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Hawking was one of the most iconic and influential scientists of his time. Image Credit: NASA
The late physicist's last book, which was published recently, attempts to answer the biggest questions of them all.
Hawking, who died back in March at the age of 76, was certainly no stranger to contemplating some of the most important scientific and philosophical questions of our time.
In the newly published 'Brief Answers to the Big Questions: the final book from Stephen Hawking', the celebrated physicist offers his own personal thoughts on some of humanity's biggest questions.
On the topic of whether or not there is a God or an afterlife, he wrote:
"No one created the universe and no one directs our fate. This leads me to a profound realisation: there is probably no heaven and afterlife either. I think belief in the afterlife is just wishful thinking."
"There is no reliable evidence for it, and it flies in the face of everything we know in science."
On the topic of time travel he noted that "travel back in time can't be ruled out according to our present understanding". Hawking famously once held a party and invited time travelers from the future to participate, however nobody showed up.
On the matter of humanity's future as a spacefaring civilization, Hawking was optimistic, stating that "within the next hundred years we will be able to travel to anywhere in the solar system."
"He realized that people specifically wanted his answers to these questions," said his daughter, Lucy.
"He's asking us not to go into the future blindly. How good is the track record of the human race in using advances in technology for the good of ordinary people ?"
Source: Yahoo! News.
