3 Stephen Hawking Quotes on Philosophy

Stephen Hawking quotes on philosophy

43. He's a Platonist and I am a positivist. He's worried that Schrodinger's cat is in a quantum state, where it is half dead and half alive. He feels that can't correspond to reality. But that doesn't bother me. I don't demand that a theory correspond to reality because I do not know what it is. Reality is not a quality you can test with litmus paper. All I am concerned with is that the theory should predict the results of measurements. Quantum theory does this very successfully. It predicts that the result of an observation is either that the cat is alive or that it is dead. It is like you can't be slightly pregnant; you either are or you aren't.

45. I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.

57. We shouldn't be surprised that conditions in the universe are suitable for life, but this is not evidence that the universe was designed to allow for life.