I’m no good at good-byes and even less good at obituaries. And I most certainly don’t want to waste my time on Bob Hutton’s predicable and despicable use of the death of a human being to try to score cheap-shots.
So here’s a video.
—Daz
Edit: I've not verified this, but apparently this, below, is Professor Hawkings' final reddit comment. Whether that's true or not, I completely agree with the views expressed.
I'm rather late to the question-asking party, but I'll ask anyway and hope. Have you thought about the possibility of technological unemployment, where we develop automated processes that ultimately cause large unemployment by performing jobs faster and/or cheaper than people can perform them? Some compare this thought to the thoughts of the Luddites, whose revolt was caused in part by perceived technological unemployment over 100 years ago. In particular, do you foresee a world where people work less because so much work is automated? Do you think people will always either find work or manufacture more work to be done? Thank you for your time and your contributions. I've found research to be a largely social endeavor, and you've been an inspiration to so many.
Answer:
If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution.
[emphasis added by twitter-poster]
So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.
Damn right! Unfortunately, on both counts.
—Daz
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Bah. The peasant couldn’t even be bothered to try and get his name right.
Yeah I noticed that. Fun fact; out of the thirteen followers Bobby Boy’s managed to attract since 2009, a whopping seven “just happen” to follow no other blogs at all. It’s not that I’d accuse him of making up false followers to pad the list out a bit, you understand… Oh wait. Yeah I would.
In a way Hutton is the polar opposite of Hawking – a paralysed mind trapped in an active body.
(I noticed that he corrected the spelling shortly after I pointed it out on’t Freethinker. If only we could get him to stop his loathsome gloating every time the great and the good die.)
We’ll have the last laugh before long. He won’t live forever himself.
Verified.
Fankee kindly.
That should have linked to the actual comment. Ho hum. Here’s a capture…
I’ve never had much luck with reddit links. Could be an artefact of the way comments are nested I suppose.
Thanks for taking the trouble though. It’s appreciated.
It is well worth reading all of his Reddit comments. He have truly lost a remarkable intellect…
https://www.reddit.com/user/Prof-Stephen-Hawking
I am sure everyone on here knows this but just in case, Stephen Hawking made his PhD thesis available to all and you can get it here: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/251038
Doubt I will understand much/any of it but it will still be an interesting read and a nice way to remember a fantastic person.