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RIP Stephen Hawking

Started by trdsf, March 14, 2018, 12:26:58 AM

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Cavebear

Quote from: Unbeliever on March 15, 2018, 05:51:16 PM
At least Hawking outlived Billy Graham. I sort on felt like celebrating when Graham went away.

LOL!  My first thought about hearing about Graham was "He was still alive?"  My second was "good riddance".  And I suppose that is how some theists think about Hawking and any other scientists...
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Baruch

Quote from: Telesio on March 15, 2018, 03:46:10 PM
Seeing the Christian retards gloating over the death of a great scientist on the various forums is pretty sad.  America seems to love the fruits of high technology but persecutes and hates the scientists who make it possible.   I can't wait for China to become the next world superpower.

They always were the superpower ... just study history.  The Europeans temporarily had more toys ... now those toys are made in China.

Americans perhaps would gloat.  Americans have always been low-brow.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Baruch

#32
Quote from: Unbeliever on March 15, 2018, 05:51:16 PM
At least Hawking outlived Billy Graham. I sort on felt like celebrating when Graham went away.

Billy Graham was too close to the powerful.  I never trust anyone like that.  Particularly if they are the powerful!

But will the science cardinals now meet, and elect the new Science Pope? ;-)
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

Unbeliever

Actually, it was Ed Witten who was voted by his peers the smartest living physicist.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Baruch

Quote from: Unbeliever on March 15, 2018, 07:37:25 PM
Actually, it was Ed Witten who was voted by his peers the smartest living physicist.

I have read him and Hawking.  Physicists are easily impressed by hat tricks.  I am no longer impressed by physicists, living or dead.  Ask Dr Witten how M Theory is going.  It is about the same as declaring ... the best chess player, to be the smartest person (well they are in chess, if in nothing else).
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.

trdsf

Quote from: Cavebear on March 15, 2018, 05:46:55 PM
I'm actually kind of surprised.  Why would anyone gloat about Hawking's death?  Did they confuse him with Richard Dawkins?
According to Dawkins, that did happen sometimes due to the broad similarity between their last names.  He says he's actually been asked where his wheelchair was...

Meanwhile, I offer: A Beer With Stephen Hawking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsNjHaKwN5E?t=608
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Shiranu

Quote from: trdsf on March 16, 2018, 12:38:48 AM
According to Dawkins, that did happen sometimes due to the broad similarity between their last names.  He says he's actually been asked where his wheelchair was...

Meanwhile, I offer: A Beer With Stephen Hawking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsNjHaKwN5E?t=608

That wouldn't surprise me in the least that people mistake the two.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

trdsf

"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Cavebear

Quote from: trdsf on March 16, 2018, 12:50:43 AM


A great image; a goddish type reaching HIGHER to offer Hawking wings of freedom and him declining...
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

Unbeliever

#39
Some of these damned God-bothers make me angry:


QuoteWith the death of the brilliant theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, you knew there would be religious people eager to use the tragedy to promote their own beliefs. What’s surprising is that it’s not just random trolls doing it...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIb-EPY5VaA
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Cavebear

I always liked the fact that his electronic voice was American and he thought that was funny, so he kept it.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

trdsf

Quote from: Cavebear on March 17, 2018, 09:58:55 PM
I always liked the fact that his electronic voice was American and he thought that was funny, so he kept it.
He was offered new voices several times, but always refused.  He was so associated with that particular voice, he didn't want to change it.  It led to some problems later because the hardware and software were so out of date, almost no one knew how to support it anymore.  I seem to recall that it was DEC hardware, which pleases me immensely as I had long been a fan of DECâ€"the first computer I used extensively was a DEC VAX, and you always keep a soft spot in your heart for your first silicon.  :)
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan

Munch

it was still amazing technology and amazing how precise he was using it
'Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners' - George Carlin

Cavebear

Quote from: trdsf on March 17, 2018, 10:32:57 PM
He was offered new voices several times, but always refused.  He was so associated with that particular voice, he didn't want to change it.  It led to some problems later because the hardware and software were so out of date, almost no one knew how to support it anymore.  I seem to recall that it was DEC hardware, which pleases me immensely as I had long been a fan of DECâ€"the first computer I used extensively was a DEC VAX, and you always keep a soft spot in your heart for your first silicon.  :)

I didn't know that, so thank you.  I can well imagine that almost any voice synthesizers would have loved to provide his voice closer to his original one, but I can also imagine how he came to own his "voice" and would be reluctant to change it.
Atheist born, atheist bred.  And when I die, atheist dead!

trdsf

Quote from: Munch on March 17, 2018, 10:37:18 PM
it was still amazing technology and amazing how precise he was using it
Around 2010 or so, long after DEC had been bought out and the vocoder tech spun off, Intel mounted a major effort to improve Hawking's system at the interface level, since changing the sound was not an option.  Over time, as he aged and the disease progressed, Hawking's 'typing rate' had degraded to about one or two words a minute; Intel was able to improve his predictive text system... but the DECtalk unit stayed, and the company that bought out DEC's TTS still markets it as DECtalk.
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan