denigrate human life itself."

Perhaps adding insult to injury, the article was published on Jan.8, Stephen Hawking's 71st birthday.

� 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM. -

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Stephen Hawking, Helene Mialet, brain in a vat, Darth Vader

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1 - 5 of 5 Comments

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4 months ago
Stephen Hawking doesn't believe in God. What a shame. How can a person possess a high IQ while being stupid?? Hawking obviously never figured out that the people he associates with are the very people who are the champions of euthanasia. Hawking's side of the isle is populated by Liberals, Marxists, Communists who push to euthanize handicapped people like Hawking. Europe is filled with examples of this. I just read an article on this website that reported severely handicapped people with cognitive minds being euthanized. It is by the grace of God that Hawking was spared this fate. His high IQ and intellectual prowess convinced his brother executors to spare him. Had Hawking have an average to low IQ, he would now be dead. It is the "Humane" God believers influence that spared his life out of respect for his talent. Maybe, we pray, Hawking might get smart and come to God.
Gary
4 months ago
The author writes : "he is a likable, humorous fellow who has managed to overcome a crippling disability to become more productive than many who have the full range of their bodily function."
Well, I think that the author should underline that this result has been obtained thanks to the extraordinary intelligence of the scientist. So that it's not their fault if many normal people are less productive but it's the fault of their having not been endowed with as many intellectual faculties.
DLL
4 months ago
Mr Hawking is a living miracle of faith,reason and science. He is why one can believe in God because the circumstances of his physical existence is so unbelievable,yet he is one of the greatest of all scientists. He obviously has been served well by all in the charge of the care of him. Love and devotion by others has also served him very well so his unique mind was not lost to the oblivion that his disease could have resulted in.
George Ronald Adkisson
4 months ago
Judgement is walked here upon Earth...and keeps pilling up new types of problems when a government lacks the abilty to be anything but disfunctional. That surely does not imporve the exchanged look at a Church. A Church was never intended as a prison or a place to carry out an execution, but a place to rear children with their mothers not branded as Jezebells.
The levels of crime and terrosim today proves what Paul and many others wrote and warned us to watch for...especially the loud sound of the trumpets heard...or what God has always allowed us to know in order to live a good wholseome life and not kill 18 year olds for someone's profit...or to brag a new weapon...if there was such a thing.
Politicians do not have a high place with me...and need all the Hollywood branding just to be seen and heard.There is an old saying that some will get their just reward...and appear to be totally in approval of that position among Man.
I am sure though...they are performing and have assumed a role that empowers them rather than equals them.
Capitalism...has ruined many a soul or their persona for sure.
I am sure of one thing...I never cut myself or anyone else short of being just the least among those here in Heaven as God willed.
Today, the time still arrives when we must let go; as many people have throughout history...and remain as those who actually had peity for women and children.The use of gold and precious metals did not create Heaven upon Earth...nor does anyone in Washington actually have a sound platform to stand on...but wait...I am here upon Earth. They need throw that money away they print for nothing after they pay the costs with the same money.
Everyone have an enjoyable day... many people today laugh at the way politicians have turned out...and law enforcement..at least we can until we get caught in their next cabal and end owing fines, etc. to people should have found other employment.
Greg
4 months ago
Mr Hawking may not believe in reality, but the reality is that he is created in image of God, and his soul is eternal. He was human in the womb of his mother, he was human when he was a kid, and he is human having all the apparatus attached to him. He will not cease to be human when he dies, too. It will be only an other temporary stage. What will then happen? Only God knows, and Mr Hawking will know.

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