Stephen Hawking on the Origins of the Universe


The "impromptu" wit was the stuff that was worth wait.

Make no mistake, it is challenging to see Stephen Hawking speak. Imagine it if you will: we're in the balcony of the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Heat rises, so it's more than a little steamy up there, what with the full house, and the sweater I wore so I wouldn't have to bring a jacket is feeling like a big mistake. We've just eaten dinner, pasta as it so happens. And it's the end of a long working day. The balcony at the CPA is quite a distance from the stage, so you can't get a good look at the speaker, but even if you could you would find him completely motionless.

Now, the final challenge is that even when giving a prepare speech Hawking cues each recorded sentence live, so there are lengthy pauses between each sentence. Really lengthy.

I didn't think too much of his prepared remarks. They were exactly like his written style, amusing and accessible. But they didn't seem to cover new ground.

Doing a Q&A with Hawking is a long drawn-out affair as well, as it would take him from 5-10 minutes to prepare his response to each question, no matter how simple. But at least in this part of the evening we got a little more snap and bite.

Here are a couple of his comments that I really enjoyed:

Q. What is your IQ?
A. I have no idea. People who talk about their IQ are losers.

Q. What do you think of the science curriculum and education in the US and the UK.
A. I think it should be defined by what is accepted by the scientific community. That means evolution and Darwinism. Creationism has no place in a science class.

I honestly didn't expect him to go there with that second question, and I was quite pleased that he did.

Finally, there was a great quote from Hawking in the program:

"I don't have the time to do all the things I can do. Why would I worry about the things I can't do?"

Coming from a guy who should have been dead a decade ago, and who is very nearly physically frozen, that's pretty powerful stuff.

Posted: Sat - November 19, 2005 at 10:15 AM       EmailFeedback

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