Stephen Hawking on the philosophy of life

I just finished watching The Theory of Everything, a biographical drama about the life of the famed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. It follows how Hawking finds love and battles adversity as he slowly becomes paralysed after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease. He was given two years to live after his diagnosis, but he defied the odds and lived for another 50 years, passing away at the age of 76.

The movie is light on science and heavy on the emotional toll that Hawking’s condition takes on his wife, Jane Wilde. It’s a beautiful, feel-good film. The highlight, of course, is Eddie Redmayne’s stunning performance. That’s not to say Felicity Jones, who plays Jane, is any less brilliant.

One of my favorite parts of the movie comes toward the end, when Stephen Hawking is asked about his philosophy of life. His answer is devastatingly beautiful with echoes of Carl Sagan.

Guest: You have said you do not believein God. Do you have a philosophy of life that helps you?

Stephen Hawking: It is clear that we are just an advanced breed of primates on a minor planet orbiting around a very average star, in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies. BUT, ever since the dawn of civilization people have craved for an understanding of the underlying order of the world. There ought to be something very special about the boundary conditions of the universe. And what can be more special than that there is no boundary? And there should be no boundary to human endeavor. We are all different. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there is life, there is hope.

Watching the movie reminded me of a bunch of things and I wanted to share them.

The first thing is this beautiful soundtrack. I’m a yugee soundtrack buff, and I had heard this track countless times even before I watched the movie.

The second thing I wanted to share is this hilarious joke about Stephen Hawking by Bill Burr.

Bill Burr – Paper Tiger (Netflix)

Sketch on robots and Stephen Hawking

You know, I’m afraid of robots.
(audience laughs)
I saw one get interviewed on 60 Minutes — the top journalistic program in the U.S. — and it’s just sitting there, getting interviewed.

Not nervous at all. Just rattling off all the f***ing answers.

You know, not smoking, not f***ing… not leaking oil — whatever you would do as a nervous robot, right?
(audience laughs)

I literally lean toward the TV like:
Did this f**ing robot just say it has goals?*
(audience laughs)

Its goal? “To become smarter than human beings.”
And the reporter asks, “Okay, what’s your favorite color?”
(audience laughs)

Meanwhile, I’m yelling at the TV:
“Unplug that f*ing thing! Do something!”**
(audience laughs)

Every smart person warns these things are gonna kill us… even Stephen Hawking.
(audience laughs)
Hawking was always sitting down. Too good to stand up and make his point—just smarmy.
(audience laughs)

I’m so glad that guy’s f***ing dead.
(audience gasps and laughs)
Maybe up there now, his legs work, he’s getting an angelic blowjob…
so how long do you want him to sit there just so you can feel better?
(audience laughs)

Watch the full clip below:

The third thing is this brilliant talk by the British philosopher A. C. Grayling on philosophy and life. I had written a post on this video a while back.

https://bhuvan.substack.com/p/cut-my-life-into-pieces-this-is-my?utm_source=publication-search

Here’s what Claude taught me

After watching The Theory of Everything, I realized I’d only glimpsed the surface of Stephen Hawking’s extraordinary contributions to our understanding of the universe. Here’s what I discovered about his scientific legacy and why his work continues to revolutionize physics:

His groundbreaking discoveries

Hawking Radiation: Perhaps Hawking’s most famous contribution was proving that black holes aren’t completely black. In 1974, he demonstrated that black holes actually emit radiation due to quantum effects near their event horizons. This was initially controversial but is now widely accepted as a major breakthrough. The radiation occurs when particle-antiparticle pairs are created at the boundary of a black hole, with one particle falling in while the other escapes. (Learn more about Hawking Radiation)

Singularity Theorems: Working with mathematician Roger Penrose in the 1960s, Hawking proved that if Einstein’s general relativity is correct, the universe must have begun with a singularity—a point of infinite density at the Big Bang. This work helped establish the Big Bang theory as our best model for the universe’s origin. (Read about his collaboration with Penrose)

Black Hole Thermodynamics: Hawking discovered that black holes have temperature and entropy, connecting gravity with thermodynamics in unexpected ways. He proved the “area theorem”—that a black hole’s event horizon can never shrink, only grow larger, similar to how entropy always increases.

His revolutionary ideas about time and the universe

Hawking proposed the “no-boundary” model of the universe with James Hartle, suggesting that time itself began with the Big Bang and that asking what came before is meaningless—like asking what’s north of the North Pole. He also worked extensively on “imaginary time,” a mathematical concept that treats time as a fourth spatial dimension near the Big Bang.

His work bridged quantum mechanics and general relativity, two theories that normally don’t play well together. This laid crucial groundwork for understanding quantum gravity—still physics’ holy grail. (Understanding his theoretical contributions)

His impact beyond pure science

Science Communication: A Brief History of Time (1988) became one of the most successful science books ever written, selling over 10 million copies worldwide in 40+ languages. It remained on bestseller lists for 237 weeks—longer than any previous book. Hawking had a rare gift for making complex physics accessible without dumbing it down. (Read about the book’s cultural impact)

Cultural Icon: Beyond academia, Hawking became a global symbol of human curiosity and perseverance. He appeared on The Simpsons, Star Trek, and The Big Bang Theory, making science cool for popular culture. He once threw a party for time travelers (no one showed up, proving his point about time travel being impossible). (Explore his broader cultural legacy)

Inspiration Through Adversity: Diagnosed with ALS at 21 and given two years to live, Hawking defied medical predictions for over 50 years. His determination to continue groundbreaking research while battling a progressively debilitating disease inspired millions worldwide.

His lasting questions and legacy

Hawking left us with profound questions that physicists are still wrestling with:

• The Information Paradox: If black holes evaporate through Hawking radiation, what happens to the information that fell into them? This touches on fundamental laws of physics.
• The Theory of Everything: While never fully achieving his goal of a unified theory explaining all physics, his work pointed the way forward.
• The Nature of Time: His explorations of time’s beginning and whether time travel is possible continue to influence theoretical physics.

Why his work matters today

Recent discoveries have vindicated many of Hawking’s predictions. The 2015 detection of gravitational waves opened new ways to test his theories about black holes. The Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, established in 2016, continues his mission of making science accessible to everyone. (Learn about current research at his former center)

Hawking showed us that the universe is far stranger and more wonderful than we imagined—filled with black holes that evaporate, time that had a beginning, and realities that challenge our everyday experience. His famous quote from the movie captures this perfectly: there should be “no boundary to human endeavor.”

Most importantly, Hawking demonstrated that science isn’t just about equations and experiments—it’s about satisfying our deepest curiosity about existence itself. As he wrote in A Brief History of Time: “If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the mind of God.” (Explore his scientific legacy in detail)