Stephen Hawking, 1942-2018.

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bummed about this one. My dad gave me back my copy of "A brief history of time" during Christmas (I forgot he even had it from a decade back) and just by chance I've been rereading it since. I wish we celebrated minds like his the way they deserve everyday, but we don't. A brilliant mind and able to convey immense concepts so even a mongo like me could understand it.

The "we" you speak of is decreasing every day. There are so many who praise his theories, even if they don't understand them. If anything, he continued the spark of Carl Sagan's fascinations of the Titans that came before him (Aristostle, Newton). Today we have scientific celebrities like Bill Nye, Michio Kaku, Neil degrasse fuckin Tyson. Of which their collective discoveries have resulted in nameless and countless technological developments. Of which, we use primarily to kill each other in digital fashion.
 

j00t

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The "we" you speak of is decreasing every day. There are so many who praise his theories, even if they don't understand them. If anything, he continued the spark of Carl Sagan's fascinations of the Titans that came before him (Aristostle, Newton). Today we have scientific celebrities like Bill Nye, Michio Kaku, Neil degrasse fuckin Tyson. Of which their collective discoveries have resulted in nameless and countless technological developments. Of which, we use primarily to kill each other in digital fashion.

this will start to get a bit philosophical, but the truly intelligent people in the world can't really be famous anymore. it's very much the tesla vs edison situation. edison didn't invent the light bulb, tesla did. edison just figured out how to make money off the idea. the current world really rewards the edison's and punishes the tesla's. i would argue that the AMOUNT of hawking's, tesla's, etc, are the same, it's just that they are perfectly happy sitting around inventing and/or exploring ideas in relative peace and quiet.
 
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Tholan

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this will start to get a bit philosophical, but the truly intelligent people in the world can't really be famous anymore. it's very much the tesla vs edison situation. edison didn't invent the light bulb, tesla did. edison just figured out how to make money off the idea. the current world really rewards the edison's and punishes the tesla's. i would argue that the AMOUNT of hawking's, tesla's, etc, are the same, it's just that they are perfectly happy sitting around inventing and/or exploring ideas in relative peace and quiet.

The question is, during Tesla and Edison times, were they really famous ? I mean, did the common people knew about them ? For us, now, we know that they were incredible, but back then, maybe outside of the university circle jerks, they were maybe pretty unknown ?
 
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j00t

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The question is, during Tesla and Edison times, were they really famous ? I mean, did the common people knew about them ? For us, now, we know that they were incredible, but back then, maybe outside of the university circle jerks, they were maybe pretty unknown ?

i think edison was well known, probably just because he brought the lightbulb to people's houses. similarly to how, i think a guy like elon musk is pretty well known. but i like elon musk a lot more than i like edison, so that's not quite a far comparison
 
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Franklin was well enough known to get on the $100 bill when the lesser bills are all presidents, without ever having been president. Popularity was a challenge before electricity, the telegram, telephone, internet. Most of the folks we're discussing here were involved in the development of those things.
 
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I feel sad today, but then I stop and think, I am lucky enough to live in a universe with people like Newton and Hawking existed, and I even got to live in the century in which Einstein, Hubble, Hawking, and so many amazing minds have lived, and I realize, maybe this isn't the Worst Timeline Ever.

RIP Stephen, you are a true badass of the highest order. I'll never be smart enough to get much of what people like you have known, but I am lucky to be smart enough to be awestruck by it all.
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