The thread should have been closed with this post as it explains what Hawking said.zoobyshoe said:Here's the whole quote:
"You had a health scare and spent time in hospital in 2009. What, if anything, do you fear about death?
I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first. I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."
It should be clear he regards consciousness as dependent on brain function, and believes death brings about the cessation of brain function, hence the cessation of consciousness. There is no implication of an experience of darkness after death, and a clear implication there's no possibility of any kind of experience.
"...people afraid of the dark," simply refers to people afraid of the unknown.
"Stephen Hawking's death view" refers to the theoretical physicist's beliefs and theories about death and the afterlife. Hawking was an atheist and believed that death is the end of consciousness and there is no afterlife.
According to Hawking's own words, he did not fear death. He believed that death is a natural part of life and that there is nothing to fear about it. He also stated that he wanted to live as long as possible, but not at the cost of living a life that was not worth living.
No, Hawking did not believe in an afterlife. He believed that the concept of an afterlife was a comforting idea, but there was no scientific evidence to support it.
Hawking believed that after death, the brain stops functioning and therefore there is no consciousness or awareness. He compared death to turning off a computer, where all the information is lost and there is no longer any activity.
Yes, Hawking's views on death did change throughout his life. In his earlier years, he believed in the concept of an afterlife and even wrote about it in his book "A Brief History of Time". However, as he continued his research and studies, he became more convinced that there is no afterlife and death is the end of consciousness.